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DRAFT LAW NO. 263 /X

Draft Act to amend the Act No 23/96 of July 26

Exhibition of reasons

The Act No. 23/96 of July 26 (the Essential Public Services Act) constitutes a

innovative instrument designed to ensure the protection of the utent of a set

minimum of services considered indispensable for the quality of life in the

current societies, in the face of a liberalized market of services.

The fruitful experience of applying this legal device has allowed to identify a

set of situations whose framework, past almost ten years after its entry

in force, it matters to update, in such a way as to maintain the high level of protection of the

users secured when they are approved.

The extension of the scope of the diploma to electronic communications thus results from the

verified developments in the market that have come to consecrate the expanded use of means

diversified communication with recourse to new technologies. It is matter already

aflorate in the initial version of the Act.

On the other hand, the formalisation of the mention in the scope of the diploma in respect of all

channelled gas supply services aims to clarify the scope of protection that

the Law ensures. The suitability of other integrated services is also carried out in the

areas of competence of key service regulators, such as postal services,

wastewater and solid waste.

The scope of the concept of the service provider of the service has been clarified, and it has still been

Instituted a general rule regarding information on the tariffs practiced by the

referred to entities.

It was understood to fix the ban on charging for users of importances concerning the use

of the counters and other measuring instruments applied by the providers of the

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services for control of the consumes carried out. The costs of these instruments, being

inherent in the exercise of the business of the provider, shall be by these supported and not

included in the invoice for services paid by the utente.

The use of invoicing procedures by estimated consumption has given rise,

in some cases, serious distortions in the payments required of users. By this

reason, the regime of the right to demand such payments in respect of the prescription and

lapse was also the subject of a clarification, given some of the practices

used by the providers of the services to represent an obstacle to the

application of Article 10º of the Law.

The rule of compensation for overpayments made by users is fixed

by means of the invoicing of the consumes by estimation, in the invoice in which the company

proceeds to the reckoning of the actual consumption and the estimated consumption actually paid.

Instituted, still at the seat of the expiry and the limitation scheme, a rule fixing

a minimum advance notice for the communication to the utent of the required payments.

The scope of the rule on burden of proof to be borne by the provider of the service provider has been extended

all matters relating to the provision of the service, which entail a performance of the

provider.

Thus, in the applicable Constitutional and Regimental terms, come the Deputies of the

Parliamentary group of the Socialist Party to submit the following Draft Law:

Article 1º

(Amendment of Law No. 23/96 of July 26)

Articles 1º, 4º, 8º, 9, 13, 13 and 14 of Law No. 23/96 of July 26, pass to

following wording:

Article 1º

(Subject and scope)

1. (Wording of the current paragraph 1 of Article 1 º )

2. (Wording of the current body of paragraph 2 of Article 1 º )

a) (Redaction of the current (a))

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b) (Redaction of the current (b))

c) Natural gas supply service and liquefied petroleum gases

channelled;

d) electronic communications service;

e) postal services;

f) Service for the collection and treatment of wastewater;

g) Urban solid waste management services.

3. (Wording of the current paragraph 3 of Article 1 º )

4. You are deemed to be provider of the services covered by the present diploma all the

public or private entity that will pay the utner any of the services referred to in the

number 2, regardless of its legal nature, of the title to which it does or of

existence or not of concession contract.

Article 4º

(Duty of Information)

1. The service provider shall inform in a clear and convenient manner the other part of the

conditions in which the service is provided and we provide you with all the clarifications that if

justifying, according to the circumstances.

2. The provider of the service informs directly, in a timely and effective manner, the users

on the tariffs applicable for the services provided, providing them with information

clear and complete about these tariffs.

3. (Wording of the current paragraph 2 of Article 4º)

Article 8º

(Consumption minimum and counters)

1. (Wording of the current body of Article 8 º )

2. Collection is prohibited for users of:

a) any importance in title to price, rental or amortization of accountants or

other measuring instruments of the services used;

b) any other rate of effect equivalent to the use of the measures referred to in

previous point independently of the designation used;

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c) any fee that does not have a direct correspondence with a charge in

that the service provider of the service actually inruns.

3. Do not constitute minimum consumables, for the purposes of this Article, the fees and fees

due to the construction, conservation and maintenance of public water systems and

sanitation, under the applicable legal regime.

Article 9.

(Facturing)

1.-(...)

2-A the invoice referred to in the preceding paragraph shall have a minimum periodicity

monthly, and they should discriminate against the services provided and the corresponding tariffs.

3- (Wording of the current paragraph 2)

Article 10º

(Prescription and expiry)

1. The right to receipt of the price of the service rendered lapse within six months

after your provision.

2. If, for any reason, including the error of the service provider, it has been paid

importance less than that which corresponds to the consumption carried out, the right of the provider to

receipt of the difference lapse within six months after that payment.

3. The demand for payment for services provided is communicated to the utent, in writing,

with a minimum of ten working days in advance regarding the limit date set for

carry out the payment.

4. The deadline for the purposeful of the action by the service provider shall be six months,

numbered after the provision of the service or the initial payment, depending on the cases.

5. (Wording of the current paragraph 3 of Article 10 º )

Article 13.

(Resolution of disputes)

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The resolution of disputes resulting from the provision of an essential public service shall be

found in the first place through recourse to the mechanisms of extra resolution-

judicial of conflicts of consumption, suspending itself in its course the deadline for the

interposition of the legal action.

Article 14.

(Final Provisions)

Current Article 13 para.

Article 2º

(Addition to Law No. 23/96 of July 26)

They are deferred to Law No. 23/96 of July 26 Articles 10º To, 10º B and 15 with a

following wording:

Article 10º To

(Burden of proof)

1. It shall be up to the provider of the service proof of all the facts concerning the fulfilment of the

its obligations and the development of representations arising from the provision of the

services to which the present diploma relates.

2. Focuses on the provider of the service the burden of proof of the carrying out of the communications,

referred to in Article 10º, relating to the requirement of payment and the moment in which

the same were carried out.

Article 10º B

(Acertain of values charged)

Where, by virtue of the method of invoicing used, be charged to the utent one

value exceeding the corresponding to the consumption carried out, the excess value is abated

of the invoice in which the reckoning has been carried out, unless otherwise made a statement,

manifested expressly by the utterance of the service.

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Article 15.

(Effective)

Current Article 14 para.

Article 3º

(Application in time)

This diploma applies to the relationships that subsist at the date of its entry into force.

Article 4º

(Entry into force)

This diploma comes into force 90 days after its publication.

Palace of S. Bento, July 16, 2006

The Deputies