Pre-paid phone owners are subscribers

22-01-2009

In its decision of January 22, 2009 (file no. C-492/07) the European Court of Justice (ECJ) recognized that the Polish law - and, more precisely, art. 2 point 1 of the Telecommunication Act (Journal of Laws of 2004, no. 171 item 1800 as amended) – discriminates against owners of pre-paid mobile phones. The provisions define who is deemed a subscriber. The problem is that a subscriber is deemed only to be a legal or natural person which is a party to a written agreement with a provider of publicly available telecommunication services. Owners of pre-paid mobile phones do not sign agreements, they simply add credit to their mobile phones. Thus, they are not deemed to be subscribers, so, consequently, they are not entitled to a number of consumer privileges. The decision is final.
Contact person: Piotr Wagner, pw@pnplaw.pl

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