In this Ordinance:

a.

user means any person who uses the services of a provider of telecommunications services;

b.

customer means any person who has concluded a contract with a telecommunications service provider pertaining to the use of those services;

c.³

...

d.⁴

access price means the price for access to the services and facilities of dominant providers in accordance with Article 11 paragraph 1 TCA.

Any person transmitting data:

a.

within a building;

b.

on a real property, on two adjacent or opposite real properties, separated by a road, path, railway line or watercourse;

c.

within an enterprise, between the parent company and subsidiaries or within a group;

d.

within statutory bodies and between them;

e.⁵

when transmitting information free of change within groups with no central organisation

shall not be deemed to provide a telecommunications service.

¹ Telecommunications service providers shall submit the information required for registration to the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) and notify OFCOM of any changes to this information without delay.

² Registered providers which intend to permit registered or not yet registered providers to use resources as specified in Article 4 paragraph 1 TCA must notify OFCOM of this.

¹ Registered telecommunications service providers must provide a correspondence address in Switzerland to which communications, writs and official decisions in particular may be delivered with legal force, at the same time stating their standard business identification number in accordance with the Federal Act of 18 June 2010⁸ on the Business Identification Number.

² OFCOM shall publish the postal address. It may make the address available through an online search process.

The Post and Telecommunications Surveillance Service shall provide OFCOM free of charge with the address data of telecommunications service providers known to it that may be of importance to the enforcement and evaluation of the telecommunications legislation.

¹ The telecommunications service provider may not refuse to connect telecommunications terminal equipment to the corresponding interfaces for technical reasons if this telecommunications terminal equipment meets the requirements of Article 7 of the Ordinance of 25 November 2015¹⁰ on Telecommunications Installations¹¹ (TIO).

² OFCOM may grant a telecommunications service provider approval to refuse or cease connection of telecommunications terminal equipment that corresponds to the requirements of Article 7 TIO or to cease the service for this equipment if there is a risk that the equipment will cause radio interference or that it will have a damaging effect on the network or network operation. OFCOM may also take other appropriate measures.

³ In an emergency, a provider may immediately disconnect telecommunications equipment from the network if the protection of the network so requires and if the user can be offered an alternative immediately and free of charge. The provider shall immediately inform OFCOM.

¹ Telecommunications service providers must publish the technical specifications of the interfaces required for physical access to telecommunications networks.

² They must on request inform OFCOM, customers and manufacturers of telecommunications installations and software for using telecommunications services of the types of interfaces they provide for the access service to the internet and for services, provided using the resources specified in Article 4 paragraph 1 TCA. They must provide the information free of charge within a reasonable time.

³ The information specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 must be sufficiently detailed so that the manufacture and use of telecommunications terminal equipment for the use of all services provided by the provider concerned using the corresponding interface is possible.

⁴ Providers must on request inform customers free of charge of the identification features and access data required for access to telecommunications networks and for using services in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2.

⁵ OFCOM shall issue the required administrative and technical regulations

The Ordinance of 18 November 2020¹⁴ on Using the Radio Frequency Spectrum applies to providers that use the frequency spectrum to provide their services.

¹ Telecommunications service providers with registered office or permanently established in Switzerland must at the latest 18 months after entering the market offer at least three per cent of positions in the telecommunications industry in Switzerland as apprenticeships for vocational education and training. Part-time positions shall be counted according to the full-time equivalent positions that they represent.¹⁶

² Providers may also fulfil this requirement in cooperation with third parties within the telecommunication industry.

¹ If, in the case of calls between customers of different providers of mobile telecommunications services, higher prices are charged than for calls to the same provider's customers, then the caller shall be informed of this when the connection is established, free of charge, without advertising and in simple terms. This also applies to calls between different customer groups of the same provider. Providers must make it possible for their customers to forgo the indication free of charge.

^1bis If customers are charged higher prices for calls to numbers in company-wide telecommunications networks than for calls to numbers with geographical codes, customers shall be informed of this when the connection is established, free of charge, without advertising and in simple terms. Providers must make it possible for their customers to forgo the indication free of charge.¹⁷

² In the case of offerings of telecommunications services with limited free or discounted elements, the provider must make it possible for customers to inform themselves of the consumed or remaining elements free of charge.

³ Paragraphs 1-2 do not apply to calls to value-added services, international connections and the use of foreign mobile communications networks (international roaming).¹⁸

¹ On conclusion of the contract, on the activation or reactivation of roaming services and at least once a year, mobile communications providers must inform their customers, in writing and in a manner that is easy to understand, about the conditions and modalities of international roaming, and in particular:

a.

on how and where customers can find the currently applicable tariffs and the tariff options for price reductions;

b.

about the possibility of setting a cost limit and of blocking access;

c.

about the possibility of deactivating and reactivating the information when switching to a foreign mobile communications;

d.

about the possibility of not receiving all the information required when switching to a foreign mobile communications.

² When switching to a foreign mobile communications networks, they shall inform their customers immediately, free of charge and in a manner which is easy to understand, of the maximum costs of the following international roaming services which may be incurred:

a.

calls to Switzerland;

b.

incoming calls;

c.

local calls;

d.

sending of SMS;

e.

data transmission including sending of MMS.

