Circular No. 24/2016/TT-BTTTT dated November 15, 2016 of the Ministry of Information and Communications on quality management of radio and television services

THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

Circular No. 24/2016/TT-BTTTT dated November 15, 2016 of the Ministry of Information and Communications on quality management of radio and television services

Pursuant to the June 29, 2006 Law on Standards and Technical Regulations;

Pursuant to the November 21, 2007 Law on Product and Goods Quality;

Pursuant to the November 23, 2009 Law on Telecommunications;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 132/2013/ND-CP of October 16, 2013, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 06/2016/ND-CP of January 18, 2016, on management, provision and use of radio and television

At the proposal of the Director of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information;

The Minister of Information and Communications promulgates the Circular on quality management of radio and television services.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular prescribes the quality management of radio and television services.

2. This Circular applies to state management agencies in charge of quality of radio and television services and organizations and individuals engaged in the provision, use, measurement and inspection of radio and television services in Vietnam.

Article 2.Interpretation of terms

In this Circular, the terms and phrases below are construed as follows:

1. Radio and television services include:

a/ Satellite television service;

b/ Terrestrialtelevision service;

c/ Analog cable television service;

d/ Digital cable television service;

dd/ Internet protocol television (IPTV) service;

e/ Terrestrial mobile television service;

g/ Satellite mobile television service;

h/ Mobile television service on terrestrial mobile telecommunications network;

i/ Internetradio and television service.

2. Service provider means an enterprise providing radio and television services prescribed in Clause 8, Article 3 of the Government’s Decree No. 06/2016/ND-CP of January 18, 2016, on management, provision and use of radio and television services.

3. Appointed measurement and inspection unit means a unit measuring the quality of radio and television services, which is appointed by the Ministry of Information and Communications in accordance withcurrentregulations.

Article 3.Contents of quality management of radio and television services

1. Announcement of the quality of radio and television services.

2. Reporting on the quality of radio and television services.

3. Disclosure of information on the quality of radio and television services.

4. Supervision, examination, and handling of violations related to the quality of radio and television services.

Article 4.Responsibility for quality management of radio and television services

1. Assigned by the Ministry of Information and Communications to perform the state management of radio and television service quality nationwide, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with provincial-level Information and Communications Departments in, managing the quality of radio and television services in localities.

2. Provincial-level Information and Communications Departments are assigned to perform the state management of radio and television services in their localities, having the following responsibilities:

a/ To manage the quality of radio and television services in their localities according to their assigned functions and tasks;

b/ To examine, detect and report on service quality-related problems in their localities; to report on and propose handling measures to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

3. Service providers shall manage the quality of their radio and television services:

a/ To comply with provisions of this Circular and other relevant legal documents on quality management of radio and television services;

b/ To ensure and maintain the radio or television service quality as announced. To take measures to ensure service quality when an incident occurs or when detecting that the quality of a radio or television service is lower than the announced level;

c/ To take responsibility for the quality of radio and television services provided to service users in accordance with service use contracts and relevant laws.

Chapter II

QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICES BY SERVICE PROVIDERS

Section 1. ANNOUNCEMENT OF RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE QUALITY

Article 5.Responsibility to announce radio and television service quality A service provider shall announce its radio or television service quality not lower than that required by the national technical regulation applicable to its radio or television services.

Article 6.Procedures for announcement of radio and television service quality

1. A service provider shall send a dossier of announcement of radio or television service quality by post or submit it directly to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information.

2. A dossier must comprise:

a/ An official letter on announcement of radio or television service quality, made according to the form in Appendix I to this Circular;

b/ A statement of radio or television service quality, made according to the form in Appendix II to this Circular;

c/ A list of radio or television service quality norms, made according to the form in Appendix III to this Circular.

3. Number of dossier set: 1.

4. Within five (5) days after receiving a dossier of announcement of radio or television service quality from a service provider, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall:

a/ Issue a receipt of the statement of radio or television service quality if the dossier complies with the form in Appendix IV to this Circular;

b/ Issue a written reply specifying the reason for not issuing a receipt of the statement of radio or television service quality, if the dossier is invalid.

