Plan Communications Limited like all other UK communications providers are regulated under Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement. These regulations apply to anyone who provides an electronic communication service or an electronic communications network.
General Condition C8 regulates how communications providers are able to market and sell mobile telephony services to customers. Full details of General Condition C8 please see below:
- C8.1 This Condition applies to any Communications Provider which provides a Mobile Communications Service to Domestic and Small Business Customers, including any SMS service sold as part of the package, except that Conditions C8.4(b)(iii), C8.5 and C8.7 to
- C8.11 do not apply to Prepaid Mobile Services and SIM Only Contracts. For the purposes of this Condition:
- (a) each of these Communications Providers is a ‘Regulated Provider’;
- (b) any such Mobile Communications Services are ‘Relevant Mobile Services’; and
- (c) any such Domestic and Small Business Customers are ‘Relevant Customers’.
- C8.11 do not apply to Prepaid Mobile Services and SIM Only Contracts. For the purposes of this Condition:
Obligations to prevent mis-selling
- C8.2 When selling or marketing Relevant Mobile Services, Regulated Providers must ensure that:
- (a) any information they provide to Relevant Customers is accurate and not misleading; and
- (b) they ask Relevant Customers if they also want the information to be provided in a Durable Medium and, if they do, Regulated Providers must provide the information in that form.
Publication of relevant obligations
- C8.3 Regulated Providers must:
- (a) publish a comprehensive summary of their obligations under Condition C8 in an easily accessible and reasonably prominent manner on their website or, where there is no such website, in such manner and form as directed by Ofcom; and
- (b) provide a copy of Condition C8 to a Relevant Customer free of charge upon reasonable request.
Obligation with regards to mobile service retailers
- C8.4 Where the Regulated Provider contracts with or appoints a Mobile Service Retailer directly in order to sell or market the Regulated Provider’s Relevant Mobile Services it must ensure, and where a third party acting on behalf of the Regulated Provider contracts with or appoints a Mobile Service Retailer in order to sell or market the Regulated Provider’s Relevant Mobile Services, the Regulated Provider must use reasonable endeavours to ensure, that:
- (a) the Mobile Service Retailer is aware of Condition C8;
- (b) provisions are in place which require the Mobile Service Retailer to ensure that:
- i. any information it provides to Relevant Customers is accurate and not misleading;
- ii. it asks Relevant Customers if they also want the information to be provided in a Durable Medium and, if they do, the Mobile Service Retailer must provide the information in that form; and
- iii. it creates and keeps records about the sale of the Regulated Provider’s Relevant Mobile Services for a period of not less than six months and, where applicable, about a related sales incentive as referred to in Condition C8.11, for a period of not less than ninety days after the date by which this sales incentive has to be fully redeemed, but not less than six months;
- (c) the Regulated Provider monitors the Mobile Service Retailer’s compliance with the provisions referred to in Condition C8.4(b); and
- (d) non-compliance by the Mobile Service Retailer with the provisions referred to in Condition C8.4(b) is appropriately sanctioned by the Regulated Provider.
Relevant mobile service – information at point of sale
- C8.5 Regulated Providers must use reasonable endeavours to ensure that before entering into or amending a contract for a Relevant Mobile Service, a Relevant Customer:
- (a) is authorised to do so;
- (b) intends to enter into this contract; and
- (c) is provided with the information set out below in a clear, comprehensible and accurate manner in a Durable Medium which is available or accessible to the Relevant Customer or, where the Relevant Customer enters into or amends the contract during a sales call, by telephone:
- i. the identity of the legal entity the Relevant Customer is contracting with; its address and telephone, fax and/or e-mail contact details; and
- ii. a description of the Relevant Mobile Service; the key charges; payment terms; the existence of any termination right, including termination procedures; the likely date the Relevant Mobile Service will be provided, in case the provision of the Relevant Mobile Service is not immediate; and any Fixed Commitment Period. For the purposes of this provision, key charges include minimum contract charges, any Early Termination Charges and, if the Relevant Customer is a Consumer, the Access Charge to be applied by the Regulated Provider for the purpose of calculating the amounts payable by that Relevant Customer for calls to Unbundled Tariff Numbers in accordance with Condition B1.
