S.I. No. 354/1987:

TELEMESSAGE SCHEME, 1987.

TELEMESSAGE SCHEME, 1987.

BORD TELECOM ÉIREANN, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 90 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983 (No. 24 of 1983), hereby makes the following Scheme:

1. This Scheme may be cited as the Telemessage Scheme, 1987.

2. This Scheme shall come into operation on the 7th of July 1987.

3. The Interpretation Act, 1937 (No. 38 of 1937), applies to this Scheme.

4. This Scheme shall apply in addition to any applicable provisions of the Telegraph Acts 1863 to date, of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Acts 1983 and 1984, and of any Schemes relating to telecommunications services in force from time to time, and any amendment, extension or replacement of the same. Such provisions shall be deemed applicable unless provision is made separately in this Scheme or the context otherwise requires.

5. In this Scheme, except and in so far as the contrary is provided for or the context requires otherwise, the following expressions shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them:--

"telegram" means a telegram to which this Scheme applies;

"Telemessage" means a message received as a telegram or otherwise by Bord Telecom Éireann, in the Telemessage Centre at the Central Telegraph Office, Dublin (or such other place designated for the time being by Bord Telecom Éireann for the purpose), from the sender by telephone, telex or such other means as Bord Telecom Éireann may from time to time prescribed for the purpose (including receipt from the sender by hand where so permitted by Bord Telecom Éireann provided such sender is for the time being the renter of an exchange line or other facility from Bord Telecom Éireann) which, at the request of and on behalf of such sender, is accepted by Bord Telecom Éireann so that the said message may be converted into such appropriate form (in this Scheme referred to as the "form of Telemessage") of "postal packet" (within the meaning of the Post Office Acts 1908 to 1969) as may be chosen by the sender from the forms of Telemessage available for the time being and despatched in such appropriate form of Telemessage by Bord Telecom Éireann to an addressee designated by the said sender.

6. This Scheme shall apply to Telemessages where the message, in the form of a telegram (save where received by hand from the sender as aforesaid) to be despatched as a Telemessage, originates within the State in the prescribed manner and is addressed to places within the State or such places outside the State as may be declared from time to time by Bord Telecom Éireann to be destinations or addresses to which Telemessages may be sent and provided that, in the case of a Telemessage received by Bord Telecom Éireann in the form of a telegram, it shall be permissible, in accordance with any other relevant schemes of Bord Telecom Éireann, for a reverse charge call to be made to the telephone, telex or other telecommunications line or facility of such sender from which such telegram has been transmitted unless Bord Telecom Éireann shall expressly agree otherwise (which express agreement may be deemed to have been given upon the acceptance of such telegram by Bord Telecom Éireann).

7. The sender of a Telemessage shall send to Bord Telecom Éireann such information as Bord Telecom Éireann may reasonably require for the purpose of despatching a Telemessage and such information shall be in such form and sent in such manner to the Telemessage Centre at the Central Telegraph Office, Dublin (or any such other place designated for the purpose) or by such means (including the use of dialling codes, telephone or telex numbers of other devices) as Bord Telecom Éireann may prescribe for the purpose.

8. (1) Messages intended for despatch as Telemessages shall ordinarily be receivable by Bord Telecom Éireann at or after 09.00 and before 22.00 on normal working days from Monday to Friday (inclusive) and on normal working Saturdays at or after 09.00 and before 17.30.

(2) Bord Telecom Éireann reserves the right from time to time to alter the foregoing times, either generally or for a limited or particular purpose, by advertisement in any of the national daily newspapers or by such other means as Bord Telecom Éireann many deem appropriate.

(3) Upon receipt of a message intended for despatch as a Telemessage, Bord Telecom Éireann shall endeavour to despatch it as soon as possible in the form of Telemessage chosen by the sender provided that such form is transmissible in accordance with the requirements of any relevant national postal authority and provided also that such message may be rendered conformable with such requirements.

9. (1) There shall be charged by Bord Telecom Éireann and paid by the sender of a message for despatch as a Telemessage a charge calculated in accordance with the Schedule hereto according to the form of Telemessage chosen by the sender and the name and address of the addressee of the Telemessage shall be counted once as words for which payment shall be made.

(2) For purposes of this paragraph, where a message, received by Bord Telecom Éireann and intended for despatch as a Telemessage, originates from a telephone, telex or other telecommunications line (including a coin box exchange line) or facility rented from Bord Telecom Éireann the renter of such line or facility shall be deemed to be the sender of the said message and all charges in relation to such Telemessage shall be charged by Bord Telecom Éireann to the relevant account of the person who is the renter of such line or facility.

(3) In all cases, other than those to which subparagraph (2) of this paragraph applies, any person who sends to Bord Telecom Éireann a message, intended for despatch as a Telemessage, in the form of a telegram or tenders it by hand when so permitted shall be responsible for all charges in relation to such message and its despatch as a Telemessage and shall pay such charges by placing coins in the apparatus from which such message is sent as directed by Bord Telecom Éireann or shall pay in such other manner as may be directed by Bord Telecom Éireann.