³ They shall enable their customers to deactivate and reactivate the information when switching to a foreign mobile communications networks simply and free of charge. They must inform their customers of this option on conclusion of the contract and at least once a year thereafter.

⁴ When selling a terminal device that cannot display the information on switching to a foreign mobile communications network for technical reasons, they shall, in addition to the information in accordance with paragraph 1, draw the attention of customers to subscriptions and options for price reductions for the terminal device in question.

¹ Mobile communications providers shall only enable the use of roaming services after a cost limit has been set. Customers must be able to adjust the cost limit subsequently.

² Providers shall enable their customers to deactivate and reactivate access to roaming services at any time simply and free of charge.

³ Providers shall deactivate roaming services in aircraft, on ships and by satellite by default and irrespective of whether the service is enabled in accordance with paragraph 1. The activation and deactivation of these roaming services must be possible independently of deactivation and reactivation under paragraph 2.

⁴ Providers must not actively obstruct or prevent their customers from using roaming services offered by third-party providers.

¹ When calculating the charges or credit usage for outgoing and incoming international roaming calls, the following applies:

a.

Calls are charged by the second, with the exception of the first 30 seconds of outgoing calls.

b.

The final amount may be rounded up to the nearest 10 cents.

² When calculating the charges or credit usage for providing international roaming data services, the following applies:

a.

The service is charged per kilobyte.

b.

The final amount may be rounded up to the nearest 10 cents.

³ A different charge is only permitted:

a.

if the required data are not provided by the foreign mobile communications providers and the provider proves the necessity of the different charge to OFCOM based on the data provided; or

b.

for text and multimedia messaging services such as SMS or MMS, where charging is usually per message.

¹ Mobile communications providers must offer their customers options that enable them to obtain international roaming services at reduced tariffs. In doing so, the following applies:

a.

The option either comprises a reduced tariff or includes a certain number of units at a package price.

b.

The customer must be free to determine the starting date for the option.

c.

The option is valid for at least 12 months irrespective of any accounting period.

² The options must be available free of charge in Switzerland and abroad. It must be possible to obtain the options via the internet, irrespective of the device.

¹ Telecommunications service providers must:

a.

themselves measure the quality of the fixed-network and mobile internet access services that they offer, provided they have access to the required measuring equipment;

b.

enable their customers to measure the quality of their own fixed-network or mobile internet access service, provided the customers have access to the required measuring equipment;

c.

compile the results and inform their customers and the public about the quality of the internet access services.

² For each service offered, they must as a minimum:

a.²⁴

measure and publish the data transmission rate effectively achieved, the delay and in the case of mobile communications connections, the signal strength;

b.²⁵

measure and publish the contractually agreed data transmission rate, variations in delay and the loss of data packets during transmission.

³ The information on quality must allow comparisons to be made between the offers of the various providers. They must also be published in the form of geographical maps.

⁴ In relation to fixed-network internet access, the obligation to measure and publish applies to all providers with at least 300 000 customers. In relation to mobile internet access, it applies to all providers with at least 300 000 customers and a mobile communications licence.

⁵ OFCOM shall issue provisions in the technical and administrative regulations on how the providers must measure the quality variables and publish the results.

⁶ The information on quality in accordance with this Article must be published on a freely accessible website. OFCOM may provide that the publications must appear on the same website.

¹ In accordance with Article 12e paragraph 2 letter a TCA, each provider of internet access may transmit information by different methods if this is required in order to comply with a statutory requirement or a legally binding court decision.

² The customer's request to the provider in accordance with Article 12e paragraph 2 letter c TCA may not be made the standard subject of an offer which the customer accepts via the general terms and conditions or via the standard offer.

¹ The entry for a customer in directories of telecommunications services consists of at least:

a.

the addressing resources by means of which the customer of the telecommunications service concerned can be contacted;

b.

the first name and surname or the company name;

c.

the customer's address in full;

d.

where applicable, the indication that they do not wish to receive advertising messages from persons with whom they have no commercial relationship and that data relating to them may not be forwarded for purposes of direct advertising (Art. 88 para. 1);

e.

the price indication in accordance with Article 11a^bis and 13a of the Ordinance of 11 December 1978²⁸ on Price Indication (PIO) insofar as the entry relates to an addressing resource of a value-added service subject to a charge

² A customer may apply for several entries in accordance with paragraph 1 with the same addressing element, provided that all persons affected by the entries have given their consent to this.

³ If the entry only serves to provide a communication establishment service, the entry shall be limited to data mentioned in paragraph 1 letters a-c.

⁴ If a customer agrees to be contacted via a communication establishment service, his or her telecommunications service provider must expressly inform him or her that the data mentioned in paragraph 1 letters a-c will on request be passed on to every provider of such a service.

⁵ OFCOM shall define the data field designations and the other additional data required for formatting and publishing directories.

¹ Providers of the public telephony service which generate connections must ensure that at least one number in conformity with the Swiss E.164 numbering plan is transmitted as the telephone number of the calling line.

² They must transmit the number that is allocated to the customer for the service within the framework of which the connection is established. The other telecommunications service providers involved in the connection shall not modify transmitted numbers.

³ Providers of the public telephony service may enable their customers to transmit other numbers when the connection is established, provided they can demonstrate a right of use. If providers are aware that customers are transmitting numbers for which they do not have a right of use, they must take appropriate measures to prevent the transmission of these numbers.

