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Premium rate service provider not to overcharge or charge for services not supplied.
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13.— (1) A premium rate service provider shall not impose, or purport to impose, in respect of a specified premium rate service, a charge—
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(a) for supplying the premium rate service to an end user that exceeds the amount for the service specified—
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(i) in the provider’s published charges, or
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(ii) in a written statement previously made or given to the end user by the provider in relation to that supply,
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(b) for supplying a premium rate service to an end user that was not requested by the end user, or
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(c) for a premium rate service that was requested by an end user but was not supplied.
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(2) A premium rate service provider that contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000.
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(3) Subject to subsection (4), where a premium rate service provider is convicted summarily of an offence under subsection (2), the court may, on application to it by the Commission, after having regard to the nature of the offence and the circumstances in which it was committed, order that—
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(a) the licence, or all the licences, held by the licensee be revoked and that the former licensee be prohibited (which may be a permanent prohibition, a prohibition for a specified period or a prohibition subject to specified conditions) from applying for any new licence or a particular type or class of new licence, or
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(b) any charge imposed on any end user concerned in the contravention of subsection (1) to which the offence relates be repaid to the end user by the provider,
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or both.
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(4) An order under subsection (3), does not take effect until—
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(a) the ordinary time for bringing an appeal against the conviction concerned has expired without any such appeal having been brought,
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(b) any such appeal has been withdrawn or abandoned, or
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(c) on any such appeal, the conviction or order, as the case may be, is upheld.
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(5) In this section—
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“charges”, in relation to a specified premium rate service, includes any list setting out the prices charged by a premium rate service provider to end users;
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“end user” means a person to whom a premium rate service is supplied or who has requested the supply of such a service, otherwise than for the purpose of resupply.
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