[13 July 2015] ICASA and the National Consumer Commission (NCC) have entered into a Memorandum of Agreement which sets out which type of consumer complaints each will deal with in future.

Memorandum of Agreement entered into between the National Consumer Commission and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (July 2015)

In broad terms:

  • the NCC will attend to matters relating to contracts, misrepresentation, bait marketing and faulty handsets as well as call limits
  • ICASA will deal with matters of data, international roaming and pricing as well as quality of networks and call services

Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Memorandum require that the two regulators finalise frameworks for the referral of complaints and the classification of complaints within three months of signature. As the version of the Memorandum published in the Gazette is signed but not dated this time period can safely be calculated from 10 July 2015, the date on which the Memorandum was published in the Gazette, i.e. 10 October 2015.

REFERRAL OF COMPLAINTS

The Commission and the Authority will develop a common framework, within three (3) months of the signing of this MOA, within which referral of complaints between the two regulatory agencies will take place.

CLASSIFICATION OF COMPLAINTS

The Commission and the Authority will develop a common framework, within three (3) months of the signing; of this MOA, for classification of consumer complaints in the ICT sector.

Whether this will translate into effective protection of consumers remains to be seen but it is positive that this step has been taken.