Where the Relevant Customer enters into a contract during a sales call, in addition to the oral provision of this information the Regulated Provider must use reasonable endeavours to ensure that this information is sent to the Relevant Customer in good time following the call in a Durable Medium.
Provision of relevant mobile services
- C8.6 Regulated Providers must ensure that the Relevant Mobile Services that they have contracted with each Relevant Customer to provide are available to each Relevant Customer to receive.
Records retention
- C8.7 Where the Regulated Provider acts as a Mobile Service Retailer, it must create and keep records about the sale of its Relevant Mobile Services for a period of not less than six months and, where applicable, about a related sales incentive as referred to in Condition, for a period of not less than ninety days after the date by which this sales incentive has to be fully redeemed, but not less than six months. Such records must include the date of the sale, the means through which the contract was entered into and the place where the contract was entered into, where applicable.
Training
- C8.8 Regulated Providers must use reasonable endeavours to ensure that processes are in place which ensure that a Mobile Service Retailer is appropriately trained to comply with Condition C8.
Due diligence
- C8.9 Where the Regulated Provider contracts with or appoints a Mobile Service Retailer directly in order to sell or market the Regulated Provider’s Relevant Mobile Services it must ensure that, and where a third party acting on behalf of the Regulated Provider contracts with or appoints a Mobile Service Retailer in order to sell or market the Regulated Provider’s relevant Mobile Services the Regulated Provider must use reasonable endeavours to ensure that, it, or a person acting on its behalf, carries out and retains a record of the following minimum procedures with regards to any Mobile Service Retailer, contracted or appointed to sell or market the Regulated Provider’s Relevant Mobile Services:
- (a) a credit reference search and check that the Mobile Service Retailer does not have a history of failing to meet its financial undertakings to creditors;
- (b) a check that any director of a Mobile Service Retailer concerned has not been subject to a period of disqualification from acting as a director, or has not been a director of a third party that has filed for bankruptcy or gone into administration; and
- (c) appropriate checks to ensure that any due diligence information referred to in Condition C8.9 remains up-to-date and relevant.
These procedures must be carried out before contracting with or appointing the Mobile Service Retailer.
Use of information for the purpose of monitoring compliance
- C8.10 Where a Regulated Provider acquires information from a Mobile Service Retailer for the purpose of monitoring compliance with this Condition, the Regulated Provider shall use that information solely for the purpose for which it was supplied and keep the information confidential. For the avoidance of doubt, the Regulated Provider shall not pass the information on to any other party (including its subsidiaries or partners) for whom such information could provide a competitive advantage.
Sales incentives – information at point of sale
- C8.11 Regulated Providers must use reasonable endeavours to ensure that where a Mobile Service Retailer offers to a Relevant Customer a sales incentive, from which the Relevant Customer does not benefit immediately and which the Relevant Customer is entitled to receive after entering into the contract for the Relevant Mobile Service, the terms and conditions of such an offer are not unduly restrictive and that a Relevant Customer is provided with the following information in a clear, comprehensible and accurate manner in a Durable Medium or, where the sales incentive offer is made during a sales call, by telephone:
- (a) the identity of the legal entity which makes the sales incentive offer and undertakes to meet the obligation(s) tied to this offer; its address; and telephone, fax and/or e-mail contact details;
- (b) a description of the sales incentive itself; and
- (c) the terms and conditions of the sales incentive, including a detailed and clear explanation as to the process the Relevant Customer has to follow to obtain the sales incentive.
- C8.12 Where the sales incentive offer is made during a sales call, in addition to the oral provision of this information, the Regulated Provider must use reasonable endeavours to ensure that this information is sent to the Relevant Customer in good time following the call in a Durable Medium.