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Summary

1. Section 52 of the Communications Act 2003 (‘the Act’) places a duty on Ofcom to set general conditions to ensure that communications providers establish and maintain procedures to, amongst other things, handle complaints and resolve disputes between them and their domestic and small business customers.
2. General Condition 14 is the relevant condition for complaint handling and dispute resolution (see http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/nts_info/statement/statement page 43) Under General Condition 14.1 the communications provider must produce a basic code of practice for domestic and small business customers, which sets out clear and up to date information on standard terms and conditions, including prices and tariffs, for access to and use of a publicly available telephone services (‘PATS’), as detailed in General Condition 10.2. This information must include details of the procedures for bringing an unresolved complaint to an alternative dispute resolution scheme (the ‘Complaints Code of Practice’).
3. The Complaints Code of Practice must be approved by Ofcom. These Guidelines are designed to help communications providers produce a Code which Ofcom will be able to approve. To facilitate the process, Ofcom has produced an electronic template which allows providers to submit codes for approval via email. Providers may use this template if they wish.
4. The Complaints Code of Practice must be written in plain English. It must be easy to understand and easily accessible to customers. It must be provided free of charge. The Code should be published on the provider’s publicly accessible website where available.
5. Under General Condition 14.7 the provider is obliged to implement and comply with a dispute resolution scheme (‘ADR’). If a provider is not a member of an approved ADR scheme, Ofcom will not approve its complaints code of practice.
6. There are penalties for non-compliance with General Condition 14. Under Section 96 of the Act, Ofcom may impose a penalty of up to ten per cent of turnover for failure to comply with a formal notification within the time period specified.
7. If you wish to comment on any aspect of these Guidelines, please write to feedbackcop@ofcom.org.uk.

The full documents is available below

• Customer Codes of Practice for handling complaints and resolving disputes [pdf]
  Guidelines for public electronic communication service providers seeking Ofcom approval
• Code of Practice Regarding Complaint Handling and Dispute Resolution for Domestic and Small Business Customers [rtf]

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