From March 1, 2023, telephone marketers will no longer be able to operate as freely as before! The Government tightens their supervision with imposed hours and a more limited frequency of calls.
Even if it is a practice as old as the world, cold calling can quickly transform your daily life into a real hell, especially when it turns out to be abusive. A customer service that calls every day – including at unlikely times -, an organization that contacts you after you have used an insurance comparator, but also subscriptions to fake CPF training (Personal training account) – including Canvassing has just been banned – and the scams that ask you to renew your vital card by SMS… Cumulatively, all the canvassing pollutes our daily lives and can be downright painful in the long run. But following continual complaints from consumer associations, the Government has taken several measures that should help restore some peace of mind when the phone rings. Also, since January 1, 2023, telephone canvassing organizations are more regulated by law and are in particular prohibited from calling via a number starting with a 06 or a 07. Indeed, they must now use numbers dedicated so as not to mislead the consumer. To strengthen this framework, new measures come into force on March 1, 2023.
Telephone canvassing: strictly framed solicitations
AT from 1er March, professionals will be required to comply with new obligations following a decree signed by the Prime Minister on October 13, 2022. From now on, cold calling will only be authorized from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. then from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. It will therefore be strictly prohibited on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, even for consumers who are not registered on Bloctel, or who are registered there but are contacted within the framework of a current contract. Attention, for those who have given their consent to be called beforehand, the decree will not apply and they may be asked outside these days and these time slots.
In order to protect consumers from over-solicitation, the decree sets limits on salespeople, who cannot call the same person more than four times a month. If the latter explicitly refuses to be called back during a telephone conversation, the organization must wait 60 days from this refusal before being able to contact her again. Any violation of this regulation will expose the professional to a fine of 75,000 euros if it is a natural person, and up to 375,000 euros if it acts as a legal person. It is possible to report any breach of the law on the platform Consumed Signal.
Telephone canvassing: the numbers in 06 and 07 reserved for individuals
After having imposed on insurance brokers the obligation to obtain the verbal agreement of their interlocutor to continue the conversation in April 2022, the Government continues to tackle abusive telephone canvassing. Following the measure of the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (theArcep) entered into force on 1er January 2023, direct sellers no longer have the right to use numbers beginning with 06 and 07, which are now reserved for individuals only, as explained the Public Service portal. An excellent measure that will prevent many unwanted calls.
Telephone canvassing: landline numbers used by the platforms
The telecoms gendarme took the opportunity to assign special numbers for canvassing platforms, in order to help the French to better recognize them. But there are more of them than you think! Today, exchanges with unknown numbers – whether SMS or calls – are increasingly essential. In fact, uses have changed, in particular with the explosion of e-commerce – and therefore deliveries or pick-ups at relay points –, the democratization of video medical consultations – which require reminder or confirmation SMS – and applications to “order” a VTC driver – and who must therefore let you know when he has arrived. This is why many more platforms than before are using ephemeral numbers to contact the user. It is to limit unwanted calls but also the exhaustion of telephone numbers starting with 06 and 07 that the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (theArcep) updated its national numbering plan – started in 2018 – as announced in its press release of September 5, 2022.
Since 1er January 2023, telephone numbers starting with 06 and 07 are exclusively reserved for individuals and can no longer be used by businesses and commercial platforms. On the contrary, they must use the prefixes 09 37, 09 38 and 09 39.”These numbers in 09 can also be used to send messages from a commercial sign to its customers, or for special contact (delivery of parcels, signaling the arrival of a VTC driver, reminder of appointments). you automated, etc.)”, explains the Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (DILA). But beware, there are exceptions! Indeed, canvassing platforms can also have recourse to so-called versatile numbers. It is therefore necessary to filter all the numbers beginning with:
Telephone canvassing: measures to combat unwanted calls
Acrep had announced September in a press release that “the Authority reserves the use of mobile numbers in 06 and 07 – durably attached to a user in the minds of all – exclusively for interpersonal communications services.” Concretely, “non-interpersonal” communications – either telephone platforms or companies that want to contact an individual – must use a number starting with 09 – which was until now a national number for landline telephone not attached to a geographical area – or an extended length mobile number. Operators are required to associate a voice call and message service with these numbers, provided they have been verified by the telecom operator. Arcep explains that numbers in 09 can “for example, be used to establish conversations by messages between a brand and its customer, or for very short-term use of telephone numbers for certain situations of ephemeral contact via a platform (parcel deliverers, VTC drivers, etc. .).” Note in passing that, since January 1, fixed telephone numbers are no longer subject to geographical constraints (see our article).
The purpose of this measure is to make up for a shortage of telephone numbers in 06 and 07 since, most of the time, the numbers for canvassing and callbacks are only used once. This is why, from 1er July 2023, Arcep will assign new numbers in increments of 1,000 – compared to 10,000 previously – which must be used for at least 72 hours. But, above all, this decision aims to “limit the nuisances suffered by users” receiving unwanted calls or messages and other untimely commercial solicitations. If we doubt that this measure is enough to reduce scams – which are constantly renewed with increasingly ingenious methods –, it still offers a little more visibility as to the person calling. Seeing a number in 09 displayed, the user is then on his guard not to be fooled and is not even obliged to pick up for fear of missing an important call.