House of Representatives approves bill for reimbursement by provider in the event of a malfunction

The full House of Representatives has approved an amendment to the Telecom Act. It states, among other things, that providers must pay compensation to customers in the event of a failure that lasts longer than 12 hours. The bill was already introduced in 2013.

Providers must compensate customers by refunding one day of the subscription fee in the event of an outage lasting between 12 and 24 hours. If a malfunction lasts longer, a day subscription fee will be added per day. Now that the House of Representatives has approved the amendment, it is still waiting for the approval of the Senate before the law comes into force. The House of Representatives also approved an amendment that provides that the right to compensation will also apply if a disturbance is caused by an earthquake.

When the proposal for the amendment to the law was submitted in 2013, a number of parties proposed to lower the minimum interruption duration after which providers must proceed with reimbursement to 4 or 6 hours. Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp was not in favor of this. He stated at the time that telecom companies would eventually come up with better compensation schemes to distinguish themselves.

In 2014, providers and citizens were given the opportunity to respond to the bill by means of an internet consultation. The final bill, which has now been approved by the House of Representatives, was subsequently introduced on August 31, 2015.

The call for mandatory compensation by providers in the event of long-term failures has been around for years. In 2011, a majority of the House of Representatives already thought that such an obligation should be introduced. In 2013, providers already agreed in consultation with the ministry to take over each other’s call and text traffic in the event of long-term disruptions.