Campaign Guidance - Sweden

Sweden – Guidance and Regulations

Please ensure that you review the Code of Conduct and Ethical Council Regulations below, so that you are familiar with the regulatory requirements in Sweden.

  • Morgan Code of Conduct - The industry organisation MORGAN is a professional network, working to develop and enable mobile content services in Sweden.
  • The content provider must always be able to prove how a user ordered a service.

Campaign

Depending on the service type that you intend to run, can have an effect on the method of opt-in and therefore, the information that you are required to display. Information about the service must be presented above and directly adjacent to a confirmation button or to another ordering function. The payment pages must include the following information:

  • Price for the service, above or directly adjacent to a confirmation button. This must be included on EVERY page of the campaign flow
  • Description of the service, which must include the word “prenumeration” (subscription) 
  • The confirmation button must state - KÖP
  • If you are using PIN to opt consumers in; on the confirmation page, once they have entered their phone number, the following MUST be displayed:

STARTA PRENUMERATIONEN (in capital letters) 

XX kr debiteras abonnemanget 07xx-xxxxxx varje [time period] 

Fyll i din PIN-kod här: 

And a confirmation button with the text KÖP

  • Telephone number & email address to the service provider’s customer service
  • Name of the service provider
  • Location based services require consent as per section 4.1.

Further points that must be visible on your web page:

  • Clearly state whether it is a subscription or one-time service. The information must be eye-catching and clearly noticeable to the consumer. 
  • If it is a subscription service, you must include details on how the consumer opts out and cancels the service. The word STOPP must be displayed in capitals.
  • State that the fee will be added to the user’s phone bill or deducted from their pre-paid credit. 
  • Full Terms and Conditions link to be displayed. 
  • All promotional material, messages and content must be displayed in the local, Swedish language.
  • If the service includes obtaining of location data, this must be explicitly stated.
  • Your services must incorporate an opt-in reminder. 
  • Wherever you mention the cost of the service, you must also mention the subscription lifetime (in terms of the number of messages that you intend to send to the end user until they receive an opt-in reminder). This rule is centered on subscription reminders in the Ethical Rules (B.1.c). This information must be reflected in all relevant marketing materials and SMS notifications. As a guide: 

SE: Pris 50kr/vecka under XX veckor

EN: Price 50 kr/week for XX weeks. 

Where XX is the number of messages you intend to send during the subscription lifetime. If your service advertises a subscription length of, for example, 40 messages, then upon receipt of the 40th message the end user must receive a reminder which states that they must opt-in again to receive further messages. If they fail to opt-in again, the end user must be automatically unsubscribed.

NOTE: Please be advised that Click2SMS flows are NOT allowed in Sweden. They are in breach of the Code and if found to be using this flow, will result in an instant suspension. The TR (Ethical council) do not take this flow lightly, and it will most likely result in a permanent block in Sweden.

Marketing

Pricing information must be included in ALL marketing, this includes any banner advertisements that are used prior to the consumer viewing the landing page. You can find the rule in the Ethical Council's Ethical Rules, Section A.1.a.

There are several different marketing methods available in Sweden, however you must ensure that you do not mis-lead consumers, advertise a service using an unrelated banner or state that something is free, when that is not the case. You will need to provide our Compliance Team with information on your marketing plans, along with copies of any banners that you intend to use.
If you plan to use the customer's details to market to them in the future, you must gain permission from the user and ensure that you provide them with a clear and simple method to opt-out. See section 4 of the Morgan Code of Conduct for more detailed information on this.

Message Flow

The message flow can vary depending on the type of service that you are running. Please review the Morgan Code of Conduct to ensure that you are sending out the correct and required regulatory messages.  For subscription services, see 3.4 of the Morgan Code of Conduct for the correct messages, as the messages can vary depending on the ordering process, Pin opt-in is also possible, however you must have a third party pin provider in place. 

