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Rodrigues Regional Assembly Elections Directives 2012

Complaint of the Member of the National Assembly, Honourable Mr. D. Khamajeet against Radio Plus

Communiqué pertaining to PNQ of 12th November 2011

 

Complaint Procedure

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 a complaint shall not be considered where it —

(a)   is or is likely to be, the subject of an action before a court of law;
(b)   appears to be frivolous or vexatious.

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: 

Download complaint form