5. After receiving a receipt of the statement of radio or television service quality, a service provider shall:

a/ Announce its statement of radio or television service quality and list of radio or television service quality norms on its website in accordance with Article 8 of this Circular;

b/ Post up its statement of radio or television service quality and list of radio or television service quality norms at noticeable places in all transaction points.

Article 7.Time limit for announcement of radio and television service quality

Within sixty (60) days after a provider officially provides its services or a new national technical regulation promulgated by the Ministry of Information and Communications takes effect or a service provider changes the contents of the announcement of its radio or television service quality, the service provider shall carry out procedures for announcement of its radio or television service quality in accordance with Article 6 of this Circular.

Article 8.Disclosure on websites of service providers

A service provider shall disclose information on quality management of its radio or television services in the service quality management section of its website, covering:

1. Information about provided radio or television services together with their names and logos; or names and logos of applications in case of providing services using applications installed on endpoint devices.

2. The statement of radio or television service quality for each radio or television service it is providing.

3. Prices of services and service packages together with basic information and technical specifications of these services and service packages, for pay radio and television units.

4. The latest periodical report on radio or television service quality sent to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information.

5. The address, telephone number and email address for receiving and settling complaints and helping customers.

6. The process of receiving and settling customers’ complaints.

Section 2. SELF-EXAMINATION AND -SUPERVISION OF AND REPORTING ON RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE QUALITY

Article 9.Self-examination regulation

Within sixty (60) days after officially providing its radio or television services, a service provider shall issue its internal regulation on self-examination of radio or television service quality, specifying:

1. The process of self-examination of the observance of this Circular.

2. The process of measurement, inspection and assessment of actual radio or television service quality according to announced national technical regulations and settlement of issues that fail to conform with announced national technical regulations.

Article 10.Self-supervision of radio and television service quality by service providers

1. A service provider shall supervise its radio or television service quality, ensuring stable provision of services which have quality conformable with relevant national technical regulations.

2. Within three (3) days after occurs an incident which interrupts service provision in one or more than one province or centrally run city for five (5) consecutive hours or more, a service provider shall send a written report on the cause, level of impact and measures for remedying the incident to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information and provincial-level Information and Communications Department(s) of the locality(ies) where the incident occurs.

Article 11.Reporting on radio and television service quality

1. A service provider shall make and send biannual reports before January 31 and July 31 every year, which must specify:

a/ Results of self-examination and -supervision of radio or television service quality as prescribed by this Circular;

b/ Statistics of measurement and inspection of radio or television service quality in all provinces and centrally ran cities covered by its services according to its license. The measurement, inspection and assessment shall be carried out for each of its services.

2. Every twenty four (24) months, a service provider’s report on results of measurement and inspection of its radio or television service quality shall be made by an appointed measurement and inspection unit.

3. Number of samples for measurement and inspection

The number of samples for measurement and inspection must comply with national technical regulations applicable to radio or television services and meet the following requirement:

a/ For satellite television service: The minimum number of samples mustcorrespondto the number of provinces and centrallyruncities within the service coverage of a service provider;

b/ For terrestrial television service: The minimum number of samples must correspond to the number of relay stations within the service coverage of a service provider;

c/ For cable television service: The minimum number of samples must correspond to the-number of subscriber points closest to subscribers within the scope of the network established by a service provider.

4. Examination results shall be made in writing according to the form “Periodical report on radio or television service quality” in Appendix V to this Circular, and sent directly or by post to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information and electronically to the email address[email protected].

5. A service provider that has its head office or branch located in a province or centrally run city shall send a periodical report on radio or television service quality, made according to the form in Appendix VI to this Circular, to the provincial-level Information and Communications Department of the locality where its head office or branch registers for operation.

6. A service provider shall make an irregular report at the request of a competent state management agency.

7. A service provider shall keep statistics and documents used for reporting on radio or television service quality for at least twenty four (24) months from the date of reporting. At the request of a competent state management agency, a service provider shall:

a/ Explain and provide statistics and documents used for reporting and take responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy and completeness of the statistics and documents used for reporting;

b/ Provide technical assistance for the competent state management agency to verify statistics.

Chapter III

QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICES BY STATE MANAGEMENT AGENCIES

Section 1. EXAMINATION AND SUPERVISION OF RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE QUALITY

Article 12.Form of examination

1. Periodical examination

a/ Annually, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall develop and issue a plan on examination of service providers based on which provincial-level Information and Communications Departments shall develop and issue plans on examination of providers of radio and television services in the localities under their management;

b/ The Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information and provincial-level Information and Communications Departments shall closely coordinate with each other in developing and implementing examination plans to ensure effectiveness and avoid overlaps.

