OTTAWA – After more than four years of fielding complaints about unsolicited phone calls, the CRTC has decided to call a proceeding to review its practices about how to more effectively reduce the number of unwanted phone calls.
The Commission is looking for input from consumers, telemarketers, and other interested parties on how to make its Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules (UTR) more effective in reducing the number of unwanted telemarketing calls. At the same time, it is looking to facilitate more effective communications between organizations and consumers.
To develop its rules and enforcement practices in the least-intrusive manner necessary, the Commission says it will weigh the benefit of any proposed changes against the administrative burden that may result, particularly for small businesses. The Commission is also seeking views on an application filed by the Canadian Marketing Association, which proposes relaxing the rules which restrict the use of Automatic Dialing-Announcing Devices (ADADs) for telemarketing purposes.
Under the current rules, consumers must provide express consent before calls using ADADs can be made to them. The CMA’s proposal wants to eliminate this restriction where an organization has an existing business relationship with a consumer, and where the consumer has not made a request to be on the internal do not call list (DNCL) maintained by the organization. This means consumers could receive these calls even if they have registered their number on the National DNCL.
The Commission established the UTRs, a comprehensive framework that includes the National Do Not Call List (DNCL) Rules, the Telemarketing Rules, and the Automatic Dialing-Announcing Device (ADAD) Rules, in September 2008.
The National DNCL currently contains more than 11 million numbers. The Commission has received more than 640,000 complaints about alleged violations of the UTRs since they came into force, resulting in enforcement action of more than $3 million in administrative monetary penalties and other payments.
Intervenors have until May 6, 2013 to file an intervention with the Commission. Comments can be filed with the Commission until June 18, 2013.
