March 31, 2014 – Ottawa-Gatineau – Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced that it is maintaining its rules relating to automated calling devices in order to protect the privacy of Canadians.
The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) had proposed changes that would open the door to even greater use of automated calling devices for telemarketing purposes. Specifically, the CMA had asked that telemarketers be allowed to make automated calls without having express consent when there is an existing business relationship. The CRTC considers that the existing rules are efficient in reducing undue inconvenience to Canadians and that telemarketers must have their express consent before making these types of calls.
The CRTC studied this proposal in the context of a broader public review of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. Following this review, the CRTC has made minor modifications to the Rules to ensure that telemarketers respect Canadians’ wishes not to be disturbed in their homes.
When Canadians make a request to be placed on a telemarketer’s internal do not call list, that telemarketer will now have 14 days to update their information and remove these numbers from their calling lists. This shorter grace period, which used to be 31 days, means that Canadians will stop receiving telemarketing calls more quickly once they have made their wishes clear to a telemarketer.
In addition, telemarketers using automated calling devices to make an unsolicited call will now be required to briefly identify the purpose of their call at the beginning of the communication. This will enable Canadians to decide right away if they want to continue with the call.
Lastly, telemarketers must make sure that the contact information, such as a telephone number or address, provided during a call remains valid for a minimum of 60 days. There was no validity period for this information previously.
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