COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY: SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
INDEX TO SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
Communications Regulatory Authority (Designation of Public Postal Operator) Order
Communications Regulatory Authority Regulations
(under section 67)
(14th August, 2015)
ARRANGEMENT OF PARAGRAPHS
PARAGRAPH
1. Citation
2. Designation of Public Postal Operator
S.I. 86, 2015.
This Order may be cited as the Communications Regulatory Authority (Designation of Public Postal Operator) Order.
2. Designation of Public Postal Operator
Botswana Postal Services is hereby designated as a Public Postal Operator from 1st April, 2014 to 31st March, 2019.
COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY REGULATIONS
(section 94)
(30th June, 2022)
ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS
REGULATION
PART I
Preliminary
1. Citation
2. Interpretation
PART II
Broadcasting
3. Classification of broadcasting licences
4. Ownership and control
5. Commencement of broadcasting service
6. Fairness in advertising
7. Scheduling of advertisements
8. Sponsorship of programmes
9. Infomercials
10. Local content
11. Broadcasting standards
12. Protection of children
13. Accurate, fair and impartial reporting
14. Broadcasting of unconfirmed reports
15. Correction of errors in broadcasting
16. Reporting on controversial issues
17. Conduct of interviews
18. Comments
19. Phone-in programme
20. Invasion of privacy
21. Consent to broadcast
22. Sexual offences
23. Payment of criminals
24. Emergencies or public disaster broadcasting
25. Special event broadcasting licence
26. External broadcast feed
27. Broadcasting during elections
28. Restrictions on dealing with foreign governments
29. Complaints
30. Subscription management service
PART III
Telecommunications
31. General obligation
32. Numbering and addressing standards
33. Infrastructure sharing
34. Right to enter upon land and construct telecommunication line
35. Trees obstructing telecommunication line
36. Electrical works, etc. to conform to requirements
37. Damage to property or injury to persons
38. Technical feasibility and compatibility
39. Essential requirements applicable to terminal equipment
40. Limitation, interruption and termination of service
PART IV
Radio Communications
41. National radio frequency plan
42. Frequency assignments
43. Frequency ownership
44. Emergency and distress signals
PART V
Equipment Type Approval
45. Application of this Part
46. Application procedure
47. Repair service
48. Technical standard
49. Declaration of conformity
50. Configuration of equipment
51. Operating instructions
52. Mutual recognition
53. Labelling
54. Revocation of type approval
PART VI
Subscriber Registration
55. Requirement for registration
56. Registration information
57. Verification of identification particulars
58. Registration process
59. Record of registration
60. Confidentiality and disclosure of subscriber’s registration particulars
61. Deactivation of subscribers
PART VII
Postal Services
62. Authority to issue licence to postal operators
63. Duration of postal licence
64. Refusal of postal licence
65. Renewal of postal licence
66. Transfer or lease of postal licence
67. Postage stamps
68. Posting of postal articles
69. Delivery of postal articles
70. Undelivered foreign postal items
71. Disposal of undelivered postal item
72. Exemption from postal charges
73. Procedure for parcel post
74. Insured postal item
75. Compensation
76. Prohibited articles
77. Postal security and safety
78. Use of technology
79. International obligations of licensee
80. Postal addresses
PART VIII
Regulation of Tariffs
81. Application of this Part
82. Cost-oriented prices
83. Application for tariff approval
84. Investigation on tariffs
85. Display of tariffs
PART IX
Interconnection
86. Interconnection agreements
87. Quality of service relating to interconnection agreements
PART X
Dispute Resolution
88. Dispute resolution
PART XI
Confidentiality of Messages
89. Application of this Part
90. Confidentiality of messages
PART XII
Consumer Affairs
91. Complaint handling procedures
92. Consumer information
93. Consumer information protection
94. Undue preferential treatment of consumers
95. Accurate consumer billing or charging
96. Unsolicited electronic communication messages
97. Safety, health and environment
PART XIII
Regulatory Monitoring Systems
98. Regulatory monitoring system
99. Systems interoperability
100. Systems integrity
PART XIV
Reports
101. Reports
PART XV
Miscellaneous Provisions
102. Quality of service standards
103. Public emergency service broadcasting
104. Harmful interference
105. Licence fees and levies
106. Licence exemption
107. Licence application guidelines and procedures
108. General penalty
109. Revocation of S.I. No. 52 of 1997 and S.I. No. 97 of 2004
S.I. 82, 2022.
PART I
Preliminary (regs 1-2)
These Regulations may be cited as the Communications Regulatory Authority Regulations.
