A communication system, an intelligent peripheral, a charging method, a service control point, and a service switching point are provided. The communication system includes a service switching point, a service control point and an intelligent peripheral. The service control point is adapted for sending an operation characteristic parameter identifying whether to charge for a service to the intelligent peripheral; the intelligent peripheral is adapted for judging whether to request the service switching point to charge for the service according to the operation characteristic parameter identifying whether to charge for the service, and instructing the intelligent peripheral not to send an answer charging message to the service switching point if a result of the judging is negative. Accurate and efficient charging is achieved in various situations of intelligent peripheral resource utilization in an intelligent network.