Are those calls for business purposes over, some at odd hours or on holidays? Will there be a stronger hand against the companies that practice telephone telemarketing with lists of numbers, sometimes purchased or obtained irregularly?
The theory encourages the answer that yes, well tomorrow, Thursday, article 66.1.b of the General Telecommunications Law enters into force, the sole objective of which is to put an end to these contacts if there is no prior consent from the consumer. In practice, it will be seen. The OCU, for example, welcomes this law, but says that we must wait to see if it will be effective or not.
The new law refers only to calls, since this rule is already valid for electronic communication. Before this law, companies were not required (as of June 29, yes) to have the express consent of the user before dialing their phone number from a call center.
Until now, the only thing that the citizen could do to escape this torture or telephone harassment was to expressly request the end of these calls, appealing to the right to privacy in the processing of personal data.
In compliance with the new standard, the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) assumes an important role. This is how it is estimated, at least, by the OCU.
This organization that defends consumer rights has already asked that agency, which ensures the privacy of the data of all Spaniards, to reinforce “its work of control, surveillance and, where appropriate, impose exemplary sanctions” on offenders.
Work to do there is a lot. The OCU denounces that today the majority of companies that sell their products by telephone or electronic means repeatedly violate the rules on commercial communications.
And the OCU insists: “This law is a good start to end these calls, but it is still early to assess whether the result will be what consumers expect”
The current reality with these practices does not exactly encourage optimism. According to the OCU “only in 33% of cases can it be identified who is behind that phone, and erasing user data is only achieved in 10% of cases.
So if this trend persists after the entry into force of the law, the problem will continue to be the difficulty in identifying the originator of the call and even more so when calls are made from foreign countries.
The Secretary of State for Telecommunications maintains, however, that the AEPD may initiate proceedings against these companies, regardless of the location of these call centers.
What will continue to work is the Robinson list, in which users can sign up to request that no one contact them if there is no prior consent.
But there is an added problem, many times that permission is granted by yourself when browsing the internet or making a purchase unconsciously.
And then, with or without the law, companies can call as many times as they want or send as many emails as they consider.
But all is not lost, with this law complaints to the AEPD are more likely to come to fruition. The OCU encourages, therefore, to denounce.
