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The Office of Communications ((ウェールズ語:Y Swyddfa Gyfathrebiadau)), commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers across the television, radio, telecoms and postal sectors. It has a statutory duty to represent the interests of citizens and consumers by promoting competition and protecting the public from harmful or offensive material.〔 Footnote 15.〕 Some of the main areas Ofcom presides over are licensing, research, codes and policies, complaints, competition and protecting the radio spectrum from abuse (e.g. pirate radio stations). The regulator was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002 and received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003.〔 ==History== The creation of Ofcom was announced in the Queen's Speech to the UK parliament in June 2001. The new body, which would replace several existing authorities, was conceived as a "super-regulator" to oversee media channels that were rapidly converging through digital transmission. Ofcom launched on 29 December 2003, formally inheriting the duties that had previously been the responsibility of five different regulators: *the Broadcasting Standards Commission, *the Independent Television Commission, *the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), *the Radio Authority, and *the Radiocommunications Agency. In July 2009, Conservative party leader, David Cameron warned in a speech attacking the proliferation of quangos that "Ofcom, as we know it, will cease to exist" if his party came to power. Under Cameron's leadership, the current UK coalition government has pulled back from substantially reducing Ofcom's remit, although the current Public Bodies Bill does propose some changes to it.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ofcom )〕 On 1 October 2011, Ofcom took over responsibility for regulating the postal services industry from the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm). In April 2015, Ofcom announced that as of 1 July, phone companies will have to provide customers with a set charge for the cost of calling numbers starting 084, 087 and 09. The streamlining of these charges must be printed in each customers' contract and monthly bills. The change will affect over 175 million phone numbers making it the biggest overhaul of telephoning in over a decade.〔http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11565249/Ofcom-cracks-down-on-hidden-charges-in-TV-phone-ins.html〕 News International phone hacking scandal (詳細はNews International, News Corporation, was still the "fit and proper" owner of a controlling stake in the satellite broadcasting company British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). On 13 July former Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Ofcom to launch an investigation.〔 〕 On 15 July the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated that the Government would launch a review of laws on what constituted a "fit and proper" owner for broadcasting companies in the United Kingdom, and that anyone found not to meet that standard can be forced to give up their current holdings in a company. On 22 July it was reported that Ofcom had begun an investigation into whether the phone-hacking scandal may have changed BSkyB's status as the "fit and proper" holder of a UK broadcasting licence. On the same day Ed Richards, the chief executive of Ofcom, replied to Simon Hughes MP, Don Foster MP and Tim Farron MP following a letter which they had written to him on 8 July concerning News Corporation's shareholding in BSkyB.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Letter to Simon Hughes, Don Foster and Tim Farron MP from Ed Richards July 22, 2011 )〕 In the letter Richards confirmed that Ofcom considers that News Corporation's current shareholding of 39.14% in BSkyB does give it a material influence over the company; that Ofcom is not precluded from acting by ongoing police investigations; and that Ofcom's process is not dependent upon a criminal conviction being secured.〔 In April 2012, Ofcom's probe moved from a monitoring phase to a "evidence gathering" phase.〔Katherine Rushton (''Ofcom steps up 'fit and proper' probe into BSkyB'' ), telegraph.co.uk 26 Apr 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ofcom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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