Despite the registered growth on the Internet market in recent years, the National Communications Commission (CNC, for its acronym in Spanish) did not write any legislation establishing the features of their service sector companies in the country and the ratio of firms with consumers. 

A report by the Auditor General's Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish), the void is recorded despite a 1996 decree that established as one of the objectives of the CNC to "make regulations for telecommunications services" and that internal resolution 1990 required the agency to "develop standards for the protection of clients' rights."

The Commission, for its part, admitted to the AGN that the controls they carry out are "limited" because in 1998 a resolution of the Ministry of Communications stated that "the state does not regulate the Internet because it is a worldwide network that does not have a central administration." To do its audits, the CNC is based on the regulation of telecommunications services license as contained in Annex I of Decree 764 of 2000. 

However, the work of the Audit highlights other shortcomings, such as the CNC also defined the "minimum standards of measurement and quality control of Internet services." This means that the agency does not have specific criteria to determine whether a benefit is provided correctly.

The "Prejudice" for Users

For the AGN, the lack of regulation causes delays in the processing of the claims that were made by the customers and the possible penalties for businesses. 

Complaints enter the CNC through the Customer Care Center. If applicable, this area moves the claim to the provider, which has a period of 20 working days to provide a report thereon. If the firm ignores its reply, the Commission can resolve the complaint with the elements available at that time, further research requiring more information from the parties, or start the process of non-compliance penalty.

However, the audit report, approved this year on data for 2003-2006, notes that in "some paperwork, the lender does not respond to the request made by the CNC, but due sanction process is not started" and points out three examples: a record of 2005 with five months delay; another of 2006, which recorded a delay of four months; and processing of 2003, with a delay of 44 months. "The mechanisms for the resolution of claims by the internet service are slow, inefficient, and ineffective to the detriment of users," concludes the AGN.

The Commission also exceeds other deadlines. According to the "letter of commitment with the citizen" the dependency had "90 days" to resolve claims made by customers. But the AGN took a sample of 266 reports (on a universe of 2,756 records), and noted "an average of 494 days per processing." 

Moreover, the forms used by the CNC to settle complaints "are not adequate," says the audit. The papers are generally used for complaints about the operation of other telecommunications services and "do not consider the peculiarities of internet, making it difficult for the user to understand, and the audited (CNC) to make a correct classification of the claim."

Furthermore, the AGN remarked that the lack of regulation also limits the Commission inspections to businesses. In fact, in the audited period, it was found that there wasn’t an annual planning control on service providers.