The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has fined a retail company $100,000 for calling consumers registered to the National Do Not Call List and for calling outside of permissible hours.
The company has been fined for violating the Telecommunications Act as well as the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules.
Violations of Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules
Telemarketers are prohibited from initiating telemarketing communications to consumers whose numbers are registered on the National Do Not Call List. The only exception to this is if the organization has the express consent of the consumer to be contacted.
Any third-party entities that are initiating telecommunications on behalf of a business are only allowed to contact consumers on the Do Not Call List if their client is a registered subscriber of the National Do Not Call List. To be a subscriber, there are fees involved that the client must have paid.
Consumers can receive telecommunications between the hours of:
- 9:00am – 9.30pm; Monday-Friday
- 10:00am-6:00pm; Saturday & Sunday
Telemarketers must display a number when they are initiating calls to consumers. The only exception to this is if this isn’t possible due to technical issues.
Violations of Telecommunications Act
This Act states that a person is liable for violations committed by its employees or any agents acting on their behalf. This means that the retail company is liable for the marketing telecommunications made by the agency they hired.
Due to all the violations of the aforementioned sections of each relevant regulation the company have been ordered to pay a fine of $100,000. See more about how costly it is to get privacy and data wrong.