^3bis If customers provide prima facie evidence that unauthorised third parties are using their numbers, the providers of a public telephony service may with the consent of the customers concerned block calls that transmit the relevant numbers. The foregoing does not apply to calls that are actually made from the connections of the customers concerned.⁵⁰

⁴ Transmitted numbers must be provided with an identifier which indicates whether they are based on information from the calling customer or on information from the provider generating the connection, and whether the latter has verified the customer's number information.

⁵ No numbers from the ranges 0900, 0901 or 0906 shall be transmitted as numbers of calling lines.

⁶ If providers are aware that a transmitted number is invalid or is being used without the right to do so, or if it is a number in accordance with paragraph 5, they must take appropriate measures and coordinate among themselves to prevent the transmission of this number or to prevent the call from being made.⁵¹

¹ Access to the emergency call services under Article 28 of the Ordinance of 6 October 1997⁵³ on Addressing Resources in the Telecommunications Sector (TSRO) must be guaranteed from every telephone connection and must be free of charge. A flat-rate charge of 20 cents per call may be imposed for telephone assistance for adults.

² Providers of services of the universal service by satellite mobile communications to which the International Telecommunication Union has allocated addressing resources need only guarantee free-of-charge access to the European emergency number 112.

Providers of the public telephony service must assure the routing of emergency calls to the emergency services specified in Article 28 TSRO⁵⁵.

¹ As far as the chosen technology permits, on-line caller location must be guaranteed for calls to the emergency services specified in Article 28 TSRO⁵⁷. This must also be guaranteed for customers who have chosen not to be entered in a public directory.

² Device-specific location functions may be activated during an emergency call even without the express consent of the customer. Insofar as the selected technology permits, they must be deactivated again after the emergency call has ended.

³ On request, OFCOM may designate other numbers exclusively for emergency services of the police, fire brigade, ambulance and rescue services for which caller location must be possible. OFCOM shall publish a list of these numbers.

¹ In the case of emergency calls to the European emergency number from suitably equipped vehicles (eCall112), mobile telephony licensees must extract the minimum set of data (MSD) from the voice channel and make it available for the location service.

² In the case of emergency calls using the device and operating system-specific location function and voice channel-independent transmission of location information (Advanced Mobile Location, AML), they must make the location information available for the location service.

¹ The universal service licensee, in co-operation with the other public telephony service providers and for the benefit of the alarm centres, shall operate a caller location service. This service must also be accessible for alarm centres that are not connected to the universal service licensee.

² The co-operation between the universal service licensee and the other public telephony service providers and the use of the caller location service by the alarm centres is based on the cost-oriented principles indicated in Article 54.

³ The providers of the public telephony service shall bear the investment and operating costs for providing caller location.

⁴ The recurring costs of providing the service shall be settled among the public telephony service providers at wholesale level based on the number of emergency calls to be expected annually.

⁵ The alarm centres shall bear only the costs of using the caller location service.

¹ If, in the case of voice transmission over internet protocol, correct routing and caller identification of emergency calls is not technically possible for every location, they must be guaranteed only for calls from the main location cited in the subscription contract.

² Public telephony service providers must ensure that customers are informed of this limitation and have explicitly confirmed that they are aware of it. They shall inform the customers that whenever possible a means of communication should be used with which correct routing and caller identification of emergency calls is technically possible.

² If the chosen technology so permits, in extraordinary situations emergency calls must not be interrupted by priority treatment of civil telecommunications traffic by customers who have important duties to perform in such situations.

³ Emergency calls must not be interrupted by prioritised telecommunications services for security communication (Art. 90 para. 2).

¹ Public telephony service providers are obliged to provide those entitled in accordance with Article 21 paragraph 2 TCA both online access to the minimum data from directory entries pertaining to their customers and the transmission of data en bloc, with the option of at least daily updates.

² The providers that have the access to the directory data under Article 11 paragraphs 1 and 2 may modify the directory data if a customer so requests and they notify the public telephony service provider concerned of the modifications.

³ The providers that have access to the directory data under Article 11 paragraph 3 may process this data only in order to provide a service for establishing communication. They may not publish the data, use them for advertising purposes or disclose them to third parties.

¹ Public telephony service providers must guarantee the communication capability of this service (Art. 21a para. 1 TCA). They must guarantee interconnection directly or indirectly. It shall comply with the provisions concerning:⁶²

a.

transparency of the basic offering (Art. 53 paras. 1, 2 and 4);

b.

publication of the technical and commercial conditions in respect of the providers requesting interconnection (Art. 61);

c.⁶³

interfaces (Art. 55).

² The procedure in the event of disputes concerning interoperability is based, mutatis mutandis, on Articles 70-74.

³ ComCom shall decide on the conditions of interconnection according to the principles which are customary in the market and in the sector.

¹ The services for the hearing or visually impaired and persons with limited mobility must be free of charge, regardless of whether they are provided by providers of services of the universal service themselves or via access to third-party services.

² The connection charges charged to the hearing or visually impaired and persons with limited mobility within the framework of these services shall not be discriminatory in comparison with the standard tariffs.

