Communications Providers and those making available Associated Facilities with a turnover of £5millon or more from relevant activities are required to pay administrative charges.

These are collected by the Director General of Telecommunications to recover the cost to him of carrying out his functions and duties as listed in the section 38 of the Communications Act 2003. The power to fix administrative charges is contained in Section 38 of the Act.

Each charging year those designated to pay charges in that year will be obliged to pay the charge as calculated by the Director in accordance with the published statement of charging principles. A statement of charging principles was published by the Director on 25 July.

Although the Act provides for functions to be carried out by Ofcom, it is not yet ready to assume its duties. Therefore for a transitional period the Director will carry out the function of fixing administrative charges, along with other functions under the Act, until Ofcom is ready to assume its duties.

The power to fix administrative charges came into effect on 25 July 2003 with the implementation of the EU Directives on electronic communications and the coming into force of the Act. The first collection of administrative charges will be for the period from 25 July 2003 to 31 March 2004. Subsequent charging years will run from 1^st April to 31 March. A reduction will be made to the administrative charge payable in the first charging year to reflect the fact that it is a shorter year.

The Director published a notice on 25 July 2003 (see below) designating those who are liable to pay charges (the ‘Designation’). Each year the Director will also publish a general demand for information which will enable him to obtain the information necessary to calculate the administrative charges that are payable. The first of those general demands, for the first charging year i.e. 25^th July 2003 – 31^st March 2004, was published on 1 August 2003. The general demand requires the provision of information on relevant turnover from those liable to pay charges in accordance with the Designation.

Any person responding to the Director’s demand for information must do so on a self-certificate of turnover accompanied by an extract of its audited accounts and a copy of the certificate can be downloaded here. For guidance on what may constitute a relevant activity for the purposes of determining relevant turnover please refer to Oftel’s guidelines.

Oftel will only accept turnover certificates signed by two Directors of the company concerned and these must be sent by post to the contact set out in the Demand for information. Submissions sent by email will not be accepted. The certificate can be downloaded from this site.

Documents and Notices relating to the Administrative Charging Regime.

Oftel has published the following documents and notices:

Implementation of the Authorisation Directive's provisions on notification and fees - consultation - 10 February 2003

Implementation of the Authorisation Directive's provisions on notifications and fees - Statement - 21 May 2003

Notice of intention by the Director to publish a general demand for information as soon as possible after 25 July 2003

Notice of Designation under Section 38 and 34 of the Communications Act 2003

Revised Statement of Charging Principles for the purpose of fixing charges in accordance with sections 38 and 39 of the Communications Act 2003 - 10 October 2003

The definition of ‘relevant activity’ for the purposes of administrative charging - 29 July 2003

A General Demand for Information Published by the Director General of Telecommunications