Long-awaited amended regulations now protect consumers against unwanted spam calls.
Image: File
Good news for South Africans who are tired of spam calls is that amended regulations have now been established which introduces a formal National Consumer Commission (NCC) opt-out registry.
The Consumer Protection Act Amendment Regulations delivered the long-awaited operational framework, which administers the opt-out registry, mandating direct marketer registration and annual renewal, imposing monthly “cleansing” of marketing databases against the registry, and prohibiting marketing to consumers who have registered a pre-emptive block, with immediate effect.
NCC welcomed the amendment of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), as gazetted by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, last week. The amended regulations establish the opt-out registry system while providing mechanisms for consumers to opt-out from unwanted direct marketing.
The amended regulations recognise the NCC as the administrator of the system. For the effective administration of the system, all direct marketers must register to ensure compliance with the CPA and the regulations.
The regulations also stipulate the registration, renewal, and cleansing (de-duplicating) fees, among other requirements. The amended regulations oblige direct marketers in South Africa to update their direct marketing lists to remove consumers who opt-out before marketing goods or services. Through the system, consumers will be able to block unwanted direct marketing communication from either an individual direct marketer or the entire industry.
Registration of direct marketers and consumers will commence in July. All direct marketers will be expected to register to ensure compliance with the CPA. Failure by direct marketers to comply with the regulations will be in violation of the CPA, and they can face an administrative penalty of up to R1 Million or 10% of the direct marketers’ annual turnover (whichever is greater).
Welcoming the promulgation of the amended regulations, the NCC’s Acting Commissioner, Hardin Ratshisusu, said: “For too long, consumers have been exposed to intrusive and unwanted direct marketing communication. The regulations provide for a robust mechanism to stem unwanted calls to ensure that consumers are protected.”
Ahmore Burger-Smidt of Werksmans Attorneys explained that these regulations make clear that, within the CPA Act framework, the NCC now has custody of the national opt-out registry and the associated compliance lifecycle for direct marketers, thereby addressing persistent concerns about spam calls and messages.
The amended Regulation 4 makes clear that the opt-out registry must be accessible at all times, save for unforeseen technical interruptions, to all persons in the Republic for the purpose of registering a pre-emptive block.
"This positions the NCC as the operational hub and guarantees public access to exercise the opt-out right," she said.
“The regulations require direct marketers to register on the Commission’s opt-out registry using the dedicated Direct Marketer Registration Form, which internalises a single point of onboarding into the system for all entities engaging in direct marketing".
Burger-Smidt further explained that at its core, the regulations impose a hub-and-spoke compliance model in which every direct marketer must register on the opt-out registry and must renew that registration annually on the anniversary date by paying the prescribed renewal fee.
The marketer must ensure that information kept on the opt-out registry is up to date, must be identifiable even on public platforms, and may not disseminate electronic communication from a public platform where the originator is unidentifiable.
According to Burger-Smidt, marketers must remove from their databases all data of persons who have registered a relevant pre-emptive block by “cleansing” such data monthly with the Commission, translating the opt-out registry into a recurring data-hygiene obligation rather than a one-off scrub.
Burger-Smidt said the message is clear that the responsibility for curbing unsolicited direct marketing is now distributed through a concrete CPA compliance machinery anchored by the NCC’s opt-out registry, and marketers must adapt their processes immediately to the new rule set.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za