Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 23, line 35, to delete "2022)." and substitute "2022);".

The purpose of these amendments is to provide for new transitional provisions, specifically for the alternative dispute resolution procedure that was previously based on regulation No. 27 of the universal service regulations but will now be in Part 4 of the Bill. These provisions will provide that extant decisions relating to ComReg's current alternative dispute resolution process continue as appropriate under the new regime and that disputes that are pending at the time of the new provisions coming into operation are preserved. To do this, amendments Nos. 17 and 18 will insert a new definition of "Universal Service Regulations" into the interpretations section relating to Part 4 of the Bill. Section 39, inserted by amendment No. 19, will ensure that a dispute that is before ComReg or an independent person nominated by ComReg under regulation No. 27 can continue as if those regulations had not been repealed.

While the Bill will make worthy amendments to the current regime, it is also important to provide explicit transitional provisions to address extant disputes that are currently with ComReg, or an independent person, for resolution under that regulation to ensure no consumer's dispute inadvertently fell in the transition between the old dispute resolution regime and the new alternative dispute resolution regime established by the Bill.

A new section 40 inserted by amendment No. 20 will ensure that a measure enforced pursuant to regulation No. 27 can continue in force under Part 4. Under regulation No. 27, ComReg took a number of measures to better implement the regime, including specifying requirements concerning operators' codes of practice for complaint handling and specifying the procedures for dispute resolution, as any measure taken by ComReg requires consideration, consultation with stakeholders and finalisation. If these measures were allowed to lapse, it would take considerable time for replacement measures to be put in place. This would, in turn, delay the effectiveness of the regime for consumers. At present, without this transitional provision, there could be a potential query over whether these measures remain extant under the new regime established by the Bill after the universal service regulation has been repealed by the 2022 regulations.