REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW
ON COMMUNICATIONS
The Law on Communications of the Republic of Lithuania shall
establish the rights and duties of the State, enterprises,
institutions, organizations and natural persons in the use and
management of means of communication, in the establishment and
operation of the communications networks, in the rendering of
communications services, as well as the general principles of
responsibility for the violation of this Law.
Article 1. The Objectives of Communications
Communications shall be a constituent part of the economic
and social infrastructure of the Republic of Lithuania with the
objectives of meeting the requirements of state administration,
national defense, economic projects, postal and electrical
communications network services.
Postal communications network shall be a unifying and
indivisible system of state communications companies and means of
transport which receives, transmits, and delivers mailable
matter.
Electrical communications network shall be the complex of
technical devices for the reception, preparation, and conveyance
of information by the means of electric power and electromagnetic
radiation.
Article 2. The Regulation of Communications Relations
Communications relations in the Republic of Lithuania shall
be regulated by this Law, other laws of the Republic of
Lithuania, directives of the Government of the Republic of
Lithuania, as well as by the Statute of Communications of the
Republic of Lithuania approved by the Government of the Republic
of Lithuania.
Article 3. The State Management of Communications
Communications shall be managed by the Government of the
Republic of Lithuania.
The Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania
shall be the state body specially authorized by the Government of
the Republic of Lithuania for the management of communications.
In the manner established by laws, local telephone, radio,
and television networks may be managed by local governments,
enterprises, institutions, organizations, and natural persons.
Article 4. Authorizations of the Ministry of Communications
of the Republic of Lithuania
The Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania
shall:
shape the policy of communications and organize the work of
the state postal services, telegraph, telephone, data
transmission, as well as radio and television facilities network,
coordinate the functioning of means of communication
belonging to enterprises, institutions, organizations, and
natural persons,
regulate their interaction,
supervise the work of communications network, and
carry out the state technical supervision of radio
communication facilities.
Article 5. The Structure of the Management of Communications
The Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania
shall establish the structure of the management of the integral
communications system belonging to the State and in the manner
established by laws it shall found, reorganize and liquidate
communications companies subordinate to it.
In the manner established by laws, separate communications
companies or facilities may be transferred to local governments.
Article 6. The Ownership of the Communications Network and
Means of Communication
Postal and electrical communications networks and facilities
which are under the control of state communications companies,
shall be the state property of the Republic of Lithuania.
Separate local telephone, radio, and television networks and
stations located in towns and in the countryside may be the
property of local governments, enterprises, institutions,
organizations, and natural persons.
Article 7. Departmental Communications Networks
Enterprises, institutions, and organizations shall have the
right to establish and extend departmental communications
networks and means of communication for satisfying their own
needs.
Departmental communications networks may be included into
the state communications network only on the basis of an
agreement and meeting the technical requirements established by
the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania or a
communications company.
Article 8. Communications Networks of Natural Persons
Natural persons may purchase, install means of communication
and construct individual communications networks for personal
use. The Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania
shall establish the order of their use.
Article 9. The Development of Means of Communication
The state means of communication shall be developed,
reconstructed, and financed in accordance with the program of the
economic development of the Republic of Lithuania.
Communications companies shall have the right to lay line
communications through agricultural lands, bridges, tunnels,
streets, buildings, manifolds, restricted areas, and forests.
The conditions of the laying of line communications must be
coordinated with the owners (users) of the land and facilities.
Communications companies must compensate land users for
damages caused during the laying of line communications and must
put routes in good order.
When new facilities are built, their internal and city's
block communications shall be designed and constructed by
construction clients.
When buildings, roads, bridges, and other facilities are
built or reconstructed, line communications shall be transferred
by construction clients in accordance with the technical
requirements presented by the owners of line communications.
Article 10. The Protection of Electrical Communications
The protective zone of the communications networks shall
comprise the stretch of land along line communications. The
proportions of the area shall be established in the Regulations
of the Protection of Line Communications.
