Telemarketing, why do harassing phone calls continue? What will change with the new Code of Conduct?- Corriere.it

Less than two weeks ago, the Data Protection Authority confiscated the databases of two call centers for the first time. The reason? What everyone of us unfortunately knows by now: wild telemarketing. That’s good news, but still a drop in a sea of ​​abuse at our expense. Last April it was hoped that things would change quickly and that finally all of us would stop receiving those constant and annoying phone calls. The new Code of Conduct, introduced about two months ago, has in fact provided for a series of tools to counter wild telemarketing and teleselling (ranging from the establishment of black lists with the numbers of people who do not want to be called to define roles and of the responsibilities of companies and call centres.And then again: the obligation to acquire the specific consent of the person called upon to collect the data and the introduction in the contracts between clients and operators of a clause which provides for a penalty for illegitimate contacts ). But for now, the effects are not seen.

The Code and the application times are too long

Why? The Code of Conduct promoted by client associations, call centres, telesellers, list providers and consumer associations (Asseprim, AssoCall, Assocontact, Assotelecomunicazioni, Confcommercio, Confindustria, Dma Italia and Observatory for businesses and consumers), and approved by the Privacy Guarantor, it has application times that are proving to be long. Too long for those who receive even 3 or 4 calls a day from call centers offering telephone contracts or contracts for the supply of gas and electricity.

The bankruptcy of the Register of Oppositions

Now, the difficulty in applying the new Code of Conduct lies in getting the parties to agree on the modalities. Obviously the large clients of advertising through telemarketing and call centers do not want limits to their business and claim to be able to call anyone, perhaps 7 days a week. Furthermore, the creation of the body that must supervise compliance with the rules established by the Code is still missing. And it will still take many months. His goal, however, is to start where the Opposition Register has failed. We had all hoped for it, in the Register, inaugurated in July 2022, but according to the number of violation reports received by the Privacy Guarantor in 2022, between 27 July and 31 October there were 3,150 reports against 279 in the same period of 2021. From the following November, then the reports reached a thousand per month. In short, the Registry hasn’t worked (even the government has taken note of it) and among the various reasons there is one in particular: if on the one hand the majority of operators have joined the Registry and consult it before launching any telemarketing, on the other hand there is an endless undergrowth of irregular operators who are difficult to trace also because they work with “masked” numbers. The Code of Conduct was created precisely to combat these irregular operators. But the phone keeps ringing…