For folks running premium rate services in the UK, you should already be familiar with Phonepay Plus (formerly ICSTIS) as they’re the regulator looking after that particular area of our industry. I know they’re not always the most popular folks in town, but they do have consumer interests at heart and I think it’s a very good thing that they exist.
Anyway, I’ve just had an email from my friends at the Mobile Entertainment Forum to alert me that there is now a consultation period for the new code due to come into force next year. The consultation period was announced today and closes 19 January 2011. I’ve copied pretty much word for word what was in their email a it’s useful stuff.
The 12th Code is radically different from the current Code and seeks to deliver outcomes rather than prescribe how services should operate. The premise is that as long as businesses deliver these outcomes for consumers, they will be more free to design their services in a way that suits them and their customers. (Sounds like a good approach to me.Ed) This makes it all the more important that the industry has a good understanding of PpP’s expectations in applying the new rules.
PpP’s consultation on the Guidance Notes shows what the Code means in practice so companies can be confident about what is required of them. The idea of the ‘new’ Guidance is to provide a consolidated source of information so providers of PRS (premium rate services) can easily find what they need and it should also allow for a quicker response to newly-identified risks or unacceptable practices (since Guidance can be updated without the need to amend the Code of Practice itself).
Alex Haffner at SNR Denton has now prepared a Guide covering the most important Guidance Notes for MEF members. (It seems to me that anyone can download a copy of the briefing notes by entering your contact details on the site. If that’s not the case, let me know and I’ll see if I can get a copy I can publish or link to from here so anyone interested can access – Ed.)
MEF has previously published a Guide to the PpP Code consultation.
For more information on MEF’s work please contact Suhail Bhat or Miranda Roberts.
And if you’re in the world of Mobile Entertainment in the UK and beyond, you may want to consider joining the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF). This is an example of the good stuff that they do for their members.
