Telephone sex lines to be confined to clients with PINs

FROM March 31st, customers wishing to listen to adult premium rate telephone services (sex lines) provided on Telecom Eireann lines may do so only if they have a personal identification, number (PIN).

Such services will be provided only on lines with a 1559 prefix, and will be charged at the rate of 58p per minute (including VAT). PIN numbers will be made available to Telecom Eireann customers on request, free of charge.

Of the 58p charge, 25.9p will go to the service provider, 21p to Telccom Eireann, 10.1p to VAT, and 1p towards the office of Regulator of Premium Rate Telephone Services, which will supervise the content of the services and of their promotion.

The office was set up last May, following an outcry on the RTE Radio One Liveline programme concerning abuses and the content of premium rate sex lines.

A spokeswoman for Telecom explained that the 11 month delay in introducing the long promised PIN numbers had been for legal reasons. She said they had sought the agreement of all service providers to the introduction of restrictions on the lines, but that two of the biggest companies concerned decided not to comply.

As it was necessary to give these companies six months' notice and this was not done until September it was not possible to introduce restrictions before the end of this month.

To have done so beforehand, it was felt, would have been unfair to those companies which had agreed to cooperate.

It has been estimated that the adult premium rate services, or sex lines, are worth a combined income of £1.2 million a year, or £100,000 a month, to the providers and Telecom Eireann at present. This figure is expected to drop dramatically from April 1st.

In Britain the volume of calls on such lines, as a percentage of all premium rate services, dropped from 23 per cent to 2 per cent when restrictions were introduced.

Total annual income from all premium rate services in this State is estimated at £3,252,000 currently, or £271,000 a month.

As and from March 31st, the advertising and promotion of adult premium rate services will also be restricted.

Newspapers and magazines carrying such material must ensure that the advertising does "not contain material indicating violence, sadism or cruelty of a repulsive or horrible nature", according to a code of practice prepared by the regulator's office.

Furthermore, the promotional material must not be of a kind which is likely to (i) result in any unreasonable invasion of privacy (ii) induce an unacceptable sense of fear or anxiety (iii) encourage or incite any person to engage in dangerous practices or to use harmful substances (iv) induce or promote disharmony on the basis of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

It must not cause "grave or widespread offence" or "debase, degrade or demean" involve "the use of foul language" or be used "to promote or facilitate prostitution". Such restrictions also refer to the content of all premium rate services.

The code defines adult services as those "of a sexually suggestive or titillating nature or services where the associated promotional material is of a sexually suggestive or titillating nature".

It stipulates that the service provider shall ensure that premium rate telephone services are not used for the transmission of any message or other matter which is "grossly offensive or of an indecent or obscene character". The promotion of such services "must not appear in publications intended for children or young persons".

It is also required that live services be recorded, and the recordings made available on demand to the regulator.

In promotional material the prefix number must be separate from the rest of the telephone number so it can be readily identified as a premium rate or international prefix.

Where it is an international service, the country of origin must be clearly stated, as must the charges. Such information must be presented in a way that is easily "understood".

Sanctions for failure to comply with the code of practice include the discontinuation of the service band forfeiture of income. Complaints alleging such breaches may be made by members of the public to the regulator, or can be initiated by the regulator's office itself.