ART publishes guidelines on the indirect sale of long-distance telephone services

Paris, 26 May 1999

The indirect sale of telephone services is new to the fixed telephone market.

ART hopes that these new distribution channels will benefit consumers. The regulator will ensure that indirect sales do not undermine the fulfilment by operators of the duties laid down in their licences, such as consumer information and protection.

In this view, after calling for comments from operators, distributors and consumers, between 5 and 30 March 1999, ART today published a document entitled "Guidelines on applying the obligations set out in operators' licences in the event of indirect sales of long- distance telephone services".

This document recalls and comments on the licence clauses which require operators to ensure that the duties set out in their licences are respected, when entering into contracts with distributor