14 DAY TRIAL // Over the past years, the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been struggling to crack down on companies responsible for nuisance calls. However, the agency says the government must change current legislation in order to make its actions more effective.
ICO Director of Operations Simon Entwisle will ask the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to change the law to allow the agency to issue monetary penalties even to companies that don’t make a large number of calls.
Currently, the ICO must prove that the text messages and cold calls made by an organization are causing substantial damage or distress before a penalty can be issued.
However, statistics show that 82% of the 982 companies reported in June to the Telephone Preference Service for making cold calls have actually received less than 5 complaints.
Only 21 of these organizations got more than 25 complaints. On the other hand, these companies, which can be considered “worst offenders,” only account for a quarter of all complaints in which a firm has been named.
It's worth noting that a company was identified in only 1,050 of the 4,786 complaints.
“The simple fact is that the law only allows the ICO to issue monetary penalties against the worst offenders, who are responsible for less than a quarter of the calls that frustrate so many of us,” Entwisle commented.
“A change in the law would allow us to target more of the companies making these cold calls, and would have a noticeable effect for consumers. This could be a game-changing improvement to how we can stop unwanted calls,” he added.
“There’s a balance to be struck between a direct marketing industry that relies heavily on making calls, and consumers who feel they’re being bombarded. It’s for MPs to decide where the balance lies, but I think it’s fair to say that most people probably don’t think the law’s getting it right at the moment.”