Articles 34a-34e apply to the portability of numbers in the E.164 numbering plan⁶⁶, with the exception of pager services.

¹ Telecommunications service providers must offer their customers the possibility of keeping their numbers if they change provider within the same category of telecommunications services.

² The categories are:

a.

the public fixed network telephony service;

b.

the public mobile network telephony service;

c.

the non-geographical services of the same type as the services of the toll-free numbers of the 0800 type.

³ Customers extension number ranges may only be transferred in their entirety. Adjustments such as the reduction or division of transferred extension number ranges must be agreed between the current and the original provider.

⁴ OFCOM shall issue the required technical and administrative regulations.

¹ Telecommunications service providers that are required to guarantee number portability shall bear the costs of doing so.

² They may request the new provider to make financial contributions to cover the administrative costs directly associated with the transfer of the numbers. The rules on cost-based pricing in accordance with Articles 54-54c apply in an analogous manner.

³ The providers shall regulate the coverage of costs that are associated with directing connections to the transferred numbers in their interconnection agreements.

Telecommunications service providers may offer their customers the option of keeping their number in the event of a change in the location of the connection.

Telecommunications service providers that offer number portability must guarantee the transmission of the number in accordance with Article 26a paragraph 2.

Telecommunications service providers that are required to guarantee number portability must give other providers access to the information that ensures correct connection direction to the ported numbers.

¹ Public telephony service providers may offer their customers the option of using the service of another provider for national and international connections. This may be both predetermined or, by entering the short number assigned for this purpose, done for each individual call.

² Any person who enters an invalid short number must be notified of this immediately.

³ OFCOM shall issue the required technical and administrative regulations.

¹ In this Chapter, only Articles 39a and 39b paragraph 2 apply to value-added services which are provided via E.164 numbering plan addressing resources of the type 0800 (free numbers), 00800 (international free numbers) and 084x (shared-cost numbers).

² In this Chapter, only Articles 36 paragraphs 4 and 5, 38 paragraphs 3 and 4, 40 paragraphs 3-5 and 41 paragraphs 1, 3, 4 letter c and 5 apply to value-added services which are offered neither via E.164 numbering plan addressing resources or via SMS or MMS.

¹ Value-added services must be clearly identifiable to users.

² For the provision of value-added services via addressing resources of the E.164 numbering plan, only individually allocated numbers in accordance with Articles 24b-24i TSRO⁷⁴ and short numbers in accordance with Articles 29-32 and 54 TSRO shall be used.⁷⁵

³ For the provision of value-added services via SMS or MMS, only short numbers in accordance with Articles 15a-15f TSRO shall be used.

^3bis Holders of numbers under paragraphs 2 and 3 are also deemed to be providers of value-added services even if they do not offer the services themselves.⁷⁶

⁴Value-added services which are offered neither via addressing resources of the E.164 numbering plan nor via SMS or MMS must be clearly and explicitly declared as value-added services.

⁵Value-added services with erotic or pornographic content must belong to a separate category clearly identifiable for customers.

Providers of value-added services must have a headquarters or a permanent establishment in Switzerland.

¹ Provided the possibility of disputing their bill exists, customers may require their provider to communicate to them the following data in individual cases, free of charge, or with each bill, under a separate heading, if this data is used for billing purposes:

a.

if available, the addressing resource via which the value-added service is provided;

b.

the date and time of the provision of the value-added service;

c.

where applicable the duration of the connection;

d.

the fee charged for the value-added service.

² In the case of connections with prepayment for services, the provider of telecommunications services, on request, communicates the data mentioned in paragraph 1. Verbal communication must be free of charge. A written communication may be made subject to only a small charge.

³ A clear indication must be given on the bill as to how the identity and address of the value-added service provider may be determined.

⁴ If a customer disputes a bill for value-added services, the provider of telecommunications services may not block the connection or cancel the contract before the dispute is resolved. This applies even if the value-added service is not provided via a telecommunications service but is merely offered via the latter. However, the provider of telecommunications services may block access to value-added services.

¹ In the case of value-added services, basic or fixed charges shall not exceed 100 francs.

² In the case of value-added services, the price per minute shall never exceed 10 francs.

³ In the case of value-added services which are based on registration by the customer and which may activate a multiplicity of individual items of information, neither the charge per individual item of information nor the sum of the charges for the individual items of information transferred by the provider within one minute shall exceed 5 francs.

⁴ In the case of value-added services, the sum of all charges (basic charge, fixed charges and time-dependent charges) per connection or per registration shall not exceed 400 francs.

¹ For connections to numbers of type 084x, telecommunications service providers may only charge their customers a time-dependent price of a maximum of 7.5 cents per minute (excluding value added tax). Calls are charged on a per second basis. The final amount may be rounded up to the nearest 10 cents.⁸¹

² Telecommunications service providers may not charge their customers for connections to numbers of type 0800 and 00800.

¹ For connections to numbers of type 090x and to short numbers under Articles 29-32 and 54 TSRO⁸³, telecommunications service providers may only charge their customers the price agreed between the holder of the number and the provider operating the number for a call to the number and which is disclosed in accordance with Articles 11a and 13a PIO⁸⁴. The final amount may be rounded up to the nearest 10 cents. For connections to numbers of type 090x, time-dependent charges must be billed on a per second basis.