In the protective area, land owners may build or dig the
land in the manner coordinated with the owners of line
communications.
The persons who violate the Regulations of the Protection of
Line Communications and, also, the Regulations of the Operation
and Registration of Radio Communication Facilities, shall be
punishable in the manner established by laws.
Article 11. The Secrecy of Correspondence, Telephone
Conversations, and Telegraphic Messages
Communications employees shall have no right to read the
correspondence of the persons who make use of the communications
services, violate the secrecy of their telephone conversations and
telegraphic messages, they also shall not permit other people to
do this.
Communications employees, officials and other persons who
violate these regulations, shall be punishable in the manner
established by the appropriate laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Mail and telegraphic matter may be attached, inspected, or,
in communication companies, seized, telephone conversations may
be checked pursuant to the motivated decision of the investigator
and only with the sanction of the prosecutor or by the decision
of the court.
Article 12. The Payment for Communications Services
Communications services rendered by communications companies
subordinate to the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of
Lithuania shall be paid for in accordance with the rates and
prices established by the Ministry of Communications of the
Republic of Lithuania. Contract prices shall be charged for works
and services the payment for which has not been established by
rates.
Enterprises, institutions, organizations, and natural
persons owning the means of communication may establish prices
and rates for rendered services which must be coordinated with
the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 13. The Use of the Means of Transport for Mail
Transportation
Under contracts, communications companies shall have the
right to transport mail by state transport which is used in the
Republic of Lithuania, over railways and rail routes, waterways
and water routes, airways and air routes, highways and routes.
Motor vehicles belonging to communications companies must
not be used for works not connected with communications
activities without the consent of these companies.
Article 14. The Distribution of Radio Frequencies and
Granting of Permits
The Ministry of Communications shall distribute radio
frequencies which are assigned to the Republic of Lithuania by
international agreements, giving priority to state and local
government facilities, shall grant permits to enterprises,
institutions, organizations, and natural persons to purchase,
construct, and operate on the territory of the Republic of
Lithuania facilities radiating electromagnetic waves and shall
control the work of these facilities.
Article 15. The Specific Features of the Economic Activities
of Communications Companies
The principles of the economic mechanism of the activities of
the communications branch shall be established by the Government
of the Republic of Lithuania taking into consideration the
specific features of the operational activities of communications
companies.
Article 16. The Issuance of Postage Stamps, Envelopes, and
Postal Cards
The Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania
shall have the exclusive right to issue postage stamps.
Exercising this right, the Ministry of Communications of the
Republic of Lithuania shall establish the samples, face values
and number of copies of the postage stamps, shall organize the
issuance and distribution of postage stamps, envelopes, and
postal cards.
Article 17. The Responsibility of Communications Companies
Communications companies and other enterprises,
institutions, organizations, and natural persons who use means of
communication and communications services shall be materially
responsible for the failure to discharge obligations set forth in
the Statute of Communications or improper fulfillment of said
obligations.
Disputes concerning the provision and use of communications
services shall be settled in the manner established by laws.
Article 18. Relations with Foreign Countries
The Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Lithuania
shall organize the juridical, technological and financial
relations with international communications companies and
represent the Republic of Lithuania in these organizations, it
shall cooperate with foreign countries in the sphere of
communications.
The international cooperation of the Ministry of
Communications of the Republic of Lithuania shall be regulated by
international contracts and agreements.
Article 19. The Seal of Communications Companies
Communications companies shall have a seal with the
Lithuanian State Emblem and the name of the company thereon. They
shall use the Lithuanian State Emblem on business forms, signs of
the companies, postage stamps, and on postal seals for the
sealing of registered parcels (with statement of value).
Article 20. The Responsibility
Persons guilty of the violation of this Law shall be
responsible under the laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
Vytautas Landsbergis
President
Supreme Council
Republic of Lithuania
Vilnius
30 May 1991
No.I-1392