PhonepayPlus today announced their 14th Code of Practice, accompanied by a statement and draft procedures. In AIME’s response to the consultation AIME identified, on behalf of membership, over 30 areas of concern or observations on the proposed operation of the Investigations and Sanctions part (part 4) of the 14th Code of Practice.
A majority of AIME input has been accepted and has resulted in either changes to the Code or the supporting procedures. The changes that were not accepted are accompanied by responses from PhonepayPlus that will serve as reference material for any future review of processes.
We are confident that PhonepayPlus has set out to ensure a fair and pragmatic process exists and our observations were mainly in the event that the process went wrong. AIME expects PhonepayPlus to have at its disposal a robust investigation and sanction procedure that targets the individuals and companies that seek to cause damage to consumers at the expense of the well behaved providers that make up AIME’s membership.
Our concerns for members who fund the operation of PhonepayPlus are that the process is economical, legally sound and fair.
In the unlikely event that a member will have a case raised against them, that there is an opportunity for an early settlement akin to the “on the spot” fine for a minor traffic offence.
If the process has gone wrong for a provider, we want to ensure that there is an appeals process to allow for economical review of a case without the need for a judicial review. AIME has successfully won this change amongst others.
We expect the 14th Code to go live in July 2016 after Ofcom and EU consultation. The full PhonepayPlus statement can be read here:
