The Press Complaints Commission resolved record numbers of complaints in record time during 1999, said Chairman, Lord Wakeham, in his annual report.

Some 2,427 complaints were received during the year and 75 per cent were completed within 35 working days - a substantial improvement on 1998, and a figure which makes the PCC the quickest regulatory system in the country. The PCC aims to deal with most complaints within 40 working days.

Of the complaints, 31 per cent related to regional papers, 10 per cent to publications special to Scotland and four per cent to newspapers special to Northern Ireland, and agencies. The rest were complaints about national papers and magazines.

Lord Wakeham described it as a year of "solid and substantial progress".

He added: "Swift, free justice is a hallmark of the PCC - and our trumpcard over any form of statutory or legal system. It is one into which we put a great deal of effort - and will continue to do so."

In a number of key areas, including privacy, payments to witnesses and criminals, reporting of children and discrimination relating to asylum seekers, Lord Wakeham said the PCC's adjudications had set new standards to guide editors.

He continued: "These successes - and others set out in this Report - depend totally on the commitment of national, regional and periodical publishers to effective self-regulation.

"The PCC could huff and puff, and have absolutely no impact at all, if the Code of Practice was not part of the life blood of every editor in the country."

He added: "That is why it is absolutely right to record here a tribute to the entire industry - and to its commitment to independent and effective self-regulation."

Six out of 10 complaints received in 1999 were about accuracy in reporting. About one in eight related to intrusion into privacy.

During the year the PCC dealt with more than 4,500 telephone inquiries.

Alison Hastings, editor of the Evening Chronicle, Newcastle, and Malcolm Starbrook, editor of the Croydon Advertiser, are currently among the members of the Commission.