The price and nature of premium-rate telephone services must be made clear. Advertisements that include premium-rate telephone numbers or short codes should comply with the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice.
Text short codes are premium-rate SMS services, which often consist of four or five digits and begin 5, 6 or 8.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE An up-to-date guide on premium rate numbers can be found here. |
22.1 Advertisements that include a premium-rate telephone number must comply with the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE The PhonepayPlus Code of Practice can be found here. |
22.2 Advertisements for premium-rate telephone services must include clear pricing information if the service generally costs 50 pence per call or more.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE Advertisements should state in super-imposed text the cost per minute from a landline line and a statement indicates that calls from mobiles will cost more. |
22.3 Advertisements for premium-rate children’s services, services accessed by automated equipment or subscription services must always include clear pricing information.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE Advertisements for premium-rate services that enter callers into subscriptions after the first call/text should state the subscription nature of the service. |
22.4 Advertisements for premium-rate services must state the identity of the service provider or the information provider.
22.5 Radio only – If it is not included in the ad, radio broadcasters must retain and, on request, make available a non-premium-rate telephone number for the premium rate service for customer care purposes. This rule does not apply if PhonepayPlus has expressly exempted a specific service or a number range from the need to provide a non premium- rate telephone number for the premium-rate service.
22.6 Television only – Television advertisements for premium-rate services must include a non-premium-rate telephone number for customer care purposes. This rule does not apply if PhonepayPlus has expressly exempted a specific service or a number range from the need to provide a non-premium-rate telephone number for the premium-rate service.
22.7 Advertisements for services, excluding live or virtual-chat services, that normally involve a telephone call of at least five minutes must alert the audience that use of the service might involve a long call.
22.8 Advertisements for live premium-rate services must not appeal particularly to people under 18, unless those services have received prior permission from PhonepayPlus to target people under 18.
| CLEARCAST GUIDANCE Clearcast will assign a scheduling restriction to ensure live premium rate services are not scheduled in or around programmes commissioned for, principally directed at or likely to appeal particularly to audiences below the age of 18. See rule 32.2.6. |
