ICSTIS has launched a consultation on plans to slow down the flow of money to companies running premium-rate services in breach of the premium rate regulator's rules, in order to reduce the profits earned by fraudsters.
In an emergency amendment to its Code of Practice, ICSTIS proposes to oblige phone networks not to make payments to their premium-rate service providers for at least 30 days after calls have been made.This will give the watchdog time to identify breaches of its Code and, where appropriate, to direct phone networks to withhold funds pending the outcome of investigations. These funds may, in some circumstances, be used in payment of fines later imposed on the offending service provider.The payment system is complicated, with customers paying bills to their telecoms providers for calls, including those to premium rate services, and the telecoms providers then paying the relevant network providers' charges for connecting the calls.But according to ICSTIS, these payments can be made as frequently as every few days, or on a weekly basis, with the result that when a consumer complains there is little that can be done, as the funds have already been sent to the premium rate services provider.Often the premium rate provider then disappears, without ICSTIS being able to apply the key deterrent of holding monies gained, pending completion of its investigation and the imposition of sanctions.The proposals follow one of the recommendations in the Ofcom Review of the Regulation of Premium Rate Services. The Review, conducted by Ofcom with ICSTIS, was carried out at the Department of Trade and Industry's request, and secured Ministerial approval in December 2004."So far, in 2005 alone and after Ofcom's Review, we have seen 17 occurrences of service providers being paid so rapidly that practically no monies were held by the phone networks despite the services being subject to ICSTIS investigations," said George Kidd, ICSTIS' Director. "In one case alone, the phone network paid out over £1.5 million to various service providers while we were investigating breaches of our Code.""We are determined to act swiftly to protect consumers – and to ensure that the relatively small number of rogues out there do not continue to damage trust and confidence in the entire premium rate industry," he added.ICSTIS is consulting on the proposals, and seeks comments by 29th April.
A consultation to strengthen regulations around fiat-referenced tokens in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) is another sign of the free zone’s forward-thinking approach to how it regulates digital currency, an expert has said.
Qatar’s cabinet has approved plans to reduce working hours for mothers employed by government entities to allow them to undertake childcare responsibilities at certain times of the year, setting a clear precedent for broader reforms to workplace flexibility across the Middle East, experts say.
Sports bodies should be able to ‘name and shame’ athletes in their sport responsible for doping offences without worrying about whether doing so will infringe those athletes’ data protection rights.
We use cookies that are essential for our site to work. To improve our site, we would like to use additional cookies to help us understand how visitors use it, measure traffic to our site from social media platforms and to personalise your experience. Some of the cookies that we use are provided by third parties. To accept all cookies click ‘accept all’. To reject all optional cookies click ‘reject all’. To choose which optional cookies to allow click ‘cookie settings’. This tool uses a cookie to remember your choices.
Please visit our cookie policy for more information.
We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience.An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.