ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services, says service providers should think carefully before using the word in any promotion.
The ICSTIS Code of Practice states:
"No premium rate service may be promoted as being free. No product or service may be promoted as being free, or described in a way that implies it is free (for example, a gift), if the most obvious or practical way of obtaining it is by using a premium rate service except in cases where the cost to the consumer does not exceed the delivery costs of the product and the promotional material states the maximum cost of the call."
In practice, ICSTIS says this means that where a consumer is buying one product, such as a ring tone, the product must not be promoted as free if any premium rate charge is involved in providing or supplying it.
Service providers can use the word "free" if the customer is entering a premium rate subscription service where the first product under the subscription is provided without a premium rate charge. However, the service provider must make it clear that the free nature of the first product depends on the customer entering into a subscription service – with consequent premium rate charges at a later date.
Customers must also be able to opt out of any premium rate subscription service, even if the first product under that service is free of charge.
ICSTIS said: "Those service providers that use aggressive marketing and place strong emphasis on the use of the word 'free' which turns out to have misled the consumer in relation to the pricing, other terms or where the service is difficult to cancel are likely to attract significant sanctions."