- Q: What is the Telephone Preference Service?
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Individuals have the right to refuse unsolicited marketing messages through fax, phone, email and text messages.
Individuals and organisations can register with the Telephone Preference Service if they do not want to receive unsolicited marketing calls. For more information about the TPS contact:
The Telephone Preference Service
DMA House
70 Margaret Street
London
W1M 8SS
w: www.tpsonline.org.uk
t: 0845 070 0707
f: 0845 070 0706
e: tps@dma.org.uk
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- Q: What is the Fax Preference Service?
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Individuals have the right to refuse unsolicited marketing messages through fax, phone, email and text messages.
Individuals and organisations can register with the Fax Preference Service if they do not want to receive unsolicited marketing faxes. For more information about the FPS contact:
The Fax Preference Service
DMA House
70 Margaret Street
London
W1M 8SS
w: www.fpsonline.org.uk
t: 0845 070 0702
f: 0845 070 0705
e: fps@dma.org.uk
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- Q: I am receiving unwanted marketing calls on my telephone. What can I do about these?
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The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations lay down rules for organisations regarding making unsolicited marketing calls to individuals and businesses.
The regulations require that organisations do not make 'live' marketing calls (where there is actually a person talking to them, as opposed to a recorded message) to:
- a subscriber who has indicated a general objection to receiving such calls by registering with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), a subscriber who has indicated a general objection to receiving such calls by registering with the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS); or
- a subscriber who has notified the caller that he does not wish to receive such unsolicited calls.
The regulations require that organisations should not make automated (pre-recorded phone messages) marketing calls without the prior consent of any subscriber.
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- Q: I am receiving unsolicited marketing faxes. What can I do about these?
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It depends whether you are a private individual or a business.
If you are a private individual, an organisation should not send you marketing faxes without your prior consent. If they do so they may be in breach of the regulations and you could complain to the ICO.
If you are a business, then an organisation may be able to send you unsolicited marketing faxes. However if you register your business fax numbers with the Fax Preference Service (FPS), then they should not send marketing faxes to the fax numbers registered. Individuals can also register with the FPS.
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- Q: I am receiving unsolicited marketing emails. What can I do about these?
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The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations lay down rules for organisations sending unsolicited marketing by electronic means. The rules are different depending whether the recipient is an 'individual subscriber' (e.g. Jonsmith@yahoo) or a 'corporate subscriber' (e.g. Jonsmith@ico).
The regulations say that organisations must have prior consent to send unsolicited marketing material by electronic mail to individual subscribers, unless they have obtained the details during the course of a sale, or negotiations towards one, and they give you the opportunity to object in every message. If you are an individual subscriber receiving unsolicited marketing by electronic mail, and the organisation hasn't stopped even though you've tried to opt out, you can complain to the ICO.
If you are a corporate subscriber the prior consent rule does not apply. Marketing communications should still identify the sender and provide a valid address. Depending on the information the company holds about you, a corporate subscriber may also have rights under section 11 of the Data Protection Act 1998.
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- Q: What is spam?
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In simple terms, spam is a marketing email that you don’t want and more importantly, didn’t ask for, although different people have different ideas about what the term means. Unsolicited (not asked for) communications aren’t unique to the internet, some people also receive unwanted marketing mail and telephone calls. The difference with the internet is many users now receive more spam emails than useful ones, with the result that email is being reduced as a fast, effective communication tool.
The regulations don't specifically deal with the worldwide problem of spam, and only cover emails sent from within the EU. It is widely recognised that spam cannot be addresses by regulation alone. However, we have produced some general information about spam, and how to prevent or reduce it.
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