Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 23 February 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport
General Scheme of the Communications Regulation (Enforcement) Bill: Discussion
Ms Barbara Delaney:
No. I will come back to the Senator on the other level, which is enforcement. The code brings in new compensation for the individual consumer, but the proposals are to look at other headings for that as well. That is definitely new. An enhanced dispute resolution is also proposed. If a consumer is not happy with a response from his or her service provider within ten working days, he or she can come to ComReg and, as an individual consumer, have that dispute adjudicated on. That is the proposal.
What if hundreds of consumers fall foul of the charter and all the rest? That is where enforcement action comes as a kind of wider deterrent. If the service provider is not serving its individual consumers who have rights and are getting compensation or whatever, ComReg can also take enforcement on a general level against the service provider for not upholding the obligations it is supposed to uphold. I do not know whether one of my colleagues wants to speak further on the enforcement regime but I want to get across the point that there is an individual redress for consumers and then a further ability to-----
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