(4) Bord Telecom Éireann shall have authority to include charges under this Scheme in the accounts rendered to persons who are the renters of telephone, telex or other telecommunications lines or facilities mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) of this paragraph in respect of such telephone, telex or other telecommunications lines or facilities and, for that purpose, this sub-paragraph shall be construed as one with the appropriate schemes of Bord Telecom Éireann governing the subscription and charges in respect of such telephone, telex or other telecommunications lines or facilities.

10. The sender or the addressee of a Telemessage may receive a further plain copy of such Telemessage sent to him on payment of the charge stipulated at Reference Number 1 in Part II of the Schedule hereto.

11. The sender of a Telemessage may arrange for the transmission of a reply thereto (Direct Reply Facility) on payment of the charge specified at Reference Number 2 in Part II of the Schedule hereto.

12. A Telemessage may, at the request of the sender, be despatched to several addresses provided that if such despatches are made there shall be charged and paid in respect of the despatch to each such address after the first the charge specified at Reference Number 3 in Part II of the Schedule hereto. Accordingly, if, for example, a Telemessage contains a message of ten words of text and were to be despatched to the following addresses (each of which contains twelve words):--

the Telemessage should be charged for as follows, namely, twenty-two words in text and address to be charged and paid for at the rate appropriate to the form of Telemessage plus five extra copies to be despatched to extra addresses to be charged for and paid at the rate specified at the said Reference Number 3.

13. (1) The text (including the signature) for Telemessage may be expressed in plain language or in secret language, but where secret language is used the sender must produce upon request the code from which the text of the Telemessage is compiled. The aforesaid languages may be used together in the same Telemessage.

(2) ( a ) For the purposes of this Paragraph plain language is that which presents an intelligible meaning in a language which is both in current use and regarded as being plain language by the International Telegraph Service, and for the said purposes Telemessages in plain language are those in which the text is wholly in plain language.

( b ) A Telemessage which is not for the purposes of this paragraph to be regarded as being in plain language shall be regarded for those purposes as being in secret language.

14. (1) Telemessages must be written in the characters that have an equivalent in the table of telegraph signals, that is to say:

( a ) Letters:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

( b ) Figures: 1234567890.

( c ) Punctuation marks and other signs:--

(2) The following characters may be used in the Telemessage but when they are used the equivalent recognised in the International Telegraph Service will be despatched:

Roman figures will be transmitted as Arabic figures. If the sender intends the addressee to be made aware that Roman figures are meant, the French word "Romain" shall be inserted in the transmitted text in front of each such figure or group of figures. The cross sign (+) used as a sign of addition may be utilised in a group but not as an isolated sign.

15. Subject to the provisions of this Scheme, the contents of Telemessages shall be reckoned and Telemessages charged for with reference to their contents as follows:

( a ) in the counting of words no distinction shall be made between the number of actual words and the number of chargeable words provided that the decision of Bord Telecom Éireann as to the number and computation of words shall be final;

( b ) each separate word or group of characters shall be counted as one actual word;

( c ) other groups of characters or expressions not exceeding ten characters shall be counted as one chargeable word each, and words, groups of characters or expressions exceeding ten characters shall be counted at the rate of one chargeable word for each ten characters or part thereof;

( d ) postal codes or similar codes or abbreviations shall not be included in the number of chargeable words in the address; and

( e ) if the sender requests his name to be included as such in or at the end of the Telemessage it shall be included in the number of chargeable words.

16. If the sender of a Telemessage desires that special instructions, such as "private", "confidential", "to be opened at once" or the like, shall be written on the envelope containing the Telemessage which is to be despatched to the addressee, such instructions shall be conveyed by the sender and shall be counted and charged for as part of the Telemessage.

17. Provided that the length of a Telemessage is not increased and the form of Telemessage is not altered and no other expense is incurred by Bord Telecom Éireann, the sender of a Telemessage may cancel or alter it before despatch to the addressee has taken place where Bord Telecom Éireann can reasonably give effect to such cancellation or alteration; in the event of such cancellation or alteration the charge payable for such Telemessage shall be refunded where possible, less the charge specified at Reference Number 4 in Part II of the Schedule hereto.

18. When a telegram has been accepted for despatch as a Telemessage, it shall not be cancelled nor shall its despatch be suspended or interfered with on the application of any person except the sender.

19. The address to which any telegram is to be despatched as a Telemessage shall be a full and sufficient postal address.

20. Without prejudice to the generality of any other provision governing liability, neither Bord Telecom Éireann, its servants or agents shall be liable for any error or omission in any Telemessage or for any matter contained therein or for any failure or delay in providing any service under this Scheme or for the failure, interruption, suspension or restriction of a service under this Scheme.

21. With effect from the coming into operation of this Scheme, the Telegraph (Inland Written Telegram) Regulations, 1980 ( S.I. No. 196 of 1980 ), as amended, shall stand revoked save that they shall continue to apply to telegrams addressed to such destinations or addresses outside the State as are not for the time being declared by Bord Telecom Éireann to be destinations or addresses to which Telemessages may be sent.

SCHEDULE

Part 1 --Charges for Forms of Telemessage

Part II -- Charges for Miscellaneous Services

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The purpose of this Scheme is to make provision for the introduction of a Telemessage Service to enable receipt and transmission by Telecom Éireann of messages tendered to it telephonically or by other means of telecommunications or otherwise and normally intended for postal delivery to the addressee. The Service replaces in part of the traditional Telegram service.