Commentary on Sections Complaints Handling – the new system Section 144: Duties to share information
364.Section 144(1) requires scheme rules to set out that the OLC, an ombudsman or a member of the OLC’s staff must disclose information to an approved regulator. The information to be disclosed must be specified in the rules, as must the circumstances in which it must be disclosed. Each approved regulator must provide in its regulatory arrangements for the provision of information to the OLC, an ombudsman or members of the OLC’s staff, of such description and in such circumstances as may be specified in the arrangements (section 144(2)). The Board may specify requirements which arrangements under section 144(2) or rules under section 144(1) must fulfil (and must publish any such requirements). In specifying those requirements, the Board must take into account the need, so far as is reasonably practicable, to avoid duplication of investigations and to ensure that the OLC assists approved regulators and vice versa (section 144(4) to 144(6)). Sections 144(7) and 144(8) impose a mutual obligation on the OLC and on approved regulators to consult one another in relation to draft rules/provisions of the kind described in sections 144(1) and 144(2), and, when seeking the Board’s consent to those rules/provisions, to identify any ongoing objections on the part of the other party.