The Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg) has warned the Department of Communications that tough enforcement powers and penalties enacted last year will be meaningless from July.
It has also opposed a central plank of the Government's proposed regulatory policy - the establishment of an appeals' board that would moderate when a third party objects to a regulatory decision.
Currently, operators who disagree with a decision made by ComReg can appeal to the High Court. But this can take years and has severely delayed some crucial decisions, including the award of the third mobile phone licence in 1998 to Meteor.
The appeals' board was proposed by the Government as a way to enable companies to object to ComReg decisions without going to court.
But in a response to draft legislation prepared by the Department, ComReg has said an appeals' board would create legal uncertainty, and risk overlap and contradiction between the board and decisions by the High Court.
The establishment of an appeals' board would result in a number of major problems, concludes the paper. "Most importantly it would allow operators to have two opportunities to challenge a decision."
ComReg says an appeals' panel would only be justified if it allowed faster, more cost-effective and more knowledgable resolution of disputes than current procedures. It concludes that it is not convinced that the appeals's panel will best achieve these aims and considers that the courts alone may represent a better option.
The commission's document proposes a formal review of the appeal arrangements at an appropriate point, and this should be set out in the draft legislation, it says.
Meanwhile, ComReg has also warned the Government that tough powers introduced by the Communications Act 2002 will not be enforceable from July.
The powers, which include the ability to levy a €4 million fine on operators that breach requirements in their telecoms licences, will be unenforceable from July due to new EU regulations, ComReg says. Instead, the commission will be able to levy fines of just €3,000 against errant operators.
