CRTC wants the public’s thoughts on reducing unwanted telemarketing calls

GATINEAU, Que. – The CRTC wants consumers and telemarketers’ opinions on how to help reduced unwanted calls.

But the regulator says it will weigh the benefit of any changes against the administrative burden that may result, particularly for small businesses.

It’s also seeking views on an application filed by the Canadian Marketing Association, which wants to relax the rules restricting the use of automatic dialing-announcing devices for telemarketing.

The current rules specify that consumers must provide express consent before these types of calls can be made to them.

The Canadian Marketing Association is proposing eliminating this restriction where an organization has an existing business relationship with a consumer and where the consumer has not made a request to be on the internal do-not-call list maintained by the organization.

Such a change would mean that these calls would be allowed even if consumers have registered their number on the national do-not-call list.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission oversees the national do-not-call list, which protects consumers from unwanted sales calls.