The caretaker Belgian government is tightening the rules for sms-services. The new rules should prevent people from after the download of a ringtone to an expensive subscription stuck. Providers can be high fines.
Service providers should by the new rules by July 1, more clearly indicate what a service will cost, as stated in the Belgian official Gazette, which the new rules in a Royal Decree published. May services such as weather and sounds not more than two euros per piece costs. To unsubscribe from a subscription service should be free of charge as possible.
The sms providers are also required to be reachable at a fixed number. The new rules should be especially the ‘cowboys’ in the industry to combat, according to Dutch minister Van Quickenborne. An ethics committee will, henceforth, customer complaints about sms services, treat. This commission can impose fines with a maximum of 125,000 euros.
The sms-dienstenbranche has years gefloreerd, but is now a few years in a downward spiral. By the rise of smartphones and mobile internet have less people interested in ringtones and Java games. As a result, the revenues of the industry are minimized.