When facing any kind of issue regarding for example quality of service, access or billing, consumers should first address a complaint to their service providers, before referring to the national regulator, mediator, or any other competent authority.
Cullen International’s research shows that in six of the 15 European countries studied, there are no rules setting a maximum timeframe for providers to respond to a complaint.
In some cases, however, operators set such maximum timeframes in practice even in the absence of mandatory deadlines. These timeframes can be part of an industry agreement, like in Belgium, or included in the operators' general terms and conditions, like in France.
When maximum timeframes are set by law or regulation, they vary from two days (in Ireland for example) up to 45 days in Italy (where providers can set shorter deadlines themselves).
For more information and access to the benchmark, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our European Consumer Protection (in Telecoms) service.
more news
11 June 25
Protection of minors: overview of initiatives on age-verification systems in European countries
Cullen International has just updated a benchmark on national age-verification systems to control or restrict minors' exposure to harmful content on social media platforms.
06 June 25
Update on digital services taxes in Europe
Our latest benchmark offers an overview of taxes adopted or proposed on digital services across Europe.
05 June 25
New ecodesign requirements for smartphones and tablets to apply this month
From 20 June 2025, all new smartphones and tablets must meet new EU ecodesign requirements covering reparability, software updates, durability and battery life. Our new Tracker provides a concise description of the EU ecodesign rules and puts them into context.