If you or your company make sales and/or marketing calls, the following information is a must-read:
The Information Commissionaire’s Office (ICO) is likely to be making Directors personally responsible for TPS (Telephone Preference Service) breaches.
Although the new laws do not change until later this year and the proposals haven’t been formalised as yet, there is certainly a move towards more stringent consequences to those who stray outside the TPS guidelines.
The proposals for change come within ‘The Nuisance Calls and Texts Task Force’ and include:
- Compliance to the TPS becomes a board-level issue
- Executives not in compliance with the TPS will be held personally responsible
- TPS will no longer be overridden by third-party opt-ins
- All bought-in data must be screened against the TPS
If these proposals pass into law they will obviously have a great effect on the way some companies market themselves.
Getting Ready for Change
At Bubble Towers, we understand how important it is that marketing does not become aggravating or a nuisance. For this reason, we welcome these changes, as unfortunately, not everybody is as conscientious as us and our clients when it comes to compliance (it often has cost implications!). Let’s face it, these changes to the law have come about because of the escalation of complaints by people who feel they are being ‘hounded’. It is right and proper that data should be screened against the TPS to avoid causing annoyance to those not wishing to be approached by any company (as all of our telemarketing data is).
Any business that telemarketers need to start planning how they are going to comply if the proposals become the law. All employees will need to be thoroughly briefed on what the new laws are and the consequences of non-compliance. No executive will want to be on the receiving end of a hefty fine, or worse if the business they spearhead is found to be guilty of non-compliance.
Our advice to any business that will be affected if the law changes is to become familiar with the proposed changes so that they can protect themselves and the reputation of their company.
We will keep an eye on developments and try to keep you updated you if or when the time comes, though we suggest you also keep track for yourselves…
