Regulation 5 Grounds for rejecting a super-complaint

(1)

OFCOM must reject a complaint if—

(a)

it determines that the entity is not an eligible entity;

(b)

it determines that the complaint is not of a type described in section 169(1) of the 2023 Act;

(c)

where the complaint relates to a single regulated service or to a single provider of one or more regulated services, OFCOM determines that the complaint is not admissible under section 169(2) of the 2023 Act;

(d)

the period between the day OFCOM received the complaint and the day OFCOM received any previous complaint from the entity, not including a previous complaint rejected under this sub-paragraph, is less than six months starting with the day OFCOM received any previous complaint from the entity, except in the circumstances described in regulation 10(2) to (4).

(2)

OFCOM may reject—

(a)

a complaint, or any part of a complaint, that does not meet the requirements of regulation 3 or regulation 4;

(b)

a complaint, or any part of a complaint, that merely repeats the substance of another complaint that is being considered by OFCOM;

(c)

a complaint, or any part of a complaint, (“complaint B”) that merely repeats the substance of another complaint (“complaint A”) that has been considered by OFCOM where—

(i)

OFCOM made publicly available information relating to complaint A under regulation 9(1)(b), and

(ii)

complaint B is received by OFCOM before the end of two years starting with the day OFCOM made publicly available information relating to complaint A under regulation 9(1)(b),

unless complaint A was rejected solely on the ground described in paragraph (1)(d) (non-compliance with the six-month rule) or there has been a material change of circumstances since complaint A was made;

(d)

a complaint where some or all of the matter of the complaint is being considered by a court in the United Kingdom.

(3)

Where some or all of the matter of the complaint is being considered by another regulator in the United Kingdom, OFCOM may reject the whole complaint or that part of the complaint that OFCOM believes is being considered by the other regulator.

(4)

Paragraph (5) applies where OFCOM have—

(a)

requested further information from the entity (see regulation 8(5) and regulation 9(3)) and the entity has not provided that information within a reasonable time, or

(b)

given an information notice^f1 to the entity under section 100(1) of the 2023 Act (power to require information) and the entity has not provided the information in accordance with that notice.

(5)

Where this paragraph applies, OFCOM may reject—

(a)

the whole complaint where OFCOM consider that they cannot—

(i)

determine the entity’s eligibility, or

(ii)

respond to any part of the complaint,

without the further information, or

(b)

those parts of the complaint that OFCOM consider they cannot respond to without the further information.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: “Information notice” is defined in section 236(1) of the Online Safety Act 2023 as meaning a notice given under section 100(1) or 101(1).