(Finance) – “For years Consumer Federation deals with the problem of wild telemarketingassisting users and collecting their reports regarding the conduct of call centers which, even acting illicitly or in any case often moving to the limits of legality and in the gray areas of current legislation, contact users to promote the sale of goods and services. As well as assisting citizens who face unwanted calls that often take on annoying, insistent and deceptive tonesi, we have intervened several times in institutional contexts to improve the current regulations on the subject, in such a way as to make the legislation as complete and exhaustive as possible precisely for the purpose of protecting consumer rights.
It is precisely in this perspective that we believe that the definitive entry into force of the “Code of conduct for telemarketing and teleselling activities” constitutes a step of particular importance: we know, of course, that in all likelihood the updating of the legislation will not prove decisive, because experience has taught us that in the context of unfair commercial practices increasingly “creative” methods are discovered, so to speak, to limit the limits of legality and take advantage of the persistent information asymmetry to the detriment of users greater protection tools, in particular regarding the responsibilities of operators, the tightening of sanctions, informed consent and guarantees on data processing. Furthermore, the expansion of the powers of the Communications Authority is positive, as it finally has the possibility of directly sanctioning non-compliant subjects as the Antitrust Authority and the Privacy Guarantor can already do.
The new provisions, however, cannot be fully effective until the age-old issue of the Public Register of Oppositions, whose operation is still not entirely adequate. Already in 2022 we carried out a survey from which it emerged that, despite registration, almost all of the interviewees continued to receive telephone calls for promotional purposes and in the meantime, according to the evidence collected from our offices throughout Italy, the situation does not seem have changed a lot. To date, registration in the Register does not effectively protect the majority of users from telemarketing and We therefore take this opportunity to ask for checks againcontrols and targeted interventions by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy to guarantee the full, real and concrete operation of the instrument. Furthermore, as we have already underlined in the past, it would be much more useful and effective to adopt an opt-in system (with a register of citizens who want to be contacted) rather than the opt-out system, which has proven itself in these years have evidently been a failure”, concludes the note.
(Photo: William Hook on Unsplash)