Customer Service

The Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information is an independent body that reviews decisions public authorities make on requests for access to environmental information under the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007 to 2018. 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 appeal a decision taken by a public authority, 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 and the Office’s Official Languages Scheme as published on our websites

 

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@ocei.ie

 

Complaints

If something goes wrong and you are not satisfied with our service, please tell us. We have a policy for handling complaints against members of staff, which is available on our website or you can ask for details by contacting us directly

 

Help us to help you

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

• Please state the reason for your appeal as clearly and as concisely as you can
• Please send us copies of key supporting documents when submitting your appeal
• Quote any relevant reference number in all communications with us
• Treat our staff and our service with respect
• Make comments or suggestions about the service you receive

 

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@ocei.ie

 

Where to get more information

This document is available on our website www.ocei.ie. You can also find details of our other services, policies and contact information on our website.

 

What we expect from public authorities

We expect public authorities to:

· Give people clear and timely decisions on their AIE 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” webpage.

 

Our address is Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, D02 HE97. The Office is open Monday to Friday between 9.15 am and 5.00 pm.

 

Phone: +353 1 639 5689
Email: info@ocei.ie

 

FOI officer: info@ocei.ie
Data protection officer: dataprotection@ombudsman.ie

The Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information has adopted areas of the Office of the Ombudsman's customer service policy.
This includes their complainant conduct policy and details on how to make a complaint about a member of staff.
Details on this can be found at: Customer Service Policy