Dialer Compliance
Overview
Authorities in each country seek to protect the rights of their citizens with regard to regulations about telemarketing. You are expected to observe these regulations or risk the possibility of being fined for your errors. The information within is not legal advice but is provided to assist you to understand your responsibilities. There is no guarantee that this is a complete and accurate list and you should, therefore, satisfy yourself, by all means possible, that you are going to comply with all relevant regulations before you begin dialing.
In general, the issues that concern regulators around the world are common, but some countries/regions will vary, and you should familiarise yourself with those that apply to the areas where you dial and where you are located. This is not a worldwide guide, and the omission of any country is not meant to suggest that it has no such controls or regulations. This covers the countries where our customers are most commonly located.
Applies To
- 8x8 Contact Center 9.10 and onwards
- Global Users
Compliance Guidelines and Suggestions
Calling Hours
You must comply with any rules that apply to the start and end times for automated dialing. These will apply to weekdays, weekends and public holidays.
Silent and Abandoned Call Percentage
The time period and percentage will vary but you must remain within the accepted percentage of abandoned calls which is generally calculated over a prescribed number of days or hours.
Abandoned Call Message
You may need to play a specific message in a specific time period in the event that the customer answers the call and no agent is available. You may need to provide a standard rate number for people to call you back. You may need to ensure that there is no marketing content in this message
Ring Time
You must comply with the minimum ring time for outbound calls.
Redialing Abandoned Calls
You must not dial abandoned calls again before the agreed period of time. You may need to make sure that an agent is present and available before redialing previously abandoned calls.
Disclose the Purpose
You must let your customers know the purpose of the call, including the name of the company or client that the agent is representing.
Call Back
Provide customers with a means of communicating with you so that they can ascertain the purpose of the call or asked to be added to your ‘Do Not Call’ list.
Telemarketing Records
Maintain and preserve records of all telemarketing campaigns for any prescribed period
Do Not Call Lists
In locations where customers can register with a national DNC register, regulations will exist around calling these numbers and the timing of consulting these registers against a list of numbers you intend to dial.
Equally, you should maintain your own list of DNC numbers and compare these to the numbers you intend to dial as well.
Regulatory Schemes for Receiving Automated Marketing Calls
- Opt-Out: USA, UK, Australia, and India
- Opt-Out and Opt-In: Canada
- Opt-In: EU (recipients have to opt-in to receive such calls)
Disclaimer
The links below offer you quick access to a sample of local regulations.
USA
- Federal Trade Commission
- Federal Communications Commission
- National Do Not Call List
- State Regulations
United Kingdom
- Information Commissioner's Office
- Ofcom
- National Do Not Call - Telephone Preference Service & Corporate Telephone Preference Service
- Direct Marketing Association
- The Telecommunications Act
Australia
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- Australian Communications and Media Authority
- National Do Not Call
Canada
- Canadian Radio-Television & Telecommunication
- DNCL - National Do No Call List
European Union
- EU General Data Protection Regulation
- PECR - Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations
- German Unfair Competition Act
- Federal Data Protection Act
India
- Department of Telecommunications
- TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
- TCCMS - Telecom Consumers Complaint Monitoring System