On Monday, April 24, 2017, Decree No. 6999/2017 was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Paraguay, which establishes the new General Tariff Regulations (RGT) proposed by the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL). Said decree repeals in its entirety the previous general regulation that was approved by Decree No. 16,761/2002.

The new General Tariff Regulation (RGT) conceptualizes the tariff in Article 3 in the following terms: “...is the price, whatever it may be, of a telecommunications service, which the Provider Company applies to its respective subscribers and users for the services actually provided, or for the services to be provided in the cases of advance purchase of services...”.

A novelty in the current regulation is the inclusion in Article 7 of the competence of the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL) to control the evolution of the sector and to carry out the required studies to prevent possible anti-competitive and discriminatory conducts, as well as artificial lows or increases in prices and tariffs, with the mention that when CONATEL identifies practices restricting competition, it will inform the National Competition Commission (CONACOM) about these facts. If CONATEL observes significant market power (SMP) by any of the operators in the sector, it will arrange for its treatment in accordance with the law and regulations.

In addition, the regulation establishes a catalog of serious infringements -Article 43- and minor infringements -Article 44-, as well as the mention of the corresponding sanctions in Article 46, which provides that “...the same shall be applied in accordance with the Law...”. Although the new regulation does not specify to which law it refers, we understand that the applicable law would be Law No. 642/95 “On Telecommunications”.

A point to note is that if this legal reference refers to the Telecommunications Law, this could generate doubts regarding the applicable penalties in case of non-compliance with the provisions of the new General Tariff Regulations - Decree No. 6,999/2017 -, since Law No. 642/95 provides taxatively in its Articles 103 and 104 the cases of minor and serious infringements, with the corresponding penalties in Article 105.

In the attached file you will find a copy of Decree No. 6999/2017 with the corresponding Annex.