Ofcom’s guidelines for the handling of competition complaints and complaints concerning regulatory rules
On 31 October 2011, we published a consultation seeking comments on our proposed updated guidance on competition and regulatory investigations following a number of significant changes to the way we work, in particular:
- new enforcement powers that came into effect following implementation of the revised European Framework on Electronic Communications in May 2011;
- changes to Ofcom’s internal structure: the separation of our investigations programme into two separate teams dealing with competition and consumer issues;
- development of separate guidelines on how we handle regulatory disputes, which were published for consultation on 17 December 2010 and confirmed on 7 June 2011; and
- Ofcom assuming functions in relation to postal services under the Postal Services Act 2011 (“the Postal Services Act”).
This statement follows the consultation, and sets out our response to the stakeholder comments received, together with an indication of whether, or not, we have accepted respondents’ suggestions in the final guidelines (the “Guidelines”).
Ofcom's enforcement guidelines (PDF, 307.4 KB)
Important Consumer Information
These Guidelines apply to the submitting of complaints in relation to breaches of regulatory rules, including postal regulatory rules, and/or competition law.
If you have a complaint you wish to make as a consumer, viewer or listener about a communications provider or a broadcaster, these Guidelines do not apply to you. Ofcom already has established processes for complaints about television and radio programmes (including fairness and privacy issues), about advertisements on television and radio, complaints about interference to wireless spectrum and licensing to use wireless spectrum and consumer complaints about telecommunications providers. Details of these processes can be found on the Ofcom website at /make-a-complaint
This link also provides guidance if you have a complaint about the services provided by a postal operator.