² No surcharges may be added to prices regulated in paragraph 1 and Article 39a for connections to numbers of type 0800, 00800, 084x, 0878, 090x and short numbers under Articles 29-32 and 54 TSRO.

¹ Telecommunications service providers shall enable their customers to block outgoing connections to numbers of type 0900, 0901 or 0906 individually for each type of number.⁸⁵

² Telecommunications service providers who offer access to short numbers for SMS and MMS services (Art. 15a-15f TSRO⁸⁶) shall enable their customers to block access to all SMS and MMS services or only to services with erotic or pornographic content. Reception of the corresponding SMS and MMS services must also be blocked.⁸⁷

³ Telecommunications service providers shall enable their customers to block outgoing connections to all value-added services in accordance with Article 35 paragraph 2 or only to those with erotic or pornographic content.

⁴ Customers must be able to activate and deactivate call blockings at any time, simply and free of charge. This does not apply to customers in accordance with Article 38 paragraph 4 third sentence and in accordance with Article 41.

⁵ Telecommunications service providers in accordance with paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall inform their customers of these call blocking options on conclusion of the contract and thereafter at least once a year.

¹ Telecommunications service providers shall block access to value-added services to customers or users under 16 years of age provided their age is known to the provider.

² The access to the services in accordance with Articles 25-34 TSRO⁸⁹ must remain guaranteed.

³ The providers shall only unblock access if the parent or legal guardian of the person concerned gives consent.

⁴ They may not unblock access to the following services:

a.

value-added services with erotic or pornographic content (0906 numbers);

b.

SMS and MMS services with erotic or pornographic content provided via short numbers;

c.

value-added services with erotic or pornographic content which are offered neither via E.164 numbering plan addressing resources nor via SMS or MMS.

⁵ To determine whether it is appropriate to block access to value-added services, providers of mobile telecommunications services shall:

a.

record the age of the principal user, if he or she is less than 16 years of age, at the time of conclusion of the contract;

b.

demand, in case of doubt, the production of a valid passport or identity card or another travel document recognised for entry into Switzerland.

¹ OFCOM shall establish a dispute resolution service or commission a third party (the Agent) to establish one within 15 months of the entry into force of these provisions.

² It may transfer the task of dispute resolution if the Agent:

a.

guarantees to comply with the applicable legislation;

b.

proves that it is able to finance the dispute resolution activity in the long term;

c.

undertakes to perform its duty independently, objectively, transparently and efficiently, and in particular ensures that the persons entrusted with the resolution of disputes are in possession of the necessary professional qualifications;

d.

guarantees the transparency of its activity to OFCOM and the public and in particular undertakes to publish an annual report on its activities.

³ OFCOM appoints the Agent for a limited term. It may carry out a public invitation to tender which is not subject to Articles 32 ff. of the Ordinance of 11 December 1995⁹⁰ on Public Procurement.

⁴ The transfer takes place in the form of a contract under administrative law.

⁵ OFCOM approves the appointment of the natural person responsible for the dispute resolution service.

¹ The dispute resolution service is responsible for disputes in civil law between customers and their providers of telecommunications or value-added services.

² It shall fulfil its dispute resolution mission independently, objectively, transparently and efficiently. It is not subject to any general or particular instruction regarding the resolution of disputes.

¹ The dispute resolution service shall issue procedural rules.

² The Agent shall submit its procedural rules and its rules on charges and amendments thereto to OFCOM for approval.

¹ The dispute resolution service must be fair, expeditious and affordable for customers.

² An application for resolution of a dispute is permitted only if:

a.

the party making the application has previously tried to reach an agreement with the other party to the dispute;

b.

it is submitted under the conditions laid down in the procedural rules of the dispute resolution service;

c.

it is not obviously abusive;

d.

no court or arbitration court is dealing with the matter.

³ The dispute resolution procedure is carried out in one of the Confederation's official languages, at the choice of the customer.

⁴ The dispute resolution service may take all necessary measures to resolve the dispute that it is called upon to deal with. It shall make an appropriate proposal to resolve the dispute when the parties cannot agree on a solution by negotiation. It shall produce a report on the conduct of the resolution procedure, which is issued to the parties on request.

⁵ The dispute resolution procedure ends with the withdrawal of the application, agreement between the parties, the resolution proposal or the rejection of the application as clearly abusive.

¹ The submission of an application for resolution of a dispute does not prevent a civil action.

² The dispute resolution service shall terminate the procedure as soon as a court or arbitration court begins dealing with the matter.

¹ Any provider of telecommunications or value-added services that is involved in a dispute resolution application must take part in the dispute resolution procedure. It shall comply with the dispute resolution service's requests for information.

² Providers of telecommunications or value-added services shall on request provide the dispute resolution service with the telecommunications traffic data necessary for resolution of the dispute and the other personal data of their customers provided they hold such data.

