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Now, Telemarketing Calls Will Not Trouble You (in India)

Register yourself with National Do Not Call Registry and bid goodbye to unsolicited calls.

Thursday, June 07, 2007: For every unsolicited call or SMS to the unsuspecting customer registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC), telemarketers will be fined Rs 500. They also stand to lose their telephones connections if they make such calls for the third time, announced TRAI.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recently issued Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations, 2007, for putting in place a mechanism for curbing the unwanted telemarketing calls. TRAI has proposed for a National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC registry) containing list of telephone numbers of the subscribers who do not want to receive Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC). It includes SMS as well.

DoT has authorised National Informatics Center (NIC) for installation, operation and maintenance of NDNC registry. The NDNC will be established in three months time by NIC. After the establishment of NDNC registry, telephone subscribers (landline or cellular) who do not wish to receive UCC can register their telephone number with their telecom service provider for inclusion in the NDNC.

The telemarketers will have to verify their calling telephone numbers list with the NDNC registry before making a call. They will also have to register with NDNC Registry to avail the facility of scrubbing their calling list.

In the regulation, the Unsolicited Commercial Calls has been defined as any message which is transmitted for the purpose of informing about, or soliciting or promoting any commercial transaction in relation to goods, investments or services, which a subscriber opts not to receive, but, does not include, any message (other than promotional message) relating to a service or financial transaction under a specific contract between the parties to such contract; or any messages relating to charities, national campaigns or natural calamities transmitted on the directions of the Government or agencies authorised by it for the said purpose; messages transmitted, on the directions of the Government.

At the same time, the DoT has formulated separate guidelines for telemarketers. It is mandatory for the telemarketers to register themselves with the DoT, within three months of issue of the guidelines for telemarketers. Otherwise, their telecom services may face disconnection. The RBI has extended its full support for this scheme.

Full article:

http://www.efytimes.com/efytimes/19521/news.htm



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The Indian DNC system seems to work substantially different than the US system. The Gov owns, controls, and operates the DNC list. Customers will register with their Service Provider, who then forwards the data to the Gov. The telemarketers have to deal directly with the Gov. First they register with the Gov. Then they submit their entire call list to the Gov. for "scrubbing". Finally, before making a call, they have to submit the specific number to the Gov. for real-time checking. Compared to the US system, there is substantially more overhead and delays built into this process. Perhaps they will streamline it later.

The developers of the Indian DNC system:

http://www.kar.nic.in/

The fine for non-compliance is 500 Rupees = $12.36 USD

VV