PhonepayPlus, which used to be known as ICSTIS, faced criticism
last year over its and media regulator Ofcom's handling of a string
of abuses of premium-rate phone lines in television
competitions.
It has now appointed a new panel to adjudicate on alleged
breaches of its Code as well as new rules governing what
punishments it can hand out to companies which break the rules.
The organisation said that it intended to separate the
administration of the regulator from decisions about who had broken
its rules.
"In March 2007, PhonepayPlus (then ICSTIS) proposed a greater
level of separation between the Board and the Adjudication Panel to
enable the Board to focus on its strategic business and ensure
increased efficiency and consistency in adjudications," said a
PhonepayPlus statement. "On 28 March 2008, Ofcom approved
amendments to the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice to allow the
creation of the new Code Compliance Panel."
PhonepayPlus regulates those companies that are registered with
it as service providers of premium rate phone services. Those phone
lines were heavily used by television companies as revenue earning
vehicles for quizzes on TV programmes.
Many programmes were found last year to be running competitions
which charged viewers for entry even when they had no chance of
winning the competition. The scandals led to fines from Ofcom of
£1.5 million for Channel 4, £2 million for GMTV and £50,000 for the
BBC.
The problems led to a clarification of the structure of the
regulation of television related premium rate services. In February
of this year it was announced that television stations themselves
would be responsible for all aspects of their on-air
competitions.
PhonepayPlus also said that companies operating premium rate
services for television companies must first receive its
permission. It laid down conditions which must be satisfied before
that permission is granted.
It said that operators must ensure that all viewer entries are
included in any random draw, that phone lines close when it is
claimed they do, and that systems and procedures are not changed
without authorisation from the company's senior management
It also said that Ofcom would be the lead regulator for all
television related content.
The new six-member panel will be chaired by employment judge and
mediator David Cockburn and will also include a former member of
the Broadcast Standards Commission and a former member of the
Advertising Standards Authority's Advertising Standards
Committee.
PhonepayPlus's guidance on what sanctions the new panel should
apply to breakers of its rules says that punishments must be
proportionate to the wrong committed and targeted at the point in
the chain of businesses involved that is most likely to ensure
future compliance with the Code.
