The Commission for Communications Regulation (“ComReg”) has published new rules for Premium Rate Services (“PRS”) following a period of public consultation.

PRS are goods and services that can be purchased by charging the cost of the service to a customer’s landline or mobile phone bill and include services such as ringtones, text competitions and sports updates. 

The new rules take the form of licensing regulations and a new Code of Practice. Both come into force on 5 June 2012.

Regulations
The 2012 Regulations (which replace the PRS Licensing Regulations of 2010) identify the types of PRS which require a licence and the conditions attaching to those licences.

Licensees under the 2010 Regulations will be deemed to be licensed under the relevant category in the 2012 Regulations as and from 5 June 2012. ComReg may request information from PRS providers to ascertain the class and type of PRS deemed to be licensed.

The new Regulations impose more onerous obligations on non-compliant PRS providers with regard to refunding end users.  Providers will also be required to make more detailed information available to ComReg regarding the specified PRS, including, for example, substantiating evidence of any claim made in advertising material. 

A new e-Licensing facility will allow PRS providers to apply for licences online. 

Code of Practice
The new Code of Practice replaces the RegTel Code of Practice dating from October 2008, and imposes significant additional obligations on PRS providers. Compliance with the Code is a condition of obtaining a PRS licence.

The Code of Practice applies to the provision, content and promotion of PRS. ComReg’s overall goal is to ensure the confidence and safety of PRS end users.

Subscription PRS are the predominant cause for complaint, and the Code of Practice addresses this by introducing a new “double opt-in” requirement for subscription services.  This requires providers to obtain a positive confirmation from end users of their intention to subscribe to a service.                                                                                                                                   

The new Code of Practice also imposes requirements concerning the transparency of pricing information, introduces specific wording for regulatory information messages and requires purchase confirmation receipts for PRS involving “off-handset” purchases where no content is delivered to the end user’s mobile handset.

Contributed by Claire Waterson.
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