#premium text

The code of practice by which all premium rate services companies must abide by has a number of sections that protect children from being exploited by using any of these services. Unfortunately not enough is being done to clamp down on companies that offer premium rate services to discriminate on who can and cannot use their services. It is my opinion that Phone Pay Plus needs to get tougher where children and vulnerable people are involved in the use of the a premium service that they should not be using.

The first section protecting children is 2.3.9 which says "Premium rate services must not directly appeal to children to purchase products or take advantage of children’s potential credulity, lack of experience or sense of loyalty". Many companies offering premium rate services break this rule by not asking or confirming that the person playing the game is over 16 years of age according the code of practice. This should be part of the first text message sent which must be free of charge, and must also state the cost of receiving subsequent text messages.

The next section protecting children is 2.3.12(b) which says "Services aimed at, or which should have been expected to be particularly attractive to children, must terminate immediately when a maximum of £2.56 plus VAT per call, or in the case of a subscription service a maximum of £2.56 plus VAT per month, has been spent". An example of a service that is particularly attractive to children is those quiz competitions that say you can win a an iPhone or iPad. We know that children are becoming more and more attracted to all these latest gadgets and are likely to be sucked into playing these premium rate quiz competitions. It is my opinion that premium rate services under this rule must make any refunds immediately and without prejudice if a parent or guardian can claim that the phone to which a premium rate charge was made belongs to a child and exceeded £2.56 plus VAT.

The final section protecting children in the code of practice is 2.5.8 which says "Premium rate services aimed at or likely to be particularly attractive to children must not contain anything which a reasonable parent would not wish their child to see or hear in this way". In a recent report by the BBC, the broadcaster said that children as young as 8 are being exposed to sexual explicit material on the internet, and this can also be accessed through premium rate services. Just search the internet forums and you find many parents complaining how their child was able to gain access to adult material and gambling through the use of premium rate services. This section is a very powerful section because it gives you the power as a parent or the guardian the right to say "I am not happy that my child was able to gain easy access to your content, and on that basis I claiming for a full refund on any costs incurred" Maybe, if we continue to take action and complain against these premium rate services, more will be done to ensure that our children's vulnerability is not exploited.

Section 5.3.14 defines a child, it says "Child’ or ‘Children’ means a person/people under 16 years of age". This in my opinion must be raised to 18 years of age because at 16 some children still need a lot of hand holding and guidance, and many parents and guardians will agree with me on this issue. To raise the age will really show commitment on the side of the regulator for premium services that it is serious about protecting children. To find out more about the premium rate services code of practice or to download a copy please visit the Phone Pay Plus website at code.phonepayplus.org.uk.