How is the PRS industry currently regulated?
Under current arrangements the regulatory regime for PRS follows a co-regulatory approach, with the primary role for consumer protection falling to ICSTIS, the industry-funded regulatory body responsible for UK PRS. ICSTIS has responsibility for regulating the content and promotion of services, and its role is to prevent consumer detriment from the use of premium rate numbers. ICSTIS carries out this role by enforcing a code of practice on behalf of all telephone companies, and the code contains numerous provisions relating to the need for clear and accurate pricing information, honest advertising and appropriate and targeted promotions. Where there are breaches of the code, ICSTIS has a range of sanctions that it can impose upon the offending service providers, including obtaining assurances about future behaviour, instructing refunds to be offered (albeit that it cannot guarantee that compensation will be paid), imposing fines, barring access to services and prohibiting certain ‘name
