31 May 2012: The revised Communications Alliance Mobile Premium Services Code takes effect from 1 June. The Code, recently registered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (the ACMA), was developed by a Communications Alliance Working Committee and includes new obligations on providers to ensure a positive consumer experience throughout the MPS transaction.
The new code provides for:
- Carriage service providers to report quarterly to the ACMA on their compliance monitoring activities;
- Additional obligations to ensure greater clarity in advertising, including online ads;
- Streamlining of the Double Opt-in procedure which consolidates the opt-in process for non-mobile, WAP and IVR request mechanisms with the opt-in process for MO (Mobile Originating) requests to create a new single opt-in process;
- New requirements stipulating that specific information (STOP facility, inclusion of the term “subscribe/subscription” & content suppliers’ Helpline) be included in subscription messages;
- Provision of chapter summaries and the simplification and clarification of terminology used in the Code, to make it more accessible and easier to understand; and
- New protections relating to the supply of Reverse Charge Billing Services, which had previously been exempted from the Code.
Full story here.