Section 25 in Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018
25. Complaint Mechanism.
- Every Access Provider shall establish system(s), functions and processes to resolve complaints made by the customers and to take remedial action against sender(s) as provided hereunder:(1)Terminating Access Provider (TAP) shall record the complaint on DL-Complaints in non-repudiable and immutable manner and shall notify, in real time, the details of the complaint to the concerned Originating Access Provider (OAP).(2)Terminating Access Provider (TAP) shall examine within one business day from the date of receipt of complaint, to check the occurrence of complained communication between the complainant and the reported telephone number or header from which unsolicited commercial communication was received and update the findings on DL-Complaints.(3)Terminating Access Provider shall also verify if the date of receipt of complaint is within three days of receiving commercial communication and in case the complaint is reported by the customer after three days, the TAP shall communicate to the customer about the closure of his complaint in accordance to the Code of Practice for Complaint Handling and change status of complaint on DL-Complaint as a report instead of complaint.(4)The OAP, in case the complaint is related to RTM, shall examine, within one business day from the date of receipt of complaint, whether all regulatory pre-checks were carried out in the reported case before delivering Unsolicited Commercial Communications; and(a)In case, all regulatory pre-checks were carried out and delivery of commercial communication to the recipient was in confirmation to the provisions in the regulations and Code(s) of Practice, OAP shall communicate to TAP to inform complainant about the closure of complaint as provided for in the Code(s) of Practice;(b)in case of non-compliance with the regulations, the OAP shall, within two business days from the date of receipt of complaint, take actions against the defaulting entity and communicate to TAP to inform the complainant about the action taken against his complaint as provided for in Code(s) of Practice;(c)the OAP shall take appropriate remedial action, as provided for in the Code of Practice(s), to control Unsolicted Commercial Communications so as to ensure compliance with these regulations;(5)The OAP, in case, the complaint is related to a UTM,(a)shall examine communication detail records (CDRs), within one business day from the date of receipt of complaint, to check the occurrence of complained communication between the complainant and the reported telephone number or header from which unsolicited commercial communication was received.(b)In case of no occurrence of complained communications under sub-regulation (5)(a), OAP shall communicate to the TAP to inform the complainant about the closure of complaint in a manner prescribed in the Code(s) of Practice;(c)In case of occurrence of complained communications under sub-regulation (5)(a), OAP shall further examine, within two business days from the date of complaint, whether there are similar complaints or reports against the same sender; and(i)in case, it is found that number of complaints against the sender are from ten or more than ten recipients over a period of last seven days, the OAP shall put sender under Usage Cap and at the same time shall initiate investigation as provided for in sub-regulation (6);Provided that such Usage Cap shall be valid till investigation is completed or thirty days from the date of effect of restrictions, whichever is earlier;(ii)in case it is found that number of complaints against the sender are from less than ten recipients over a period of last seven days, the OAP shall, from the previous thirty days data of CoP_UCC_Detect System, check whether suspected sender is involved in sending Commercial Communication in bulk or not; and(A)in case, sender has sent commercial communications in bulk, the OAP shall put the sender under Usage Cap, and at the same time initiate investigation as provided for in sub-regulation (6);Provided that such restrictions shall be valid till investigation in this regard is completed under relevant regulations or thirty days from the date of effect of restrictions, whichever is earlier;(B)in case, sender has not sent commercial communications in bulk, the OAP shall warn such sender through appropriate means as provided for in Code(s) of Practice;(6)OAP shall issue notice, within three business days, to give opportunity to such sender(s), under sub regulations (5)(c)(i), (5)(c)(ii)(A) to represent his case and shall investigate, within thirty business days from the date of receipt of complaint and shall conclude whether the communication so made was unsolicited commercial communication or not; and conclusion of the investigation was that sender was engaged in sending unsolicited commercial communications, OAP shall take action against such sender as under: -(a)for first instance of violation, due warning shall be given;Provided that the first instance of the violation shall include all the complaints against the sender within two business days after the date of receipt of the first complaint, against which the sender is to be warned under this sub-regulation.(b)for the second instance of violation, Usage Cap shall continue for a period of six months;Provided that the second instance of the violation shall include all the complaints against the sender after the issuance of first warning within two business days after the date of receipt of the complaint against which second warning is being given to the sender under this sub-regulation.(c)for third and subsequent instances of violations, all telecom resources of the sender shall be disconnected for a period up to two years and OAP shall put the sender under blacklist category and communicate to all other access providers to not to allocate new telecom resources to such sender for up to two years from the date of such communication;Provided that the third instance of the violation shall include all the complaints received against the sender after the date of second warning within two business days after the receipt of the complaint against which telecom resources are being disconnected under this sub-regulation.Provided further that one telephone number may be allowed to be retained by such sender with the Usage Cap for a period up to two years.