2. Irregular examination

When necessary, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall decide on irregular examinations of radio or television service quality of service providers; provincial-level Information and Communications Departments shall decide onirregularexaminations of service providers in the localities under their management.

Article 13.Examination process and contents

1. A state management agency shall issue a decision on each examination, which must specify the membership of the examination team and examination contents and time, and send it to the service provider subject to examination at least seven (7) days before conducting the examination, for periodical examination; or conduct the examination immediately, for irregular examination.

2. Examination contents

a/ Observance of regulations on announcement of radio and television service quality;

b/ Observance of regulations on reporting on radio and television service quality;

c/ Observance of regulations on self-examination of radio and television service quality;

d / Observance of regulations on self-supervision of radio and television service quality;

dd/ Other contents of quality management of radio and television services as prescribed by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

3. Every examination shall be recorded in writing. An examination record must contain the signatures of the examination team head and the at-law or legally authorized representative of the service provider. Even when the at-law or authorized representative of the service provider refuses to sign the examination record, the record containing the signatures of the examination team head and members shall still be valid.

4. When necessary, the head of an examination team may decide on measurement and inspection to assess radio or television service quality at the service provider.

5. If detecting a violation of regulations on quality management of radio and television services, an examination team shall report it to the state management agency having issued the examination decision for handling in accordance with the law on handling of administrative violations.

6. A state management agency issuing an examination decision shall keep the examination dossier and results.

Article 14.Supervision of radio and television service quality by state management agencies

1. When necessary, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall organize supervision and select lawfully appointed measurement and inspection units to measure and supervise the quality of services provided by service providers in accordance with this Circular.

2. The supervision of radio and television service quality must comply with regulations and national technical regulations applicable to supervised services.

Article 15.Measurement and inspection for examination and supervision

1. The measurement and inspection of radio and television service quality for examination and supervision purposes shall be carried out by appointed measurement and inspection units.

2. State management agencies selecting appointed measurement and inspection units for examination and supervision purposes shall pay expenses for measurement, inspection, sampling and testing and other expenses in accordance with law.

3. Appointed units measuring and inspecting radio and television service quality for examination and supervision purposes shall take responsibility before law for their measurement and inspection results; keep measurement and inspection statistics for at least twenty four (24) months from the date of making a report on measurement and inspection results, and explain and provide these results to competent agencies when so requested.

Article 16.Responsibilities of examined and supervised units

1. The head of a unit subject to examination or a lawfully authorized person shall work with the examination team throughout the examination and facilitate its examination work.

2. To fully prepare contents, documents, statistics and facilities necessary for measurement, inspection, supervision and examination; to take responsibility for the accuracy of statistics and documents; to explain and provide statistics and documents at the examination team’s request.

3. To provide signals and the right to access to services, decoding devices, to exempt charges for radio and television services serving quality measurement, inspection, supervision and examination activities.

4. To promptly take measures to redress problems related to radio or television service quality at the examination team’s request.

Section 2. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICE QUALITY

Article 17.Information disclosure cycle

In the first twenty (20) days of February and August every year, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall publish information on radio and television service quality on its website at www.abei.gov.vn.

Article 18.Disclosed information

1. Situation of announcement of radio and television service quality and compliance with radio and television service quality norms announced by service providers.

2. Situation of observance of reporting regulations and quality norms reported by service providers.

3. Results of examination and supervision of radio and television service quality by state management agencies.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 19.Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on January 4, 2017.

2. Within sixty (60) days after the effective date of this Circular, providers of radio and television services shall announce their service quality in accordance with Article 6, and issue internal regulations on self-examination of radio and television service quality in accordance with Article 9, of this Circular.

Article 20.Implementation responsibility

The Chief of the Office, the Director of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, and heads of agencies and units of the Ministry of Information and Communications, directors of provincial-level Information and Communications Departments, general directors and directors of radio and television service providers, and related organizations and persons shall implement this Circular. –

The Ministry of Information and Communications

Truong Minh Tuan

* All Appendices to this Circular are not translated.