Customer Service Draft Bill: Evolution and Progress

Why this Draft Bill matters

The Draft Bill of 8 March 2024 ("Draft Bill") and its respective amendments since its submission to Parliament reinforce the focus on consumers and users by requiring a service that is “free of charge, effective, universally accessible, inclusive, non-discriminatory, and assessable.” It represents a qualitative leap compared to the 2021 preliminary draft ("Preliminary Draft"), and directly affects the customer relations strategy of large companies and providers of essential services.

Which businesses are affected?

• The scope of application continues to include providers of essential services of general interest (energy, water, transport, telecommunications, financial services, etc.) and large companies, but the Draft Bill now clarifies that it will be sufficient to exceed just one of the three thresholds to qualify as such (250 employees, €50 million in turnover, or €43 million in total assets), and that the reference extends to the corporate group.
• SMEs falling outside the scope of application remain subject to the general provisions on customer services established in consumer legislation. However, it is essential to note that the Draft Bill amends general consumer legislation, meaning SMEs must also adapt their customer service policies and systems. Notably, this includes obligations to ensure that consumers receive confirmation of their complaints and claims (by providing an identification code and a durable medium receipt), and to resolve complaints within a maximum of 15 days (currently 1 month).
• The Draft Bill recognises the specific regulations in the financial and telecommunications sectors and expressly excludes them from its scope to avoid overlaps. Nonetheless, the Draft Bill partially amends and repeals customer service regulations affecting financial entities – i.e. Law 44/2002 on Measures to Reform the Financial System, and Order ECO/734/2004 – and it amends the General Telecommunications Law, expanding customer service obligations for operators.

Brief reminder of key aspects of the Preliminary Draft maintained in the Draft Bill

The Draft Bill retains several pillars already set out in the Preliminary Draft:

• It reaffirms the principles of free-of-charge service, effectiveness, accessibility, inclusion, non-discrimination, and assessability in customer service.
• It prohibits the exclusive use of automated answering systems and guarantees transfer to human agents upon the consumer’s request.
• It requires immediate issuance of a receipt on a durable medium with a tracking code so that the consumer has proof of their complaints.
• It maintains the obligation for an audited customer satisfaction measurement system with publicly available results.
• It prohibits the use of complaint management for marketing purposes.

Main new features compared to the Preliminary Draft

The Draft Bill introduces several points that modify and/or develop the Preliminary Draft and should be mentioned:

• Companies must resolve complaints within a maximum of 15 working days and, if the issue affects the continuity of essential services of general interest, within only 2 hours (under the Preliminary Draft, the general deadline was 1 month).
• Companies must respond to queries, complaints, claims, or incidents in the same language in which they were submitted (the Preliminary Draft regulated that responses should be given in the language in which the contract was concluded).
• At least 95% of calls must be answered in less than 3 minutes, establishing a quantitative threshold for the first time (the Preliminary Draft did not set any specific limit).
• Companies that do not simultaneously exceed the thresholds of 250 employees and €50/43 million in turnover/assets may carry out the mandatory annual audit on customer service quality every two years (in the Preliminary Draft, the annual audit was mandatory for all obliged parties).
• A six-month period from entry into force is introduced for companies to adapt (the Preliminary Draft did not foresee any transitional period).

Sanctions regime and next steps

The Draft Bill also amends general consumer legislation to classify breaches in customer service as minor or serious offences (depending on the circumstances), which may be sanctioned with fines of up to €100,000 or six times the unlawful profit obtained. Regional consumer authorities and sectoral supervisors will retain inspection and sanctioning powers.

Companies will have six months to review contracts, contact channels, workflows, and staff training.

Amendments phase

The more than 240 parliamentary amendments shape a text with significant nuances: 

• The right to be attended to in any of the co-official languages in the regions where the company operates is reinforced. This, alongside the obligation to respond in the same language in which the complaint is made, could have significant implications for the operations of affected companies.
• Several parliamentary groups propose lowering the 95% threshold to 85% for calls that must be answered within three minutes, to allow flexibility during demand peaks.
• There is an insistence that all obligations – including satisfaction surveys and staff training – be designed according to universal accessibility criteria, using easy-to-read formats, pictograms, and video interpretation in sign language.
• A proposal is made to amend general consumer legislation affecting fixed-term contracts subject to renewal. In such cases, it would be required to inform the consumer, fifteen days before the end of the notice period for non-renewal, of the end of that period and the consequences of not communicating the cancellation of the renewal.

Osborne Clarke comment

The final text maintains the philosophy of the Preliminary Draft but introduces objective metrics, stricter deadlines, and a graduated audit scheme that will require companies to integrate legal compliance and customer experience. Those who act early will not only reduce the risk of sanctions: they will transform their customer service into a competitive advantage that builds loyalty and strengthens corporate reputation.