Complaints about telemarketing calls drop 60 percent: ACMA

Stephen Withers
Monday, 06 July 2009 08:35

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The meaning of the Do Not Call Register seems to be getting through to telemarketers: the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) reports a 60 percent drop in the number of complaints.

Fixed or mobile phone numbers can be added to the Do Not Call Register (DNCR) as long as they are primarily for private or domestic purposes. 3.5 million numbers are listed on the Register.

Penalties for contravening the DNCR Act include fines of up to $A220,000 per day. However, in the two years that the Act has been enforced, the total of the financial penalties collected is just "more than $300,000", according to ACMA.

The Authority has also received eight enforceable undertakings from businesses that had failed to comply with the Act.

Examples include a $147,000 penalty imposed on telecommunications provider Dodo (an overseas call centre was making telemarketing calls on behalf of Dodo to numbers on the DNCR), and a formal warning to Westpac for telemarketing to existing customers who had asked not to be contacted in that way.

Complaints about calls to numbers on the DNCR have fallen by 60 percent. There were 12,057 complaints during the 12 months ending in May 2009, down from 30,060 in the previous period.

"This very sizeable drop in complaints indicates that the telemarketing industry is getting the message and changing behaviours," said ACMA chairman Chris Chapman.

"Making prohibited calls to people on the register just isn't worth it – you will get caught and you will get penalised," added Chapman.

According to ACMA's new compliance guide, it is not enough for a business to require its contractors (eg, a call centre making calls on behalf of the business) to follow the Act's requirements - it must also take "appropriate action" to ensure that is done.

Suggested actions include insisting that the contractor provides DNCR compliance reports, and periodically checking samples of the numbers called against the DNCR.

The DNCR Act does not make any provision for subscribers that want to avoid calls from charities or political parties, nor for adding business numbers to the Register. But the 2009 Federal Budget allocated $4.7 million to expand the DNCR to apply to business and fax numbers.