Stop telemarketing on mobile phones: from today the new register of oppositions | Video

Are you often the subject of unwanted advertising calls? There is good news: from today, the new regulation of the Public Register of Oppositions comes into force, which simplifies the procedures for revoking consents to promotional calls and sending unwanted advertising material. The novelty is significant, which is why we have condensed all the essential things to know in a video: you can find it above and also at the end of the article.

One of the most important changes concerns the extension of theapplication also to mobile phones as well as landline telephone numbers and paper mail.

The Rpo is a free public service that allows citizens who register to no longer be contacted by telemarketersunless they have received explicit consent to use the data after the registration date or as part of a contract in force or terminated for no more than 30 days.

The measure of the Government it has acknowledged all the indications coming from the institutions and administrations involved including those of the del Privacy Guarantor which on 18 January had expressed a positive opinion on the approval. Pasquale Stanzione, President of the Privacy Guarantor, had emphasized when approving the new regulation.

We appreciate the fact that the indications of the Guarantor for the protection of personal data have been accepted in order to offer greater protection to consumers against unwanted calls, in particular automated ones. The regulatory change made with the “capacity decree” and this new implementing regulation, while ensuring ample space for competition and commercial initiative, offer protection to citizens against a phenomenon, such as that of wild telemarketing, which is particularly invasive and intolerable, especially for the most vulnerable

In reality, the reform is going to improve something that already existed, because the Register of oppositions was established about ten years ago with the same intentions and since then it has been managed by the Ugo Bordoni Foundation, one of the main Italian research institutes in the field of telecommunications.

Up until now, however, it has only been reserved for fixed telephone numbers already in the telephone directorieswhich made it obsolete compared to today’s needs, if we consider that in 2011 68% of Italians still had a landline phone at home, a percentage that dropped below 59% already in 2018 (Censis data) and probably continues with this trend.

On the other hand, our country is one of those with the largest number of mobile phones, with 80 million devices for 60 million people: smartphones that reach thousands and thousands of advertising calls a day, and not everyone wants them. For this reason, a reform of the register of oppositions has become increasingly necessary, which after a process of over 4 years with various bureaucratic hitches has finally come to approval.

The main news for users introduced by the new regulation include:

• possibility of including mobile phone numbers in the register of oppositions
• possibility to oppose the reception of unwanted calls made through automated systems
• registration in the Rpo involves the revocation of previous consents for commercial purposes expressed by users
• official registration in the Rpo of numbers that do not appear in the telephone directory

There there are several ways to register with the Registry (web, toll-free number, e-mail and registered mail) that we have illustrated in the following article. From today, registration is also possible for mobile national numbers.

Telemarketing operators will be required to check the lists of potential contacts through the services provided by the register site itself. Only numbers not entered in the register can be contacted. Calls from telemarketing operators will be blocked within 15 days from the request for registration in the register. The operators who violate the right of opposition will be able to pay fines of up to 20 million euros, for companies there are penalties of up to 4% of the total annual turnover.

They are not missing perplexity on the actual capacity of the. renewed Rpo to block the phenomenon of wild telemarketing. Codacons, for example, well summarizes these doubts by leveraging on two aspects: the new rules apply to call centers based in Italy but not to those based abroad; furthermore, companies not registered in the official lists of telemarketing operators – thus operating illegally – are able to escape the legislation:

Unfortunately, the new Register risks turning into a “flop” because call centers based abroad, but which reach Italian citizens with their phone calls, are not required to apply our legislation. Then there is the question of the undeclared and of the companies not registered in the official lists of telemarketing operators, which can circumvent the new provisions, nullifying the advantages of the new Register. We will monitor the application of the public register of oppositions and compliance with the new provisions, and we will provide help and assistance to users to report any abuse or violation of the rules – Gianluca Di Ascenzo, president of Codacons.

Similar doubts were expressed by the president of the parliamentary commission of inquiry on consumer and user protection, Simone Baldelli: the stop to wild telemarketing may not be total due to the presence of operators who act illegally and in the underground or from foreign offices.

Note: article updated to signal the entry into force of the new legislation