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Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin

The Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin is designed to set out the ongoing and past work of the Investigations Team within Ofcom’s Competition Group.

The Role of the Investigations Team:

The role of the Investigations Team is to identify any areas of concern regarding communications providers’ compliance with a range of rules relating to consumers’ rights, competition between communications companies and disputes between communications providers disputes under section 185 of the Communications Act. If an area of concern relating to these rules is identified, either by Ofcom itself or by complaints made to Ofcom by customers, communications providers or other relevant organisations, the Team will evaluate the evidence and, if necessary, take enforcement action against the relevant company.

It is obviously not possible for Ofcom to investigate every complaint or dispute, so in general the team prioritises issues that may be of widespread concern to consumers, significantly impact competition in communications markets, or is a dispute between companies that cannot be solved effectively through any other means.

Ofcom also has teams dedicated to investigations and enforcements actions relating to spectrum (such as radio or television interference) and broadcasting content and standards.

What is in the Bulletin?

The Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin contains details of competition and other regulatory enforcement casework handled by the Investigations Team. All cases active since 1 March 2003 are accessible on this site, with updates posted as significant developments occur. You can access issues of the Competition Bulletin from before 1 March 2003 , which was produced by Oftel (Ofcom’s predecessor in the telecoms market) on a quarterly basis at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/comp_bull/archive/index.htm

It should be noted that there are some cases where it is not appropriate to publish a Bulletin entry in order to avoid compromising the investigation or confidential information, these cases will not appear on these pages.

The Bulletin has been revised and renamed as of January 2008 to make it more useful for Ofcom’s stakeholders. To see details of the changes that have been made, please Explanation of the changes to the Competition and Consumer Enforcement Bulletin. If you have feedback or suggestions for the Bulletin please email BulletinSurvey@ofcom.org.uk

New and Open cases: The Bulletin will record details of new cases as and when they are launched and further information will be added as the cases progress. These cases include complaints, disputes and programmes to monitor the industry’s compliance with Ofcom’s regulations. All the cases that are currently open can be viewed at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_ocases/

Closed cases: When a case is concluded the outcome of cases will be published alongside the rest of the information relating to the case and the case will be listed as a closed case, which can then be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_ccases/

Cases in Compliance Monitoring: When concluding an investigation Ofcom may impose new rules or conditions on one or more company and embark on a programme of monitoring to ensure compliance with these rules or conditions. Details of cases that are currently being monitored for compliance can be viewed at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/comp_bull_compcases/

Cases being appealed: Ofcom’s decisions can be challenged by appealing to the Competition Appeals Tribunal (http://www.catribunal.org.uk). If an appeal has been lodged with the Competition Appeals Tribunal then this will be noted in the Bulletin under the case being appealed.

Other Issues: From time to time, other relevant information will be included in the Bulletin. This information can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_index/other/

Six monthly reports: Ofcom publishes a six-monthly round-up of the activity of the Investigations Team, these can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/crt/

How can I keep up to date?

Ofcom provides email alerts whenever the Bulletin is updated. To register for the email alerts please click here http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/subscribe/comp_bull.htm

What do to if you have a complaint:

Consumers: If you are a customer of a communications provider and you have a complaint about their service you should visit Ofcom’s Consumer Advice pages at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumeradvice. These pages provide information on common problems and how to deal with them. If you have a very specific query and cannot find the answer you can contact Ofcom’s Advisory Team through these pages.

Companies and Organisations: If you think you need to make a complaint about a communications provider breaching their legal obligations you should read Ofcom’s Approach to Complaints and Disputes at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/eu_directives/ and then refer to the Guidelines at the bottom of the page regarding how to submit a complaint. It is worth noting that Ofcom does not tend to get involved in contractual disputes between companies and their communications provider. If you have further queries about how to submit a complaint, please contact the Investigations Team on 020 7783 4100 (advice is available between 9:30am and 12 noon , and 2:00pm and 5:30pm Monday to Friday).

Communications Providers: If you are a communications provider and think you need to refer a dispute with another communications provider to Ofcom you should also read Ofcom’s Approach to Complaints and Disputes at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/eu_directives/ and then refer to the Guidelines at the bottom of the page regarding how to submit a dispute. If you need further information about how to submit a complaint, please contact the Investigations Team on 020 7783 4100 (advice is available between 9:30am and 12 noon , and 2:00pm and 5:30pm Monday to Friday).

What to do if you want to comment on a case:

Comments are welcome on any of the cases that the Investigations Team is working on, especially new cases where extra industry input would be useful and cases where remedies are proposed. If you would like to comment on a case, or enquire as to the progress of a case, please contact the relevant case leader whose name and contact details are listed on each case’s Bulletin entry.

Alternatively, comments can be sent to:

Competition.complaints@ofcom.org.uk or faxed to 020 7783 4109, or posted to:

Competition Group Operations Team
Ofcom
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

Please mark comments for the attention of the relevant case leader. In supplying comments or submitting complaints, you should indicate whether you are prepared to let us disclose the full details of the information supplied, including whether you are willing to be identified, in any subsequent correspondence Ofcom has with the party under investigation or with other interested parties. Confidential material should be marked as such and not sent via the Internet address. It should be noted that Ofcom's experience has shown that it can be difficult to pursue a case successfully if we are not able to provide all the necessary information to the subject of the complaint.



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