³ Providers of telecommunications services shall inform their customers of the existence of the dispute resolution service on every bill. For customers with a connection with prepayment for services, they shall do this each time the user account is charged. Each time information is provided it shall be pointed out that the dispute resolution service is also competent for disputes in the area of value-added services.⁹¹

¹ The dispute resolution service may process the personal data of parties to the dispute if this is necessary to fulfil its mission and to receive the payment for which the parties are responsible. It may conserve this data for a maximum of five years after the conclusion of a dispute resolution procedure.⁹²

² Persons performing a task for the dispute resolution service are bound by official secrecy in accordance with Article 320 of the Criminal Code⁹³.⁹⁴

³ The dispute resolution service may request OFCOM to provide it with personal information that is necessary for the resolution of disputes. In particular, it may request information concerning administrative or criminal prosecutions or sanctions against a provider of telecommunications or value-added services.⁹⁵

⁴ The dispute resolution service may publish its resolution proposals in full or in part on the internet, without referring to the identity of the parties. It shall publish a summary of its most important proposals.

^4bis It may publish statistics on the number of cases broken down according to providers of telecommunications and value-added services.⁹⁶

⁵ It must communicate free of charge the personal data which it has available at the time of cessation of its dispute resolution activity to a new appointee or to OFCOM.⁹⁷

¹ The Federal Department for the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) or the Agent shall set the fees for the procedure and the other sources of revenue to finance the dispute resolution service.⁹⁸

² The procedural fee demanded of customers must be low, except in the case of dispute resolution procedures that are clearly initiated in an abuse of the process.

³ Providers of telecommunications or value-added services shall pay a fee for each procedure in which they are involved or should be involved. The dispute resolution service may waive a fee in the case of dispute resolution procedures that a customer has clearly initiated in an abuse of the process.

⁴ The dispute resolution service may impose the procedural fees on the parties by way of an administrative decision.

¹ OFCOM shall exercise surveillance to ensure that the Agent complies with the applicable law in this area, in particular this chapter and the contract concluded under administrative law.

² If there are indications that the Agent is not fulfilling its obligations, OFCOM shall conduct an examination. The Agent must provide all useful information. If it is established on the basis of the examination that the Agent is not fulfilling or is no longer fulfilling its obligations, it shall bear the costs of the examination.

³ If OFCOM establishes that the Agent is not fulfilling its obligations, it may:

a.

instruct it to remedy the deficiency or take measures to prevent recurrence of the violation; the Agent shall inform OFCOM of the measures taken;

b.

require it to pay to the Confederation the revenue it has acquired by violating the law;

c.

add conditions to the contract under administrative law;

d.

restrict, suspend or cancel the contract under administrative law without compensation.

⁴ OFCOM shall cancel the contract without compensation if the Agent has ceased its activity or is bankrupt.

⁵ It may cancel the contract without compensation if the actual or legal conditions have changed and the cancellation is necessary to safeguard predominant public interests.

¹ Owners of land in public use may make permission to use that land subject to the condition that the telecommunications service provider must co-ordinate its building project with another, provided that the project can be completed within three months and that such temporary co-ordination does not excessively impede the intended use of the land in question.

² Owners may require the provider to obtain information from other enterprises concerning the projects they are planning on a plot of land in public use. They shall advise the provider of the enterprises from which it must request such information. The provider may also request such information from other enterprises. The latter are obliged to reply within four weeks.

¹ The owner of land in public use shall notify the telecommunications service provider in writing of any relocation of lines or public pay telephones, stating the reasons. The latter shall express its position on the type and manner of the relocation, the costs and the bearing of the costs. If no agreement is reached on the type and manner of the relocation, the owner shall order the relocation, taking account of the information from the provider.

² The costs of the relocation are generally borne by the provider. Owners of land in public use must, however, contribute appropriately, provided:

a.

the current position of the line or public pay telephone corresponds to their explicit request;

b.

there is joint use of the line for their own purposes;

c.

the relocation of the line or public pay telephone is requested within one year of its installation;

d.

the costs of other reasonable measures would be lower than those of relocation.

³ If the relocation takes place for the benefit of third parties, these are to be involved in the procedure. They shall contribute appropriately to the relocation costs.

¹ Article 35 TCA applies by analogy to lines which cross land owned by railway undertakings by the most direct possible route.

² The telecommunications service provider shall be liable for costs caused to the railway undertaking by the construction or maintenance of the lines.

¹ The owners of roads, with the exception of access roads, shall determine where telecommunications service providers lay their lines within the perimeter of the road.

² Provided this is reasonable for providers, owners in accordance with paragraph 1 may request that their free infrastructures be used, for appropriate compensation. The compensation shall not be more than the provider's estimated costs for laying its own lines.

³ Differing agreements between the parties involved concerning the use of land are reserved.

⁴ Article 76 paragraph 2 letter a is not applicable to roads, with the exception of access roads.

The obligation of property owners under Article 35a paragraph 1 TCA to tolerate additional cable connections and under Article 35b paragraph 1 TCA to grant access to the building entry point and to tolerate the joint use of existing installations within the building also includes:

a.

if there is sufficient capacity available: tolerating the joint use of the existing cable ducts that serve the property's connection lines;

b.

if there is insufficient capacity available: tolerating the installation of additional installations that serve the property's connection lines.

The obligation of property owners and telecommunications service providers under Article 35b paragraph 1 TCA to tolerate the joint use of existing installations within the building also includes tolerating:

a.

the joint use of the power connections;

b.

the installation of systems so that another provider that is jointly using the property's installations can provide its telecommunications services.

¹ If a telecommunications service provider wishes to jointly use existing installations in the property's connection lines or the building's systems in order to provide its own telecommunications services, it must notify the property owner and the existing providers.

