Regulation 37 Conciliation and resolution of disputes

The Director shall ensure that procedures are in place to address disputes between any party, including users, service providers, consumers or organisations providing telecommunica tion systems or services, and a public operator or systemless service provider concerning an alleged infringement of any right or obligation created by or under these Regulations. These procedures shall, in particular, apply in cases where users are in dispute with a public operator or systemless service provider over their telephone bills or over the terms and conditions under which telephone services are provided.

The procedures referred to in paragraph (1) shall be fair, transparent, easily accessible and inexpensive and shall not involve unnecessary delay. If the Director makes a direction appointing a third party to assist in the resolution of, or to resolve, the dispute, the direction shall include provisions as to the payment of such a person’s reasonable costs and expenses and the procedures to be adopted by that person.

Where a dispute is brought before the Director concerning an alleged infringement of the rights or obligations created by or under these Regulations involving organisations in more than one Member State, and a user or organisation by means of a written notification to the Director and the Commission invokes a conciliation procedure, the Director may, where he finds that there is a case for further examination, refer the matter to the Chairman of the ONP Committee.

The Director may refer an alleged infringement of this Directive involving both organisations in more than one Member State to the Chairman of the ONP Committee on his own initiative, following written notification to the Commission.

The party invoking the procedure in paragraph (3) above shall bear its own costs of participating in that procedure. That procedure shall be without prejudice to the rights of any person to apply to a court, save insofar as the parties concerned have entered into an agreement which provides otherwise for the resolution of disputes between them.

The provisions of this regulation shall be without prejudice to the power of the Director to direct that the conditions of contract or of compensation of refund schemes or both shall be altered in accordance with regulation 15(4) or 16(2).