In light of changing legislation, ComReg proposes new codes of practice to modernise consumer rights and improve the transparency of the complaints handling process
ComReg is consulting on a review of the codes of practice for complaints handling, aiming to enhance protections and clarity for end users
On 22 April 2025, ComReg launched a consultation on the review of minimum requirements for its complaints handling codes of practice for telecoms providers. The existing requirements were published in June 2017. ComReg’s review has come as a result of changing legislation as well as practical experience, specifically due to Ireland’s transposition of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), the Code Regulations and the Communications Regulation and Digital Hub Development Agency (Amendment) Act 2023 (the Act). ComReg’s proposals to enhance protections and clarity for end users focus on helping them get complaints addressed promptly and effectively by ensuring that more information on the complaints process is made available and that additional consumer rights are triggered sooner in relation to their complaints. Stakeholders have until 27 May 2025 to respond to the consultation.
The definition of “complaint” has come under review to strengthen consumer rights in the complaints process
One of ComReg’s key proposals is to amend its definition of a “complaint”. The regulator explains that it is aware of a number of difficulties that end users are having with complaints, such as:
An unanswered issue not being considered as a complaint;
End users who raise several issue issues within a complaint not having all of these considered;
End users with a recurring problem being required to treat each instance as a separate, unrelated issue;
End users having issues and/or complaints closed without their knowledge; and
End users being told that their issue does not warrant a formal complaint.
The regulator proposes that the new definition should clarify that a complaint relating to a provider’s complaint handling process should be considered a complaint in itself. ComReg has also proposed that the definition should require an explicit or implicit expression of dissatisfaction from the end user. Finally, it also proposes that when a provider makes no attempt to resolve an issue, and two working days have passed since the complaint was made, the issue should be deemed a complaint from the date it was raised by the end user.
Operators should publish easily accessible codes of practice on complaint handling and expand how they handle these complaints
ComReg has set out its new proposed requirements based on two sections of the Act. Firstly, Section 41(1) requires that operators “prepare, publish, keep updated and implement a code practice for dealing with complaints and for settling relevant disputes”. To implement this, ComReg proposes a number of rules to ensure that these operator codes of practice are easily accessible to all. It calls for all operators to have a clear direct link to the codes from their corporate homepages and for the code webpages themselves to refrain from using any materials which are irrelevant to the complaints handling process. Secondly, Section 42(2) of the Act lists the mandatory materials that must be published within a provider’s codes of practice such as the first point of contact for complainants, including the channels of making complaints, a means of recording complaints and procedures for resolving them. In ComReg’s updated approach, it proposes that operators must still support and direct end users who contact them through a different channel to a specified complaints one.
ComReg has drawn on the approaches to complaints handling of a number of other regulators, including Ofcom in the UK and ACMA in Australia
ComReg has reviewed the approaches taken by a number of other regulators to complaints handling such as the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in Ireland, Ofcom and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Similarly to ComReg’s proposal for operators to publish clear and easily accessible codes of practice, Ofcom’s 2017 code of practice also requires that operators publicise readily available details on their means of handling complaints, doing so in a way that does not deter any relevant customers from making complaints. There are also similarities to be drawn between ComReg’s efforts to trigger consumer rights sooner in the complaints process and Ofcom’s approach. In January 2025, the UK regulator opened a consultation in which it proposed that the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) option for customers become available six weeks after a complaints process has begun rather than eight weeks, which is the current rule. This proposed approach followed a review of the ADR scheme in the telecoms sector in late 2023. This consultation closed on 12 March 2025 and a statement from Ofcom is pending.
