Unwanted telephone advertising or telephone spam.
Among the changes that the Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users introduces, carried out by Law 3/2014, on March 27, the changes emphasise measures to end telephone spam, which include the following:
- In all commercial communications that occur at a distance, their commercial nature should be made unequivocally clear. In the case of telephone communications, it should be made explicit and clear (at the start of a conversation with the consumer or user) the identity of the business owner; or if the call continues, the identity of the person who made the call must be clear to indicate the commercial objective of the caller.
- The calls should be carried out from an identifiable telephone number.
- When the user receives the first commercial offer from the caller, he or she should be informed of his or her right to decline to receive new offers as well as to obtain the reference number.
- At the request of the consumer and user, the business owner must provide proof of having shown the opposition that he should send in the shortest possible amount of time and every case within the maximum period of one month.
If these services are subcontracted to a telemarketing or commercial calling company, the obligation of the company to comply with applicable law should be clear in the contract, and the company must assume certain responsibilities if it does not comply with these contractual obligations.
- The caller must save for at least one year the information relevant to the users who have exercised their right to object to receiving commercial offers, together with the reference number granted to each one of them; likewise, this information should be turned in to the relevant authorities.
- The consumer and user will have the right not to receive, without their consent, calls with the objective of commercial communication:o When they have decided for their names not to appear in the electronic communication guides available to the public:
- When they have exercised their right that the information that appears in the guides is not used with the objective of advertising or commercial research
- When they have requested the addition to the common files the exclusion of sending commercial communications is regulated in the Law of Protection of Personal Information (for example, the Robinson call list).
- When automated calling systems are used without human intervention, the express and previous consent of the consumer and user is necessary.
- The consumer and user will have the right to reject receiving unwanted commercial offers by telephone, fax, or by other equivalent means of communication.
In the event of a pre-existing relationship, the consumer and user will also have the right to object to receiving commercial communications by email or other equivalent means of electronic communication. Consumers and users should be informed in each of the commercial communications of the means within their reach, simply and freely, to object to receiving these commercial communications.
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