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VodafoneZiggo acknowledges responsibility for the entire chain of telemarketing activities

Summary

  • VodafoneZiggo acknowledges responsibility for the entire chain of telemarketing activities.
  • ACM had launched an investigation into the company in connection with the many complaints about unsolicited telemarketing calls.
  • ACM will now end this investigation.

Dutch telecom operator VodafoneZiggo acknowledges that it bears responsibility for the telemarketing practices of the company itself as well as for those of companies that make telemarketing calls on its behalf. In a commitment to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), VodafoneZiggo commits to ensuring that the companies that make telemarketing calls on its behalf will comply with telemarketing rules. In practice, this means that those companies, too, will only call individuals who have given prior consent to receiving such calls, and that VodafoneZiggo bears responsibility for those calls. VodafoneZiggo will tighten its supervision of these calls, and will enforce the rules among the companies that make calls on its behalf. VodafoneZiggo took this step after ACM had launched an investigation into the company in connection with the numerous complaints about unsolicited telemarketing calls. ACM will now end this investigation.

Martijn Ridderbos, Member of the Board of ACM, explains: “With this commitment, VodafoneZiggo takes an important step. The company acknowledges that it bears responsibility for all telemarketing activities that are conducted by it and on its behalf. And it commits to checking more strictly whether these telemarketing calls are conducted in accordance with the rules. Going forward, people will only be given commercial offers over the phone if they have consented to receiving such calls. We expect all companies that use telemarketing activities to follow this example. In that way, unsolicited telemarketing calls are stopped, and a level playing field between companies can be created.”

Chain responsibility

It has explicitly been laid down in the commitment decision that not just VodafoneZiggo is bound by these arrangements, but also all companies that make phone calls on its behalf. In addition, they can only make phone calls to individuals that have given prior consent to receiving such calls. If they decide to withdraw that consent, they can no longer be called. VodafoneZiggo bears responsibility for compliance with this commitment among all telemarketing companies it collaborates with. Arrangements about this commitment will be made in advance, and VodafoneZiggo will more strictly monitor companies that act on its behalf, and will ensure that these companies comply with the commitment. VodafoneZiggo recognizes that improvements are necessary. As a gesture of goodwill, VodafoneZiggo has committed to donating 25,000 euros to the National Foundation for Elderly (in Dutch: Nationaal Ouderenfonds) as compensation.

Calling with prior consent

Due to the high number of complaints regarding telemarketing activities by telecom and energy companies, ACM organized a meeting earlier this year to remind them of the rules and of the relevant obligations. For example, companies can only contact individuals if these have explicitly given consent to receiving telemarketing calls. Such consent must have been verified. In this commitment, VodafoneZiggo has explained how it will organize this verification process. ACM has agreed to this because the proposed method acts as a minimum threshold for acceptable conduct in the market. Other companies can build on this.

In addition, the rules governing the contents of telemarketing calls are still in place, which means that the companies that make such calls must be clear about their identity, the reason for the call, and the content of the offer. These rules apply to all companies that use telemarketing for contacting ‘natural persons’: consumers and independent contractors.

ACM’s enforcement of compliance with telemarketing rules stepped up
Consumers that are bothered by unsolicited telemarketing calls continue to be able to report these to ACM’s consumer information portal ACM ConsuWijzer. Such reports help ACM find out where irregularities occur and how it can take effective action. Earlier this year, ACM announced it would step up its enforcement of compliance with telemarketing rules. Businesses need to get their processes straight and comply with the statutory requirements. ACM will carry out audits to check whether businesses comply with the rules.

See also

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