Compliance

Working within the law, voluntary standards and guidelines

We believe we are industry leaders in setting the standards for ethical conduct. Our Business Principles and compliance systems were highlighted in a report published by the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) in 2005.

Compliance is vital to both the reputation of our brand and our legal position. For example, competition law gives authorities and local regulators powers to stop unfair trading, and the right to impose fines of up to 10 per cent of our turnover. Failure to comply could leave O2 exposed to legal actions for damages from third parties.

The O2 Board is responsible for compliance across the O2 Group and for ensuring that all operating companies meet local legal and regulatory requirements. Executive Committee members are required to confirm compliance with our Business Principles every six months as part of the Corporate Governance Certification process.

Our operating businesses in the UK, Germany, Ireland and the Isle of Man each have compliance officers who monitor training and investigate failures. We believe this system sets us apart in our industry.

Government watchdogs for the UK include the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the regulation and competition authority for the UK communications industries, and the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS), the regulatory body for the UK’s premium-rate telecommunications industry.

In Germany, the statutory body responsible for the regulation of the telecommunications sector is the Bundesnetzagentur.

In Ireland, the role falls to the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). 

In 2005/06 we achieved a marked improvement in compliance in the UK:

• No complaints were upheld by Ofcom about unfair consumer terms.
• ICSTIS upheld three complaints, the same number as last year.
• The UK Information Commissioner brought four adverse assessments against our operations in the UK concerning failure to comply with the Data Protection Act. This compares to 11 in the previous year.

O2 seeks to comply with voluntary advertising standards and guidelines. We aim to withdraw any advertising that is found misleading or inaccurate. In 2005/06, advertising standards authorities brought two complaints in the UK, one in Ireland and none in Germany. 

We aim to ensure that every regulatory complaint we receive is investigated in accordance with our compliance procedures which have been endorsed by the O2 Board.

Quality management

Quality management is about how well we provide mobile products and services that meet the requirements and increase the satisfaction of our stakeholders.

We comply with various quality and compliance standards that are set by the regulators, such as BABT (British Approvals Board for Telecommunications) in the UK.

In addition:

• O2 has a Group-wide accreditation to the international environmental management system ISO14001. ¹  
• Our products and services are registered to ISO9001:2000 standards.
• O2 UK has a health and safety management system certified to OHSAS18001.
• O2 UK was registered to the Investors in Excellence standard in October 2005, designed to drive improvement across the business.
• O2 UK has recently been shortlisted for the London Excellence Awards 2006.
  

¹ Excluding O2 Ireland retail operations