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Number portability meaning

What does Number portability mean?
In legal practice, number portability is the end user’s right to keep their telephone number when switching communications provider or service, and the corresponding obligation on providers to complete the transfer (porting). In the UK, this duty arises under the Communications Act 2003 and Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement; in Ireland, under regulations implementing the European Electronic Communications Code and ComReg rules. It covers mobile (MSISDN) and fixed numbers (geographic and non‑geographic), including migrations between technologies (e.g., PSTN/ISDN to VoIP or fibre). Key features: porting must be provided promptly, on reasonable and cost‑oriented terms; undue delay or refusal is limited to grounds such as technical infeasibility, suspected fraud, or geographic constraints. For fixed geographic numbers, retention typically depends on remaining within the same area code; mobile and non‑geographic numbers are portable nationally. In the UK, mobile ports commonly use a PAC (text‑to‑switch). Providers should not withhold a port solely because of debt, but may recover charges separately. Number portability is central to switching processes, interconnection and wholesale porting agreements, and often features in consumer disputes and regulatory enforcement across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, where usage is broadly consistent.
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FLOWCHARTS
Ireland: EU GDPR data subject requests-flowchart for handling access, rectification, erasure, restriction and portability, identity checks, time limits, complexity, unfounded/excessive requests, refusals, response format and temporary processing restrictions (DPC guidance)

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) sets out several rights for data subjects, including the right to access their personal data, and rights to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability. Data subjects may ask an organisation to exercise one or more of these rights at any time, and strict deadlines apply to meeting such requests. For comprehensive guidance on managing data subject access requests, see Practice Note: Ireland-How to handle data subject access requests. This Flowchart outlines a process for dealing with data subject requests made under the EU GDPR. It reflects the Regulation’s requirements alongside guidance issued by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC), and should be read with Practice Note: Ireland-How to handle data subject access requests and Ireland-Evaluating a data subject access request-flowchart, where relevant. Note 1-data subject requests The EU GDPR grants data subjects a number of rights, including: a right of access to their personal data rights to rectification, erasure and restriction of processing a...

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View the related Practice Notes about Number portability

PRACTICE NOTES
Digital rights management in the UK: CDPA 1988 anti-circumvention, technological measures, permitted acts and enforcement

This Practice Note outlines the legal and practical considerations relevant to digital rights management (DRM), and examines how far technical tools and other safeguards can be deployed by rights holders to protect and administer their digital works lawfully and effectively in practice. It also sets out the categories of offences that may arise where technological protection measures are bypassed or where rights management information is abused in any context. What is digital rights management? DRM describes the technical mechanisms used by copyright owners of digital material to label, monitor and secure their assets. These controls are applied to block unauthorised copying, for instance by using encryption, ensuring that only approved software and permitted users can open a given digital file where appropriate. DRM also serves to identify content and to manage its distribution to consumers, eg by tracking how often a work is accessed for the purpose of calculating the royalties payable lawfully, or to support business models such as online music subscription services. For example, the video...

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PRACTICE NOTES
EU Universal Service Directive and European Electronic Communications Code: scope, end-user rights, USO designation and funding, switching and number portability, must carry and warning systems, UK implementation and Brexit

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is no longer maintained. It concerns Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users’ rights in relation to electronic communications networks and services, as revised by Directive 2009/136/EC (the Universal Service Directive). It forms part of a suite of Practice Notes addressing the key components of the EU regulatory regime for electronic communications. Across the EU, the operation of electronic communications networks and services in each Member State is subject to a shared regulatory system that initially consisted of five directives (the Framework). The Framework’s purpose was to create a harmonised regime for regulating electronic communications networks and services across the EU. In December 2018, Directive (EU) 2018/1972 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (Recast) (the European Electronic Communications Code) was published in the Official Journal of the EU and entered into force three days later. The European Electronic Communications Code consolidates four of the directives (including the Universal Service Directive)...

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PRACTICE NOTES
UK Banking, Finance, Capital Markets, Derivatives and Insolvency Law Glossary including Islamic finance

Banking & Finance glossary A Auditing and Accounting Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) The foremost Islamic, international, autonomous, independent, not-for-profit corporate body that develops and issues accounting, auditing, governance, ethics and Shari’ah benchmarks and standards for Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the wider Islamic finance sector. Founded in Bahrain in 1991, it is backed by a number of institutional members across more than 45 countries, including central banks and regulatory authorities, financial institutions, accounting and auditing practices, and legal firms. Its pronouncements are currently applied by leading Islamic financial institutions across the world and have advanced a progressive and gradual harmonisation of global Islamic finance practice. It also delivers professional qualification programmes—notably Certified Islamic Professional Accountant (CIPA), Certified Shari’ah Adviser and Auditor (CSAA), and the corporate compliance programme—in efforts to strengthen the industry’s human capital and governance frameworks. For further details, see Practice Note: Key participants in the Islamic finance industry—Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). Acceleration Acceleration is the formal action...

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