Ordinance on Telecommunications Services (OTS)
English is not an official language of the Swiss Confederation. This translation is provided for information purposes only and has no legal force.
Art. 42 Establishment
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 assign the task of dispute resolution to the Agent if the Agent: a. guarantees to comply with the applicable legislation; b. proves that it can finance the dispute resolution activity in the long term; c. undertakes to perform its duty independently, objectively, transparently and efficiently, and 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 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 1995 on Public Procurement. 4 The transfer takes place in the form of a contract under adm
Para. 3 — [ AS 1996 518 ; 1997 2779 annex No II 5; 2002 886 , 1759 ; 2006 1667 , 5613 art. 30 para. 2 No 1; 2009 6149 No I and II; 2010 3175 annex 3 No 2; 2015 775 ; 2017 5161 annex 2 No II 3. AS 2020 691 art. 31 para. 1 No 1]. See now: the O of 12 Febr. 2020 ( SR 1 72.056.11 ).
Art. 43 Mission
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.
Art. 44 Procedural Rules
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.
Art. 45 Principles of the procedure
1 The dispute resolution service must be fair, expeditious and affordable for customers. 2 An application for dispute resolution 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 w
Art. 46 Relationship to other procedures
1 The submission of an application for dispute resolution does not preclude civil action from being taken. 2 The dispute resolution service shall terminate the procedure as soon as a court or arbitration court begins dealing with the matter.
Art. 47 Providers’ obligations
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.
Para. 3 — Amended by No I of the O of 4 Nov. 2009, in force since 1 Jan. 2010 (AS 2009 5821).
Art. 48 Data protection
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 dispute resolution procedure is concluded. 2 Persons performing a task for the dispute resolution service are bound by official secrecy in accordance with Article 320 of the Criminal Code. 3 The dispute resolution service may request OFCOM to provide it with personal information that is necessary to resolve disputes. In particular, it may request information concerning administrative or criminal prosecutions or sanctions against a provider of telecommunications or value-added services. 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
Para. 1 — Amended by No I of the O of 4 Nov. 2009, in force since 1 Jan. 2010 (AS 2009 5821). Para. 2 — SR 311.0 Para. 2 — Amended by No I of the O of 5 Nov. 2014, in force since 1 Jan. 2015 (AS 2014 4161). Para. 3 — Second sentence amended by Annex 2 No II 87 of the Data Protection Ordinance of 31 Aug. 2022, in force since 1 Sept. 2023 (AS 2022 568). Para. 4bis — Inserted by No I of the O of 18 Nov. 2020, in force since 1 Jan. 2021 (AS 2020 6183). Para. 5 — Inserted by No I of the O of 4 Nov. 2
Art. 49 Finance
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. 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.
Para. 1 — Amended by No I of the O of 18 Nov. 2020, in force since 1 Jan. 2021 (AS 2020 6183).
Art. 50 Surveillance in the case of transfer
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 OFC