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Ofcom has today published a consultation on PhonepayPlus' draft Code of Practice for Premium Rate Services (PRS).  The consultation is designed to run alongside PhonepayPlus' own consultation on its draft Code of Practice which can be found here: http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/upload/New-Code-consultation-Final.pdf

The draft Code ensures that all parties involved in the PRS value chain will now be held directly responsible for their actions. The draft Code will also require some classes of PRS providers to register with PhonepayPlus prior to operating in the market and will include new sanctions, new processes for PhonepayPlus investigations, and new complaints handling obligations on providers.

Ofcom considers that the draft Code would strengthen the regulatory regime by allowing PhonepayPlus to more clearly target those parties that are causing consumer harm while creating a flexible and proportionate regulatory framework for legitimate providers.

Ofcom is inviting comments on whether it should approve the draft Code should it remain in similar form post consultation.   The consultation can be found here: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/ppp/
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A five-minute skim through the document appears to yield the usual wishy-washy nonsense. Many PRS scams could be ended by requiriing an opt-in system. Many others could be resolved by the provision of adequate redress. This code appears to provide neither, and the reasons are obvious. For those interested in responding, sixty-two consultation questions are posed.

Not a useful contribution to debate, however I suspect that many members will be as entertained as I was on viewing a set of very well made videos promoting the work of Phonepay Plus.

View them at - http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/output/videos.aspx.

Their merit is in their entertainment value and the quality of the production. (Phonepay Plus is funded only by its members, there is no public money involved, that is why it operates as it does.)

The information in the videos is fairly simple and uncontentious. The one point with which I would take serious issue is the failure to be able to give a meaningful indication of call cost, prior to someone using a Premium Rate Service. We look forward to Ofcom doing something about this by extending some form of price regulation across the market. The present situation where only BT charges are regulated and therefore "others may vary", is totally unacceptable.