Decree-Law no. 59/2021, of July 14, was published, forcing companies to create lower-cost alternatives to phone numbers beginning with 707 or 808, which have higher rates. This applies to consumer contact phone lines provided by suppliers of goods or service providers, as well as public utilities. Making these phone lines available will be mandatory as of November. Fines for those who do not comply with the new rules will only apply from June 2022.
Any entity that provides telephone lines for consumer contact must clearly and visibly indicate, in its commercial messages, on the main page of its online website, on invoices, in written messages sent to the consumer and in written contracts entered with the consumer, the telephone number or numbers provided. These must be accompanied, also in a clear and visible manner, by updated information on the price of calls.
Information on numbers and the price of calls should first indicate toll-free lines and geographic or mobile lines, and then, if relevant, in ascending order of price, the number and price of calls to other lines. The price charged to the consumer for calls to the telephone lines specified by the supplier of goods or service provider at the time of contact within the scope of a legal consumer relationship may not exceed the basic rate.
The provider of basic public utilities is obliged to provide the consumer with a telephone helpline. This must be toll-free for the consumer or, alternatively, a telephone line to which corresponds a geographic or mobile numbering range.
The supplier of goods or services and the provider of public utilities who are obliged to provide a toll-free telephone line or a telephone line with a geographic or mobile numbering range are prohibited from charging the consumer upfront for anything other than the permitted amount, on condition that this amount is returned to the consumer at the end of the call.
Finally, all public entities that provide telephone lines with special numbers, with the prefixes 808 and 30, must establish an alternative to telephone numbers with the prefix two, no later than ninety days from November 1, 2021.
03/03/2022