2010 Legislative Developments in Telecommunications

Abstract

The Act from 9 April 2010 on the amendment of the Telecommunications Law Act1 (in Polish: Prawo Telekomunikacyjne; hereafter, PT) introduced a broad range of changes concerning the principles in accordance to which telecoms services are to be provided to end users in Poland. It is important to stress first the change in the definition of a ‘subscriber’ [Article 2(1) PT]. Accordingly, every entity that is party to an agreement for the provision of telecoms services concluded with a provider of publicly available telecoms services, irrespective of whether the agreement is concluded in a written or any other form, is now considered a ‘subscriber’. This amendment results from the ECJ judgment of 22 anuary 20092. The Court declared therein that the limitation of the definition of a ‘subscriber’ to entities that are party to written telecoms agreements only is incompatible with Article 2(k) of the Framework Directive.