New rules to handle complaints about the NBN will take effect from June this year, the Australian Communications and Media Authority has announced.
The rules cover the handling of consumer complaints and and the keeping of records of these complaints. Details for public submissions are available here.
"As we announced in December, the ACMA is putting in place stronger rules to improve consumers’ experience in migrating to the new network," said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.
"Today (Thursday) we are releasing the first of these new rules for public comment. These cover telco complaints-handling processes and monitoring. Following consultation, the ACMA intends these rules to be in place by June," Ms O’Loughlin said.
{loadposition sam08}"Telco customers deserve to have their complaints dealt with quickly and effectively. As industry co-regulation is proving ineffective in this area, we will put in place rules so that the ACMA can act more quickly to deal with non-compliance," she added.
The ACMA is also putting in place additional rules which specify that if a telco breaches an industry standard, the ACMA can commence court proceedings seeking remedies such as injunctions and civil penalties of up to $250,000.
For breaching a service provider rule, the maximum civil penalty a court can impose is $10 million. There are no pecuniary penalties for breaching an industry code.
"We have had strong concerns for some time about how telcos are helping consumers move to the new network," said O’Loughlin. "These concerns have been borne out by our recent analysis of industry’s own data.
"This evidence — and the rapid increase in complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman — shows that many telcos are not stepping up to get the right information to consumers and resolve migration issues quickly and effectively."
These additional rules are expected to be in place by July.