Of the 44,108 complaints received by ANACOM in 2010, about 4 percent were illegible, had no content or were cancelled by the complainant.
Furthermore, around 22% were related to matters outside ICP-ANACOM's policy area, including complaints on issues which are not encompassed by the sectors which ICP-ANACOM regulates, as well as complaints that, although included in the areas regulated by this Authority, relate to issues beyond the scope of ICP-ANACOM's intervention. Such complaints include issues related to faults and technical assistance for electronic communications terminal equipment, as well as general issues related to errors in billing for the services. In both cases, and whenever possible, ICP-ANACOM referred these complainants to the competent authorities.
Among the remaining complaints, which were within the scope of ICP-ANACOM's remit, about 74 percent let to the respective handling processes, and evidence of non-compliance of applicable sectoral legislation was detected in 1,400 complaints. These complaints were forwarded to ICP-ANACOM's inspection services, referring to the following key issues:
- non-compliance with the rules set forth by Decree-Law no. 63/2009 of 10 March governing provision of SMS and MMS-based valued added services;
- non-compliance with the rules governing the operation of call centres, as set forth by Decree-Law no. 134/2009 of 2 June;
- non-compliance with the rules governing number portability, set forth by Regulation no. 87/2009 of 18 February, amending Regulation no 58/2005 of 18 August;
- non-compliance with the rules governing complaint books, set forth by Decree-Law no. 371/2007 of 6 November, amending Decree-Law no. 156/2005 of 15 September;
- non-compliance with the rules governing the unlocking of equipment, set forth by Decree-Law no. 56/2010 of 1 June; and
- non-compliance with the rules governing pre-selection, set forth by Regulation no. 268/2007 of 15 October, amending Regulation 1/2006 of 9 January.
In the remaining complaints, given the absence of such evidence and with the vast majority referring to strictly contractual situations (related to aspects of quality of service, tariffs, cancellation, service installation, among others), ICP-ANACOM assumes an informative role, giving consumers and other users clear information on the issues raised, in particular, about applicable legislation and the bodies which can help them resolve the conflict with their provider.
In the processing of all complaints received and wherever deemed necessary, ICP-ANACOM cooperates closely with the service providers and with organisations with expertise in consumer protection.
Since August 2009, this Authority has also taken part in the RTIC - Rede Telemática de Informação Comum (Telematic Network of Common Information), which is the responsibility of the Direcção-Geral do Consumidor (Directorate General for the Consumer). This system lets the complainant check the status of complaints they have submitted using complaint books.
By processing the complaints which it receives, ICP-ANACOM is not only able to detect evidence of non-compliance with applicable sector rules (legislation and regulatory measures), it also able to access a growing collection of useful information on sectorial regulation and on user knowledge. Recognizing how important it is to deal with complaints quickly and effectively, in order to accomplish these goals, ICP-ANACOM has focused on increasing its capacity to respond to user requests. In 2010, this commitment resulted in an increase in the number of requests handled, while simultaneously improving the time taken to respond to them.