Double Opt-in via sms keyword: To order by SMS using a keyword - the service provider starts the order by sending exactly the following text in a text message to the user:

  • SE: Du har beställt en prenumeration på [service]. xxkr/vecka under xx veckor. För att bekräfta beställningen skicka [keyword] till 72xxx.
  • EN: You have ordered a subscription to [service].  xx kr  / week for xx weeks. To confirm the order send [keyword] to 72xxx.

Double Opt-in via PIN: To order by SMS using a PIN - the service provider starts the order by sending exactly the following text in a text message to the user:

  • SE: Du har beställt en prenumeration på [service]. Pris xx kr/[time period or SMS]. För att bekräfta beställningen ange PIN-kod [xxxx]
  • EN: You have ordered a subscription to [service]. Price xx kr / [time period or SMS]. To confirm the order enter PIN code [xxxx]

Welcome: See 3.4 of the Morgan Code of Conduct for subscription services. The service provider sends exactly the following text to the user to confirm the order:

  • SE: Du har startat en prenumeration på [service]. Pris xx kr/[time period or SMS]. Skicka STOPP till 72xxx för att avsluta. Kundtjänst: {helpline number}. [service provider]
  • EN: You have started a subscription to [service]. Price xx kr / [time period or SMS]. Send STOP to 72xxx to exit. Customer service: {helpline number}. [service provider]

Billing: Every time a user is charged for a subscription service, an SMS must be sent to the user. You need to include the following in each billed message;

  • The service name 
  • Price
  • Content link (If applicable)

Reminder: Once per month, alternatively when 200 SEK accumulated spend, whichever comes first, a free informational message must be sent to the user. The below message must be used exactly:

  • SE: Du har en pågående prenumeration på [service]. Den kostar xx kr per [time period or SMS]. Skicka STOPP till 72xxx för att avsluta. Kundtjänst: [helpline number]. [service provider].
  • EN: You have an ongoing subscription to [service]. It costs xx kr per [time period or SMS]. Send STOP to 72xxx to exit. Customer service: [helpline number]. [service provider].

Stop: STOPP shall in all marketing be spelled in Swedish, but STOP shall also be supported. Instructions for the general STOPP service shall be clearly presented in all marketing. When a message with the word STOPP is sent to the service provider’s account it shall immediately stop all on-going services. When a subscription service has been stopped, the user shall receive a confirmation message informing them of this.

  • EN: FreeMsg: You are now unsubscribed from {name of service}. Helpline 0XXXXXXX.

Payment / Retries

The content provider may only attempt to charge the subscriber once if the subscription was suspended or blocked for mobile premium rate services. If the attempt fails the order, alternatively the subscription shall be cancelled.

The content provider may only execute one attempt to complete the payment transaction if the user does not have sufficient credit on a pre-paid account. One new attempt may be made when completing the next payment transaction; if the content provider informs the user of the earlier fruitless attempt to debit the consumer that the service wil be closed if the credit balance is still insufficient at the time (separate message must be sent before the 2nd attempt). At the second attempt, the content provider may only charge the last period and not accumulated amounts. If both charging attempts fail, the subscription shall be cancelled.

At their own cost, the content provider may infom the user that the service may be initiated again. 

Restrictions

The time period between two debits in a subscription service may not exceed one month.
If the content provider can ensure that the mobile number that originally ordered the subscription service still belongs to the same subscription holder, a period of three months is accepted. This can be ensured, for example, by using an alias to charge the end customer instead of the mobile number.

Customer care / Refund Policy

All service providers must have a detailed Customer Care Process and Refund Policy in place.
You need to ensure that the process is in place for consumers to gain help should they require it, along with a refund policy for those that require one or are eligible for one.
This will be discussed in detail, to ensure that our customer care team can resolve any queries that are received from the networks or regulator.
The service provider must provide customer service for all serivces. The customer service number must be accessible between 9am and 4pm on weekdays. It must be a Swedish phone number. When the customer support number is closed, information regarding the opening hours must be provided, in Swedish on an answering machine.

Question? Speak with our Compliance Team for any advice for this or any other market.