Privacy Policy

PhonepayPlus Limited (“we”/”us”/”our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of all visitors to this website and processing all personal data and confidential information received in accordance with requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“the Act”) and the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice (“the Code”) respectively.

For the purposes of the Act this policy (together with our Terms of Use) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect or receive from you will be processed by us as the relevant data controller under the Act.  Please read the following carefully to understand how we view and will use your personal data.

INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT FROM YOU

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Information that you provide by filling in forms on our website. This includes information provided to us when you register as a premium rate service provider, apply for prior permission to operate a service, submit network levy returns, lodge a complaint against a service, use our number checker service, subscribe to our news alerts service or any other service we may provide, apply for a job at PhonepayPlus and when you report a problem with our website.
  • Information received from surveys that we may ask you to complete for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
  • Details obtained from payment transactions you make through our website relating to registration and prior permission applications.
  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of the correspondence received from you.
  • Details of your visits to our site and the resources that you access.

IP ADDRESSES AND COOKIES

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is data about our users' browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service.

You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site.

TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS

PhonepayPlus may also record telephone conversations with consumers wishing to make a complaint via our customer service number (0800 500 212) about premium rate services, for the purposes of training and/or evidence. Consumers are informed beforehand of the recording arrangements, and have the opportunity to submit a written complaint if they prefer. Recordings may only be accessed by an authorised PhonepayPlus employee, and the recording will be not be used for evidential purposes without the express consent of the caller. Where recordings are not being used for evidential purposes, they will be automatically deleted after three months. All other conversations are automatically recorded and automatically deleted after one week.

STORAGE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

The data that we collect from you will not be ordinarily be transferred to, or stored at, any place outside the European Economic Area ("EEA").  Where there is any requirement for us to transfer your data outside the EEA we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted. Where we have given you (or where we have allowed you to choose) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data when you transmit it to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

USE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We use information held about you in the following ways:

  • To notify you about the progress of any complaint you have made and enable us to carry out enquiries and/or gather evidence for any related investigation (e.g. by requesting records held about you from a premium rate service provider);
  • To notify you about the progress of any prior permission application you have made;
  • To notify you about the registration status of a provider registered by you;
  • To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • To provide you with information or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, where you choose to do so;
  • To notify you about any changes to any service we provide to you.

DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose your personal information to third parties:

  • Where we have your consent;
  • In order to enforce or apply our Terms of Use;
  • In the course of our regulatory duties as governed by the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice;
  • If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any other legal obligation.

SECURITY AND DATA RETENTION

We employ security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. We will not retain your information for longer than is necessary for our purposes. 

YOUR RIGHTS

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data.  You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at [E-MAIL ADDRESS].

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of other regulatory bodies such as Ofcom.  If you follow a link from our website to any of these websites, please note that the privacy policies of these bodies will apply and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for such policies.  Please check the privacy policies of these bodies before you submit any personal data to their websites.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

We are committed to ensuring that all confidential information received by us is handled in accordance with the requirements of the Code. The Code sets out the conditions on which we can disclose confidential information received, and the persons to whom we can disclose such information. 

We would recommend that where you provide information to us that is unlikely to be immediately recognised as confidential, you make it clear when submitting the information that such information should be treated as confidential.  This does not mean that we will ultimately view and treat the information as confidential, but it will enable us to be clear as to what information you consider to be confidential and take this into account when deciding whether or not to disclose the information.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this website and, where appropriate, through e-mail notification.

CONTACT

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to webmaster@phonepayplus.org.uk .