² If a property owner does not have access to the required information about the existing installations in the property's connection lines or the building's systems, the provider that has installed property's connection lines or the building's systems must make this information available on request.

³ Providers who have financed a cable duct system or a system within the building may demand that a co-using provider make a one-off pro rata payment for each residential or commercial unit for the transfer for long-term use in accordance with their average acquisition costs.

⁴ Providers that are granted access to a cable duct system or a system within the building shall bear the cost of the work required to install the new equipment.

⁵ If a property owner or a provider incurs verifiable additional costs as a result of access or joint use, it may demand that the co-using provider reimburse the costs it has incurred.

⁶ The procedure in the case of disputes relating to access to the building entry point and the joint use of installations within the building is governed by analogy by Articles 70-74.

Appropriate compensation for the joint use of installations of other providers in accordance with Article 36 paragraph 2 TCA shall be the corresponding proportion of the total costs.

¹ Telecommunications service providers may process customers' traffic data without their consent, in so far and for as long as this is necessary:

a.

in order to provide telecommunications services;

b.

in order to obtain payment for the services provided;

c.

to fulfil statutory obligations;

d.

for its own purposes not related to specific persons.

² They may only process traffic data for other purposes with the consent of the customers concerned or if the data is anonymised.

¹ During the period in which they may dispute an invoice, customers may ask their telecommunications service provider to supply them with all the information used for billing. Where numbers of the calling connections are provided for this purpose, the last four digits of the numbers are not supplied.¹²⁸

² Data concerning calls to the telephone helpline for children and other minors in terms of Article 28 letter f TSRO¹²⁹ may not be communicated.¹³⁰

³ In the case of connections with prepayment for services, the data must be communicated on request within one month of charging of the fee.

⁴ If customers dispute the bill for a value-added service or do not pay it on time, the telecommunications service provider may communicate to the value-added services provider concerned the available personal data of these customers that is necessary to enforce the claim.

¹ Where a customer credibly shows in writing that he or she is the victim of nuisance calls or has received unfair advertising as defined in Article 3 paragraph 1 letter o, u or v of the Federal Act of 19 December 1986¹³² on Unfair Competition (UCA), the telecommunications service provider must supply the customer with the following data, provided it is available:

a.

the date, time and duration of the connections or date and time of the message;

b.

the addressing resources, names and addresses of the customers whose connections were used for the calls or from which the unfair mass advertising was sent.

² If the data cannot be provided retrospectively and a continuation of the nuisance calls or unfair advertising is probable, the provider must gather the necessary data and communicate the data that may be requested to customers.

³ If nuisance calls are made or unfair advertising is sent from connections of customers of another telecommunications service provider, all the providers involved in the communication process must supply the required information to the provider required to provide information under paragraph 1.

¹ Telecommunications service providers must protect their customers from receiving unfair advertising as defined in Article 3 paragraph 1 letter o, u or v UCA¹³⁴, insofar as the state of the art allows.

² They shall provide customers with suitable mechanism that the providers must operate. They shall inform customers when entering into the contract and once every year about the advantages and disadvantages this mechanism. The customers must be able to deactivate and reactivate the mechanism at any time free of charge.

³ The providers may block unfair advertising.

⁴ If a provider is aware that one of its customers is sending or forwarding unfair advertising via its telecommunication network, it must immediately block the sending of these messages and prevent the establishment of the corresponding connections. It may disconnect customers which send or forward unfair advertising from the telecommunication network.

⁵ Each provider must operate a contact point for unfair advertising which originates from its telecommunication network or which is forwarded via its telecommunication network.

⁶ Each provider must provide a contact point for customers who are blocked or who are affected by the use of the mechanism referred to in paragraph 2. They must on request explain why the customer was blocked or why the mechanism was used. In order to comply with this obligation, all the providers involved in the communication process must supply the required information.

⁵ OFCOM may issue technical and administrative regulations concerning the protection of customers from receiving unfair mass advertising.

⁶ In the case of unfair advertising as defined in Article 3 letters o and v UCA or a breach of related foreign regulations, the competent federal office may obtain the information and request documents from providers as required in order to exercise its right to file an action and to provide administrative assistance in accordance with the above-mentioned Act.

¹ When technically feasible with justifiable outlay, telecommunications service providers must offer their customers a simple and free-of-charge facility for concealing - for individual calls or permanently - the indication of their number that appears on the called person's equipment.

² They must expressly draw their customers' attention to this facility when the subscription contract is concluded.

³ They must in all cases guarantee identification of the calling line for connections for which location must be guaranteed in accordance with Article 29 paragraph 1 and Article 90 paragraph 4 and for calls to the transcription service for the hearing impaired in accordance with Article 15 paragraph 1 letter e. Other than in the case of calls to their own fault service, no other customer shall be provided with an indication of the number of a caller who has requested suppression of the calling line identification.¹³⁵

¹ When technically feasible with justifiable outlay, telecommunications service providers shall offer their customers a facility for concealing the indication of their number on the equipment of the caller.

² They must expressly draw their customers' attention to this facility when the subscription contract is concluded.

When technically feasible with justifiable outlay, telecommunications service providers must, without charge, offer their customers a facility for stopping automatic call forwarding by a third party to their equipment.

