Ofcom has launched a consultation on revising its ‘General Procedures’ for investigating breaches of broadcast licences.

The General Procedures apply to all broadcasters that hold a licence from Ofcom, and set out the process that Ofcom will follow when assessing and investigating potential breaches of certain licence conditions. They have not undergone changes since 2017, and Ofcom explains that the time is right for an update, not only because of the different nature of broadcasters it now regulates, but also because of the increase in complaints. Therefore, Ofcom states that it wants to “ensure that we target our resources at the cases where we think our enforcement of the requirements is most likely to produce good outcomes for citizens and consumers” and that there is value in “amending the procedures to make them more user-friendly”.

Four changes to the General Procedures have been proposed, as follows:

1. Ofcom’s Administrate Priorities

As matters stand, the General Procedures state that “when deciding whether to open an investigation, Ofcom will first consider whether, on its face, there are potentially substantive issues in relation to a relevant requirement which warrant investigation by Ofcom. It will do so by reference to the gravity and/or extent of the matter at issue”. According to the consultation document, Ofcom is concerned that this wording may not allow broadcasters or complainants to understand fully how Ofcom makes administrative priority decisions.

Therefore, Ofcom proposes a “new and more detailed administrative priorities framework to provide more transparency and clarity about how we carry out an initial assessment of complaints and how we consider these priorities throughout our enforcement work”. The framework will set out three “main administrative priority factors” which Ofcom will consider in deciding whether to continue beyond an initial assessment and launch an investigation. First, Ofcom will consider “the risk of harm or seriousness of the alleged conduct”, such as the risk to the interests of citizens or consumers, whether the conduct is on-going, or whether the broadcaster has a history of breaches of the same licence condition. Second, Ofcom will take into account the “likely impact of addressing the alleged conduct and whether alternative actions are likely to achieve the same ends”. Finally, it will consider the “resource implications of continuing the assessment and, if relevant, conducting an investigation”.

2. Sharing Information about Complaints with the Broadcaster

Ofcom has proposed a change in its current practice of sharing a non-confidential version of a complaint with the broadcaster and disclosing the complainant’s identity to the broadcaster unless it has been asked not to do so. Instead, Ofcom proposes that, as a general rule, it will only share “a summary of the issues raised with the broadcaster” and that it will not share the complainant’s name, save in exceptional circumstances.

3. Communications with Complainants

Ofcom proposes that it will no longer notify the complainant of the outcome of their complaint since that information can easily be found in the Bulletin on Ofcom’s website.

4. Time limits for making a complaint

As things stand, complaints ought to be made “as soon as possible after the relevant broadcast or occurrence due to time limits for broadcasters retaining recordings of their output”. However, Ofcom notes that this is open to interpretation and risks complaints being lodged outside the period for which broadcasters are required to keep recordings. Therefore, it proposes that complaints which relate to broadcast content shall now be required to be made within 20 working days of the broadcast of the relevant content.

The consultation is open until 25 February 2025, and more information can be found here.