New Technical Regulations

On the 23rd of October, 2022 the technical regulation “Telecommunications ducts (CTc) came into force. Optical fiber. Design, execution, use, maintenance and verification, reference RTC 5-2022”, published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 935 and no. 935 bis.

The regulations were developed based on art. 29 para. (3) from Law no. 159/2016 regarding the physical infrastructure regime of electronic communications networks, under the auspices of the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration (MDLPA), the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalization (MCID) and respectively the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM).

The publication of these technical regulations, combined with the provisions introduced at the beginning of 2022 by the “Electronic Communications Code” (law 198/2022) in law 159/2016 regarding the obligation to build or modernize the physical infrastructure for high-speed electronic communications networks as part of infrastructure development works of road transport* (highways, expressways, national roads and bypasses), constitutes an important step forward in order to achieve the objectives related to Romania’s digital transformation.

* see art. 26(1) of Law 156/2016, introduced by Law 198/2022:

(1) Within the projects of construction, modernization, rehabilitation of highways, express roads, national roads and bypasses, the legal entity that carries out activities of national public interest in the field of administration of national roads and concessioned highways, as well as, as the case may be, the legal entity of national strategic interest that ensures the public service of road transport infrastructure development, have the obligation to also ensure the construction or, as the case may be, the modernization of the physical infrastructure for high-speed electronic communications networks, an integral part of these highways, express roads, national roads and bypass options, physical infrastructure consisting at least of: piping intended for the installation of cables for high-speed electronic communications networks and power supply cables for electronic communications equipment, technical channels, cameras and/or inspection and connection cameras, with respect the technical regulations applicable at the time of construction or, as the case may be, the modernization of the physical infrastructure. The financing of the construction or modernization of the physical infrastructure for high-speed electronic communications networks will be made from the budget of the legal entity that carries out activities of national public interest in the field of the administration of national roads and concessioned highways or, as the case may be, from the budget of the legal entity of national strategic interest that provides the public service for the development of road transport infrastructure.

(2) The legal entities provided for in para. (1) grants access to the physical infrastructure mentioned in the same paragraph, under objective, transparent, proportional and non-discriminatory conditions, to all providers of public electronic communications networks who request access in order to build, install, maintain, replace or move some elements of public networks of high-speed electronic communications.