Important information for all entrepreneurs practising telephone marketing! The President of UOKIK has once again expressed the position that the mere telephone enquiry for consent to present an offer will be treated as a direct marketing activity that requires prior consent.
This is according to a decision addressed to a company providing call-centre services. The operator made phone calls with offers for photovoltaic installations without the consumers’ prior consent to be contacted. Moreover, the telemarketers provided false information – they overestimated the amount of possible subsidies for the panels. In view of the above violations, the President of UOKIK imposed financial penalties totalling nearly PLN 1.5 million on the organisation and its managers. The decision is not yet legally binding.
On the basis of the positions expressed so far by the President of UOKIK, it can be concluded that:
– calling with commercial information without the consumer’s consent is not allowed,
– a telemarketer cannot ask the consumer for consent during the conversation but before advertising.
Entrepreneurs, please remember: if you are marketing by phone and the addressee of the call is a consumer, calling or sending messages asking for consent to marketing contact will be liable to be deemed a practice infringing the collective interests of consumers, which may be the basis for the imposition of a penalty by the President of UOKIK.
The decision and the content of the authority’s press release are available here.