Team size: 16

Key team members: Caroline Dee-Brown – general counsel and director of legal services, John O’Flaherty – senior legal advisor commissioners’ office; Mervyn Hickey – head of legal retail and consumer; Joseph O’Hanlon and Adrian Rahman – senior legal advisors market framework; Florence Loric – head of legal wholesale. The key team members are all assisted by very strong and dedicated divisional teams.

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

One of the most significant cases has been the successful multiband auction of spectrum rights of use to facilitate the development of 5G. Our team handled legal challenges that arose from key regulatory decisions in the areas of spectrum awards and wholesale access. We have continued to successfully enforce consumer rights in a range of court actions against electronic communications service providers where they fail to uphold consumer rights, particularly in respect of billing and switching.

The legal team has also provided key assistance to Government Departments in significant transpositions of EU law including the conclusion of the development of an entirely new legal framework for the regulation of the electronic communications sector at a national level.

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

With a rapidly evolving technological landscape, electronic communications play a vital role in connecting individuals, businesses, and communities across Ireland. As the regulator for the communications sector, ComReg strives to ensure the electronic communications markets operate in the interest of all end-users and to incentivise efficient investment where competition may be insufficient. To meet the challenging dynamic pace of change in the evolution of the sector, the legal team’s role is central to the implementation of the updated regulatory framework for the regulation of electronic communications, the European Electronic Communications Code and the new national legislation. The Code is one of the pillars of the EU Digital Single Market initiative. Our vision is of a sector where consumers and businesses in Ireland have affordable, high-quality, and widespread access to secure electronic communications. The legal team shares the challenge of ensuring ComReg contributes to developing a digital society and delivering the economic and societal goals enabled by continuing developments in the electronic communications sector. As markets become more competitive and our regulatory interventions decrease, we are preparing for greater use of new competition powers. The legal team is meeting the challenges in the evolving technological landscape by developing and deploying evolving regulatory enforcement powers to meet the increased need for efficiency and effectiveness to protect competition in the marketplace and to champion consumers’ interests and needs.

Has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities, and if so how?

At all times, ComReg seeks to be an organisation that values environmental sustainability. It has undertaken several green initiatives to lower the carbon footprint of its offices and activities, in line with best practices and the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate. To realise the Government’s Climate Action Plan and CAP23 commitments to reach the 2030 carbon and energy efficiency targets, ComReg is reducing total energy and fossil fuel emissions from its operations, where possible, to lower its carbon footprint.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 calls on relevant public bodies to perform their functions in a manner consistent with the Irish Government’s climate policies in so far as practicable. As a ‘relevant body’, ComReg is an organisation that values environmental sustainability. The latter, in this context, is concerned with mitigation — reducing the negative environmental impact caused by human activity — and adaptation.

ComReg is contributing to Government’s CAP23 plan with three specific measures: (i)Action AD/23/12, where appropriate, implement the findings and key takeaways from the report on ComReg’s network resilience project: ‘Climate Change and its Effect on Network Resilience in Ireland’. (ii)Action AD/23/13, collate and review the various methodologies available to calculate the environmental impact of electronic communications networks and promote the harmonisation of such measurement indicators across the EU. (iii)Action CE/23/9, ComReg will begin considering consumer information actions to inform consumer choice aimed at driving improvements to the environmental sustainability of the electronic communications sector. ComReg also collaborates with the Government’s response to the Climate Change Advisory Council’s annual adaptation scorecard review for the communications sector.

ComReg contributes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s work to address concerns on the ICT aspects of critical infrastructure. It is a member of the Board of European Regulators for Electronic Communications BEREC and has an active role in its work on sustainability in the sector, including the report on limiting the impact of the digital industry on the environment and continuing follow-on work. ComReg also continues to research consumers’ views on the importance of environmental sustainability in their choice of electronic communications provider. We prioritise the sustainable development of a digital society that enhances socio-economic progress.