Accumulative Fines for Public Unsolicited Calls in UK Skyrocketed to £2m

Public unwanted calls, which generally refer to cold calls or nuisance calls, is an annoying unsolicited call. Last May, the United Kingdom government has imposed a new rule to crack down the practice. Afterward, the regulator has collected £2 million ($2.9 million) fines from companies that made unwanted and unsolicited call.

The Guardian reported that British data protection regulator has issued fines totalling to more than £2 million ($2.9 million) since the law was changed last year. The new law will make things easier to crack down cold call or nuisance call which often used for marketing purpose.

Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as an independent regulatory office for national data protection authority and regulating the markeing call. Following changes of rules, the agency has accumulated fines more than four times higher on companies which break the nuisance calls law. Prior to the law changes, ICO had received payment fines of £360,000 ($522,000).

Typically, ICO received more than 140,000 complaints a month for the unsolicited call. According to official figures, as reported by The Telegraph, one in five direct marketing calls is from an anonymous or false number.

Under the new law, which came in effect in May last year, ICO requires marketing company to display their telephone numbers on the caller ID or face heavy fines. ICO Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said the new law will ease the complaints to be filed, as the people receiving the call will be able to see who is calling from caller ID.

"The law change put forward today around caller ID is another step forward," Graham said. "We know that people are more likely to complain to us when they can see the number behind the call they've received. Those complaints inform many of our investigations, lead to fines and, ultimately, stop the calls."

This week, as The Register reported, ICO will fine a Scottish company for making 2.5 million of recorded unsolicited calls to sell its home improvement services. The company will be the 19th company which has been charged since last year. That will make the fines tally to be received will increase during this period to £ 2,035,000 ($2,951,000).

Commissioner Graham further said, "This time last year, we promised that these changes to the law would make a difference, and they have. The fines we've issued should mean fewer calls next year. But we know there is more to do. We've got more fines in the pipeline and more ways to stop the nuisance these calls create."

With the new law, cold calls or nuisance calls will not be easily conducted in the UK. The government has collected more than £2 million ($2.9 million) fines from companies who broke the law.

Tags

United Kingdom, Information Commissioner's Office, nuisance calls, cold calls

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