RBI/2007-2008/78
DBOD.FSD.BC. 19/24.01.011/2007-2008
July 3, 2007
All Commercial Banks
(excluding RRBs)
Dear Sir,
Unsolicited Commercial Communications –
- National Do Not Call Registry
A reference is invited to para 7(i) of our circular No.DBOD.FSD.BC.10/24.01.011/2006-2007 dated July 1, 2006 addressed to all the Scheduled Commercial Banks/NBFCs on Credit Card operations of banks, wherein instructions have been given regarding maintenance of Do Not Call Registry by all credit card issuing banks in order to tackle the complaints relating to unsolicited commercial communications being received by customers/non-customers as part of the telemarketing efforts of banks and with a view to protecting the right to privacy of the members of the public.
2. Keeping in view the continuous complaints from credit card subscribers and the observations of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in the context of a Public Interest Litigation in this regard, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is in the process of taking certain national level initiatives to address the various issues relating to Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC). As part of these measures, TRAI has framed The Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications(UCC) Regulations 2007 for curbing UCC.
The Regulation envisages that all the telecom service providers would set up a mechanism to receive requests from subscribers who do not want to receive UCC and for this purpose they will maintain and operate a Private Do Not Call List. The Private Do Not Call List will include telephone numbers and other details of all such subscribers. The telephone numbers and area code from this Private Do Not Call List will be updated online by the operators to a National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) which will be maintained by National Informatics Centre (NIC) and thus the NDNC will have the telephone numbers of all the subscribers all over India who have opted not to receive any UCC. Telemarketers will have to register in the NDNC Registry. The telemarketers would submit online the calling list to the NDNC Registry where the list will be modified/scrubbed by excluding the numbers listed in the registry and the modified/scrubbed list will be online transferred back to the telemarketers for making calls. The Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications(UCC) Regulations, 2007 has since been notified in the Gazette on June 6, 2007( copy enclosed).
3. Further, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued relevant guidelines for telemarketers alongwith the registration procedure on June 6, 2007 (copy enclosed). These guidelines have made it mandatory for telemarketers to register themselves with DoT or any other agency authorized by DoT and also specified that the telemarketers shall comply with the Guidelines and Orders/Directions issued by DoT and Orders/Directions/Regulations issued by TRAI on Unsolicited Commercial Communications(UCC). The detailed procedure in this regard is also available on TRAI’s website (www.trai.gov.in).
4. For the effective implementation of the UCC Regulations, TRAI has mandated that the telemarketers have to register themselves with the DoT, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Government of India within three months of the issue of the guidelines for Telemarketers by DoT, failing which their telecom services may face disconnection. The Telecom Service Providers have been directed to disconnect the telephone connections provided to the telemarketers in case of violation of the UCC Regulations by them.
5. Keeping in view the above aspects, banks are advised to implement the following instructions:
(i) Banks should not engage Telemarketers (DSAs/DMAs) who do not have a valid registration certificate from DoT, Govt. of India, as telemarketers.
(ii) Banks should furnish the list of Telemarketers (DSAs/DMAs) engaged by them along with the registered telephone numbers being used by them for making telemarketing calls to IBA to enable IBA to forward the same to TRAI within three months from the date of issue of the guidelines for Telemarketers by DoT i.e. June 6, 2007
(iii) Banks should ensure that all Telemarketers(DSAs/DMAs) presently engaged by them register themselves with DoT as telemarketers within a period of three months from the date of issue of the guidelines for Telemarketers by DoT i.e. June 6, 2007.
(iv) As per the laid down procedure, the telemarketer(DSAs/DMAs) shall get automatically registered with NDNC Registry while they register themselves with DoT.
(v) As IBA will be the co-ordinating agency at the industry level to ensure compliance with the requirements of TRAI regulations, banks are advised to actively cooperate with IBA in this regard.
(vi) In case banks require any further clarifications in this regard, they may contact TRAI at the following telephone number – 011-23222084 or e-mail address – smkchandra@gmail.com.
6. Banks are advised to initiate prompt action to ensure compliance with the TRAI regulation within the prescribed time frame.
Yours faithfully
(P.Vijaya Bhaskar)
Chief General Manager
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