PhonepayPlus (PpP), the UK regulator for phone-paid premium rate services (PRS), has published for consultation a series of 22 draft Guidance notes which are intended to supplement the new Code of Practice, (the 12th Code), which is due to come into force during 2011.

PpP’s consultation on the Guidance Notes show what the Code means in practice so that companies can be confident about what is required of them. PpP says the idea of the ‘new’ Guidance is to provide a consolidated source of information so that providers of PRS can easily find what they need, and that it should also allow for a quicker response to newly-identified risks or unacceptable practices.

Suhail Bhat, policy and initiatives director at the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), says: “The 12th Code is radically different from the current Code and seeks to deliver outcomes rather than prescribe how services should operate. As long as businesses deliver these outcomes, they will have greater freedom to design their services in a way that suits them and their customers. This makes it all the more important that the industry has a good understanding of PpP’s expectations in applying the new rules.”

To help its members, the MEF has issued, in conjunction with law firm SNR Denton, a Guide to the consultation covering the most important Guidance Notes. MEF members can access the guide via the MEF website.