OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In a long-awaited decision, the CRTC today released rules for the creation and operation of a national do not call list for Canadians who wish to avoid unsolicited phone calls.
The federal government passed Bill C-37 over a year ago, a bill which granted the Commission the power to create the DNC list, after many years of complaints by Canadians over ringing phones from companies they never heard of or don’t wish to be contacted by.
The new framework won’t go into effect until the Commission picks a company to operate and maintain the list and today’s release adds the Regulator "determined that it would seek out an independent operator for the list and issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) later this month to solicit bids from parties."
The information made public today ensures that potential bidders on the RFP are fully informed while allowing the public and the industries affected to familiarize themselves with the changes and to prepare for the implementation of the NDNC list.
Once an operator has been selected and has taken the necessary steps to put the list into operation, Canadians who prefer not to receive unsolicited calls will be able to add, at no charge, their numbers to the database.
Telemarketers will be prohibited from calling consumers who are registered on the list, with certain exemptions. These include unsolicited calls made by or on behalf of:
* Registered charities
* Political parties
* Nomination contestants, leadership contestants or candidates of a political party
* Opinion polling firms
* General-circulation newspapers
* Organizations that have an existing business relationship with a consumer
* Organizations to business consumers.
The CRTC said it will be in a position to provide clearer timelines once the operator is selected.