In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
"advertising" means the broadcasting or distribution, by any means, of any item or information which is intended to promote a cause or to inform or influence its recipients, in return for payment or other valuable consideration;
"assigned frequency" means the centre of the frequency band assigned to a broadcasting service;
"broadcaster" means any person who composes or distributes broadcasting service for reception by subscribers to such services or the general public;
"broadcasting licence" means a licence issued in terms of section 32 of the Act for the provision of a broadcasting service;
"commencement date" means the date on which a licensee commences the operation of a regulated sector;
"Content Service Licence (Radio)" means a licence that enables the holder to broadcast audio or data services such as text to a subscriber or to the general public;
"Content Service Licence (Television)" means a licence that enables the holder to broadcast video, audio or data services such as text to a subscriber or to the general public;
"coverage area" means the territory covered by a broadcasting station signal strength, allowing for clear reception, and includes an area specified in a broadcasting licence by the Board;
"deactivate" means to disable a telecommunications service to a subscriber by a licensee;
"declaration of conformity" means a procedure by which a manufacturer or a supplier gives a written assurance in accordance with International Standard Organisation (ISO) or International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) standards that Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (RTTE) conforms to these Regulations;
"disaster" includes any event or circumstance arising out of accidents, natural phenomena, fires, floods, explosions, or incidents involving exposure or potential exposure to radioactive or toxic materials;
"election period" means the period immediately following the announcement of an election date until the close of polling, in accordance with the Electoral Act (Cap. 02:09);
"external broadcast feed" means an output of another broadcaster broadcasting live as a licensee’s broadcast output;
"harmful interference" means any interference which endangers the functioning of a radio service, or which degrades, obstructs or repeatedly interrupts such a radio service operating in accordance with the assigned frequency;
"hybrid mail" means an electronic-based postal service whereby a sender posts the original message in either a physical or an electronic form, which is then electronically processed and converted into a letter-post item for physical delivery to the addressee;
"identification particulars" means any details given by a subscriber to a licensee or a licensee’s agent for the purpose of registration of the subscriber;
"infomercial" means any advertising broadcast in visual or audio form, lasting for more than two minutes, which may contain demonstrations of the use of the product or service advertised, entailing direct offers to the public in return for payment, and which results in the broadcaster receiving payment in monetary terms or otherwise;
"interference" means the effect of unwanted energy due to one or a combination of emissions, radiations or indications upon reception in a radio system, manifested by any performance degradation, misinterpretation or loss of information which could be extracted in the absence of such unwanted energy;
"letter" means any form of written communication or personal correspondence, including a postcard;
"licensee" means a service provider licenced under the Act by the Authority;
"linear broadcasting" means broadcasting of the scheduled real time content that is received by a subscriber at the time of broadcast;
"local content" means the output or results of a regulated sectors’ production that have been produced using material or resources gathered in Botswana;
"local coverage" means a coverage area of a terrestrial broadcasting transmitter confined to locality within a town or village and does not exceed a radius of three kilometres from the transmitter;
"national coverage" means a coverage area of the whole country;
"national emergency organisations" include the police service, security forces, fire brigade, ambulance services, medical services, veterinarian services and environmental disaster agencies, whether or not such organisations are owned and managed on a private or public basis;
"numbering and addressing capacity" means a part of the numbering plan’s total number resource and a part of the addressing plan’s total address resource, allocated to a licensee;
"Parental Control Mechanism" means a system that allows the viewer to block out a channel or programming using an exclusive access control technology such as personal identification number (PIN) in order to select an appropriate level of suitable programming;
"political party" means a party which is either lawfully registered as a political party in Botswana;
"post" means a system for the collection, dispatch, holding and delivery of postal articles by or through public postal licensee;
"post office" means any building, house, room, vehicle or place, where postal services are offered;
"postal article" has the same meaning as "postal item" and shall include an insured postal item;
"postal charge" means any charges imposed or levied by the licensee for the provision of postal services;
"postcode" means a series of digits or alphabets or a unique identifier appended to a postal address identifying a locality;
"programme", in relation to a broadcasting service, means visual information or sound, or a combination of visual information and sound, which inform, enlighten or entertain the general public, and includes but is not limited to—
(a) advertising or sponsorship material, whether of a commercial nature or not; and
(b) news bulletins, current affairs programmes, informative programmes, interviews, panel discussions, phone-in programmes and sports programmes;
"public emergency service" means any service provided by a licensee exclusively, or in conjunction with any other person, by means of which emergency broadcasts are made free of charge;
"radio licence" means a licence issued in terms of section 45 of the Act;
"regional coverage" means a coverage area of a terrestrial broadcasting transmitter intended to cover a town or village or a group of people of towns and villages which does not exceed a radius of 50 kilometres;
"registration" means the recording of identification particulars of a subscriber by a licensee or a licensee’s agent;
"SMS Broadcasting Licence" means a subscription management service referred to in regulation 3(1)(c);
"signal" includes any signs, sounds, text, images, information or data of any configuration sent, or to be sent, for conveyance by a system operated by a licensee;
"special event broadcasting licence" means a broadcasting licence issued for an event that does not last for more than seven days or any other extended period as may be determined by the Authority and which is broadcast—
(a) outside a licence’s coverage area; or
(b) by a foreign-registered broadcaster;
"sponsored programme" means a programme that has all or part of its costs paid by a sponsor, with a view to promoting that sponsor’s, or another sponsor’s name, product or service;
"station format" means an arrangement of programmes which are presented on a broadcasting station;
"subscriber" means a person who uses or accesses a communication service provided by a licensee;
"suspend" means to temporarily disable a regulated communications service to a subscriber by a licensee;
"telecommunications" means any system of conveying signals, sounds, communications or other information through the agency of electric, magnetic, electro-magnetic, electro-chemical or electro-mechanical energy, or through the agency of radio waves;
"undeliverable postal article" means an item which, has not been claimed by an addressee;
"UPU-Acts" has the same meaning ascribed to it in section 2 of the Act;
"Universal Postal Union" or "UPU" means the specialised agency of the United Nations dealing with postal services; and
"watershed period" means a period from 9.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. when material unsuitable for children may be broadcast.
PART II
Broadcasting (regs 3-30)
3. Classification of broadcasting licences
(1) A broadcasting licence shall be classified commercial or non-commercial according to the following categories—
(a) Content Service Licence (Radio);
(b) Content Service Licence (Television);
(c) SMS Broadcasting Licence;
(d) special event broadcasting licence; and
(e) any other class of licence as the Authority may determine.
(2) A holder of a broadcasting licence may elect any of the following platform for delivery of the broadcasting service—
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