Customer Service Charter

The Office of the Information Commissioner is an independent body that reviews decisions public bodies make on requests for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act 2014. This document sets out our commitments and the service standards you can expect from us.

Contact by telephone

If you contact us by telephone we will aim to:

Answer your call promptly
Give you our name when we answer your call
Be courteous and helpful to you at all times
Answer your query in full. If we cannot do so immediately, we will take your details and call you back as soon as possible
Respond to all voicemail messages promptly

Written correspondence

If you send us a letter, email or online enquiry we will:

Acknowledge your correspondence within 2-3 days
Ensure you receive a full reply within 10 working days. If we cannot provide a full reply within 10 working days, we will write to you and explain why. We will let you know when you can expect a full reply
Give a contact name and contact details as well as a reference number (where appropriate)
Write to you in simple and clear language and avoid using technical or legal terms where possible

Applications for review to the Commissioner

If you apply for a review of a decision taken by a public body, we will:

Acknowledge your application within 2-3 days
Keep you advised of progress on your case
Inform you as soon as possible and as clearly as possible of the outcome of our review

Visitors to the Office

If you visit us in person we will:

Treat you with courtesy, respect your privacy and be fair in our dealings with you
Meet you at the agreed time if you have an appointment
Provide appropriate facilities for meetings
Keep our public offices clean and tidy and ensure that they meet health and safety standards

Service through Irish

We will assist people who wish to carry out their business with us through Irish.

Correspondence received in Irish will be answered in Irish
We will publish key documents including our Annual Reports in Irish and English
We will ensure that information leaflets aimed at the public are available in both Irish and English
An Irish version of our website will mirror as far as practicable the English version
We will meet our other commitments under the Official Languages Act 2003 as published on our website

Equality / Diversity / Disability

We commit to dealing with you without discrimination or prejudice
We will respect equality and human rights in accordance with Public Sector Duty principles
We will aim to have our services and facilities easily available and accessible to you
We will respect your right to privacy
Contact email for our Access Officer under the Disability Act is accessofficer@oic.ie
In developing this Customer Service Charter, the Office has had regard to the considerations regarding eliminating discrimination, promoting equality and protecting human rights identified in section 42(1)(a)-(c) of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014

Complaints about customer service

If something goes wrong and you are not satisfied with our service, please tell us. This refers to the issue of customer care and service in how you were dealt with by our staff.

In the first instance, please raise the matter with the person you are dealing with in the Office, so that we can respond and try to deal with the matter as early as possible
If you are not happy with the response and wish to make a formal complaint about the standard of services you received from this Office, you can write to the Director General Ms Elaine Cassidy by email to privatesec@ombudsman.ie
We aim to acknowledge such complaints in five working days and try to provide a full reply in 20 workings days

Please note that a disagreement over the outcome of our review in your case will not fall within the scope of this type of complaint. The decisions we issue following the completion of our reviews contain details of statutory appeal rights.

Help us to help you

You can help us as we try to give you a high quality service:

Please state why you want us to conduct a review as clearly and as concisely as you can
Please send us copies of key supporting documents when submitting your application for review
Quote any relevant reference number in all communications with us
As part of our customer charter, we commit to dealing with users of our service professionally and with respect. We also expect you to treat our staff and the service we provide with respect. Our Reasonable Conduct Policy, below, sets out how we expect people to interact with us and also explains how we manage unacceptable actions against our staff and our process.

Consultation and feedback

We are always interested to hear suggestions on how we can improve our service. If you would like to comment or make a suggestion please e-mail us at info@oic.ie.

What we expect from public bodies

We expect public bodies to:

Give people clear and timely decisions on their FOI requests
Make people aware of our service when giving them their decision
Treat people who make requests, and our staff, with courtesy and respect
Work with us to enable us carry out our reviews as quickly and effectively as possible
Give us all the information we ask for within the timescales specified

Where to find us

Our full contact details are available on the contact page.

Our address is Office of the Information Commissioner, 6 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 W773. The Office is open Monday to Friday between 9.15 am and 5.00 pm.

Phone: +353 1 639 5689

Email info@oic.ie

Customer service