Out-Law News 1 min. read

Premium-rate regulator overhauls adjudications process


The premium-rate phone line regulator has appointed a new adjudication panel and new guidelines for punishments for breakers of its Code of Practice.

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.

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