The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently completed a review of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules (UTR),1 and announced a few changes that are important to telemarketers.2

First, all telemarketers are required under the UTR to keep an internal do-not-call-list (DNCL) of numbers from consumers who have directly asked that they no longer be contacted.  The grace period for adding a number to an internal DNCL has been reduced from 31 to 14 days. This particular change to the rules comes into effect on June 30, 2014 (the remaining changes described below come into effect immediately).

Note that the grace period for making calls to numbers on the National DNCL remains at 31 days (i.e., you must use a version of the National DNCL that is no more than 31 days old).

Second, the UTR have been modified to allow for the use of an email address for identification purposes in the following instances:

  • A telemarketer may provide an email address instead of a postal address in response to a request for contact information (Telemarketing Rules, 17(b)).
  • A telemarketer may provide an email address instead of a postal address in a fax telemarketing communication (Telemarketing Rules, 19(e)).
  • A telemarketer may provide an email address instead of a postal address when making calls using an automatic dialing-announcing device (ADAD) (ADAD Rules, 4(d)).

Third, contact information provided under the UTR must be valid for 60 days (see Telemarketing Rules, 31, and ADAD Rules, 4(j)). There was previously no explicit time period for such information to remain valid.3

A number of changes proposed by stakeholders that were refused by the CRTC include the following:

  • Reducing restrictions on the use of ADADs
  • Banning the use of ADADs
  • Requiring telemarketers to display a caller name
  • Imposing additional record-keeping requirements for telemarketers
  • Requiring internal DNCL requests to extend to "affiliates"
  • Requiring telemarketers to notify consumers that their internal DNCL registration is about to expire
  • Changes to the time period for validity of internal DNCL requests (remains at 3 years)
  • Expanding internal DNCLs to "non-solicitation" telecommunications
  • Removing or reducing the exemption for business-to-business communications
  • Extending the time periods for an existing business relationship (remains at 18 months following purchase/lease/contract and 6 months following inquiry)
  • Requiring businesses to allow consumers to register an internal DNCL request through a website
  • Requiring telemarketers to deem the termination of a call by a consumer to be an internal DNCL request
  • Banning telemarketing calls to mobile phones
  • Changing permitted calling hours
  • Banning predictive dialers
  • Requiring telemarketers to leave a message instead of calling back

Footnotes

1 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules, http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/trules-reglest.htm#_a1.

2 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, Compliance and Enforcement Regulatory Policy CRTC 2014-155, http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2014/2014-155.htm.

3 It seems that this change may be based on a similar requirement that contact information remain valid for 60 days under subsection 6(3) of An Act to Promote the Efficiency and Adaptability of the Canadian Economy by Regulating Certain Activities that Discourage Reliance on Electronic Means of Carrying out Commercial Activities, and to Amend the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act, the Competition Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Telecommunications Act, S.C. 2010, c 23 (commonly referred to as "Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, or "CASL").

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