FCC adopted proposed rules for consumers to file informal complai...

FCC adopted proposed rules for consumers to file informal complaints that are patterned after existing rules for informal complaints filed against common carriers. Under proposal, approved at FCC’s Feb. 14 agenda meeting, complaints filed about any of services regulated by Commission would follow same format and be handled in same way. This “uniform, streamlined” complaint process now would include consumer complaints that raised issues in FCC’s jurisdiction and filed against broadcast station licensees and cable franchise operators. Proposal asked whether existing rules should be changed to specify type of documentation that should accompany informal complaints and to set specific timeline within which company must respond to complaint. FCC officials said goal of proposed changes was to provide single point of entry for consumer complaints that would allow Consumer Information and Enforcement bureaus to better respond. In separate statement, FCC Comr. Copps said he supported proceeding but wasn’t convinced that proposals in notice of proposed rulemaking would move agency toward goal of less-burdensome process for consumers. NPRM outlined 3 ways that consumers could seek redress for their complaints -- direct complaint to company, proposed informal complaint process and traditional formal complaint process, Copps said. “We need to be crystal clear that these are options and that one process should not be a prerequisite for another,” he said. “Nor must the exhaustion of one remedy preclude the utilization of another.” In moving toward simplified consumer complaint process, he said, FCC shouldn’t inadvertently create new bureaucratic layers for consumers to deal with before agency addressed their complaint. Comr. Abernathy said “it is past time for us to amend the complaint process.” She said FCC should encourage companies to respond on their own to consumer concerns. “But for those complaints that do require the attention of the FCC, we must provide a prompt and sure resolution,” she said.