Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 1 July 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Sąd Najwyższy (Poland)) — Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa sp. z o.o. v Prezes Urzędu Komunikacji Elektronicznej

(Case C-99/09) (1)

(Telecommunication services - Directive 2002/22/EC - Article 30(2) - Portability of telephone numbers - Power of the national regulatory authorities - Direct charge to the subscriber - Disincentive - Taking costs into consideration)

2010/C 234/17

Language of the case: Polish

Referring court

Sąd Najwyższy

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa sp. z o.o.

Defendant: Prezes Urzędu Komunikacji Elektronicznej

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Sąd Najwyższy — Interpretation of Article 30(2) of Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive) (OJ 2002 L 108, p. 51) — Portability of telephone numbers — Obligation on the national regulatory authority, when performing the obligation to ensure that the charge to be paid by consumers for use of the porting facility does not act as a disincentive, to take into account the costs incurred by mobile telephone operators in providing that facility

Operative part of the judgment

Article 30(2) of Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive) is to be interpreted as obliging the national regulatory authority to take account of the costs incurred by mobile telephone network operators in implementing the number portability service when it assesses whether the direct charge to subscribers for the use of that service is a disincentive. However, it retains the power to fix the maximum amount of that charge levied by operators at a level below the costs incurred by them, when a charge calculated only on the basis of those costs is liable to dissuade users from making use of the portability facility.

(1)  OJ C 129, 6.6.2009.