The handling of
public complaints is an important task performed by the Independent Broadcasting
Authority in regulating standards of programmes and advertisements broadcast on
television and radio.
Members of the
public may lodge a complaint about any television or radio broadcast material
by:
(i)writing to the IBA
or
(ii)sending a fax to the Authority
When lodging a
complaint, members of the public are required to provide their names, addresses
and/or telephone numbers and provide sufficient information about the complaint,
including the title of the programme/advertisement,
name of the channel/station, date
and time of the broadcast to
facilitate investigation.
Please note that the IBA will NOT
process any complaint which is (or has been) subject to an action in a Court of
Law.
Complaints
procedure
Complaints made to
the IBA about television and radio broadcasting are dealt with in accordance
with the provisions, stipulated in Section 30 of the IBA Act 2000.
The Complaints
Committee will issue a written acknowledgement on receipt of a complaint as per
the correspondence address of the complainant.
The complaints
will then be carefully investigated to establish the facts and to examine
whether there are any breaches of the legislation, licence conditions or codes
of practice.
If there is
evidence of a breach, the Complaints Committee will recommend the Authority to
take appropriate action(s). These may be in the form of sanctions, depending on
the seriousness of the case, including directive, advice, warning, suspension or
revocation of licences.
All complaints
will eventually be referred to the broadcasters concerned for their reference.
The Complaints
Committee will notify the licensee and any other relevant parties, in a letter
inviting representations, of the general source and the substance of complaint
and the provisions of the legislation, licence conditions or codes of practice
which might have been contravened.
The licencees, the
complainants and other relevant parties will be notified of the outcome, once a
decision is taken by the IBA on the complaint.
As time is
required to fulfil all statutory requirements, it may take six to eight weeks
before the outcome is known. Cases of a complex nature may take a longer time.
It may well be
worth noting that not all complaints are actionable, as a complaint,
while being genuine and sincere, may be of insufficient weight to justify the
IBA to proceed.
Sanctions
Depending on the
severity and nature of the breach, the IBA may impose one of the following
sanctions:
Directive - the Licencee is
asked to liaise with the complainant with a view to solving the contention.
Advice - the licencee is
warned to observe more carefully the relevant provisions
Warning or serious warning -
the IBA takes a serious view of the contravention and the licensee is warned
against further contraventions.
Suspension or revocation of
license - in very serious cases, the IBA may suspend a license (for up to
21 days) or conduct an inquiry and revoke the license.
