# The Regulation of Premium Rate Services Order 2024, Article 8: Meaning of “subscription service”


(1) In this Order, a “subscription service” means a service mentioned in paragraph (2) provided by means other than a call and to which either paragraph (3) or (4) (or both) applies.
(2) The services are—
(a) a children’s service,
(b) a professional advice service,
(c) a recurring donation service,
(d) a sexual content service,
(e) a society lottery service, or
(f) any other threshold service, except—
(i) a competition or voting service,
(ii) a remote gambling service, or
(iii) a virtual chat service.
(3) This paragraph applies where—
(a) the provision of content, or the making available of a facility, to a consumer will be on a continuing basis for a specified or indefinite period under a subscription contract, and
(b) the consumer will automatically incur a charge, or recurring charges, for the matters mentioned in sub-paragraph (a).
(4) This paragraph applies where—
(a) the provision of content, or the making available of a facility, to a consumer will be free of charge, or at a charge specified in a subscription contract, for a specified period in the contract, and
(b) the consumer will become automatically liable for a charge after that period (including where the merchant has an option to impose a charge or a higher charge after the end of the period).
(5) In this article—
“children’s service” has the meaning given in article 23(2);
“competition or voting service” has the meaning given in article 41(1);
“professional advice service” has the meaning given in article 51(3);
“recurring donation service” has the meaning given in article 28(6);
“remote gambling service” has the meaning given in article 52(4);
“society lottery service” has the meaning given in article 53(4);
“subscription contract” means a contract under which a merchant provides, or agrees to provide, a subscription service to a consumer and the consumer pays, or agrees to pay, the charge to be imposed for the provision of that service;
“virtual chat service” has the meaning given in article 31(5).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/1046/article/8 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/regulation-of-premium-rate-services-order-2024/article-8
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.