¹ Telecommunications service providers shall inform their customers of the risks involved in using their services with regard to interception and intervention by unauthorised third parties.

² They must offer or indicate appropriate means of eliminating those risks.

¹ Customers appearing in a directory shall have the right to indicate clearly therein that they do not wish to receive advertising communications from persons with whom they have no commercial relationship and that their particulars may not be communicated for direct canvassing.¹³⁶

² and ³ ...¹³⁷

⁴ Suppliers of online directories shall adopt the appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent the contents of an entry or part of the directory from being changed or deleted by unauthorised persons.

Provided this Ordinance does not contain any special regulations, the Federal Act of 25 September 2020¹³⁹ on Data Protection applies.

Internet access providers shall inform their customers about the options for protecting children and other minors on the internet. They shall provide individual support to their customers for using specific protection options.

¹ Internet access providers shall ensure that they can receive communications from the Federal Office of Police referred to in Article 46a paragraph 3 first sentence TCA. They shall introduce the required measures immediately in their systems in response to the notifications.

² They shall ensure that they can be contacted in writing by third parties as referred to in Article 46a paragraph 3 second sentence TCA. They shall report any suspected cases to the Federal Office of Police immediately.

¹ OFCOM shall produce the official telecommunications statistics, in particular in order to perform the evaluation of the telecommunications legislation, to take the necessary regulatory decisions and to ensure the implementation of the universal service.

² It shall ensure the collection and processing of the data as well as all statistical work within the framework of paragraph 1.

³ Pursuant to the Ordinance of 30 June 1993¹⁵⁴ on the Conduct of Statistical Surveys by the Confederation, it shall co-ordinate its statistical work with the Federal Statistical Office and co-operate with that office.

¹ OFCOM shall collect the data required for production of the official telecommunications statistics from the telecommunications service providers. It may also incorporate the data obtained through the implementation of telecommunications legislation or by other authorities implementing federal legislation.

² By means of an annual questionnaire, it shall collect data on the networks and services of the providers, in particular with regard to:

a.

the companies themselves (in particular name or company name, address and other contact information, area of activity);

b.

the network characteristics (in particular the type, technical characteristics, number and type of connections, coverage in relation to population and area, number of orders completed with regard to carrier pre-selection);

c.

the various types of service provided on their networks, their characteristics and the use thereof (in particular price, number of customers, turnover per service, duration and number of connections, volume of connections per service, number of resellers, services in favour of third parties provided via non-geographical service numbers, type and extent of the infrastructure leased to third parties).

³ It shall collect data by means of an annual questionnaire on the financial status of the providers, in particular with regard to:

a.

the companies themselves (in particular name or company name, address and other contact information, area of activity);

b.

the operating revenue per type of service;

c.

the operating costs, in particular the purchase of products, purchase of services (services provided by other operators per type of network and other services), personnel costs and depreciation;

d.

the results, in particular the operating profit, non-operating profit, pre-tax profit and net profit;

e.

capital expenditure, in particular on fixed assets, such as investment in operating equipment for telecommunications services per type of network and investment in intangible assets and financial assets;

f.

number of employees.

⁴ Data may be collected by other means, in particular by means of one-time distributed questionnaires.

¹ The telecommunications service providers shall provide OFCOM with the information necessary to produce the official telecommunications statistics free of charge.

² They must in particular complete OFCOM's questionnaires in full, truthfully and in good time.

The personal data collected for statistical purposes may be made available to public or private services and statistical services of international organisations that require such data to carry out statistical work, provided:

a.

it is rendered anonymous, if the purpose of the processing so permits;

b.

the recipient undertakes not to forward the data to third parties and to destroy it or return it to OFCOM on completion of the work;

c.

the persons concerned cannot be identified because of the form selected by the recipient for the publication of the results;

d.

everything indicates that the recipient will comply with statistical secrecy and will comply with federal law on data protection; and

e.

no overriding public or private interests preclude this.

OFCOM shall take the technical and organisational measures to protect the collected data from misuse. In particular it shall entrust the statistical work to an independent organisational unit which does not exercise any administrative or supervisory function.

The persons entrusted with carrying out statistical work are subject to professional confidentiality with regard to the data on natural or legal persons that they have acquired in the exercise of their activity.

¹ OFCOM shall publish the statistical results which are of public interest or shall make them accessible by means of a request procedure. It may provide the non-published data or data not made available via a request procedure on demand and for a fee, provided no public or private interests preclude this.

² The results must be in a form which does not permit any conclusions to be drawn about the situation of a natural or legal person, unless the processed data has been made accessible to the public by the person concerned or they have given their consent.

³ The use or reproduction of statistical results is permitted subject to acknowledgement of the source. OFCOM may provide for exceptions.

¹ Providers of international telecommunications services or providers whose services might cause damaging interference shall have the status of «Recognised Operating Agencies» as defined in Article 19 of the International Telecommunication Union Convention of 22 December 1992¹⁵⁵ (ITU Convention).

² The Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) may recognise as «Sector Members» (Article 19, ITU Convention) other telecommunications service providers and other organisations or institutions with a registered office or commercial activities in Switzerland if they guarantee that they fulfil the ITU's requirements.¹⁵⁶