How will the ‘Do Not Call List’ affect my business?

The National Do-Not-Call-List became active in Canada at the beginning of October. New rules were passed under the Telecommunications Act which impose restrictions on telemarketing to individual consumers. The DNCL does not restrict telemarketing to businesses. Telemarketing calls are defined broadly to include selling goods or services by phone or fax, calling people to have them attend an information session, or calling consumers in order to complete a satisfaction survey. If you’re not sure whether your business’ activities fall within the definition of ’telemarketing’, chances are good that they do. 

There are specific exemptions from the DNCL- charities, political parties and newspapers soliciting subscriptions are exempt from the list. I wonder why newspapers, in particular, are allowed to make unsolicited phone calls to consumers but not other businesses?

Even if a consumer is on the list, you can still call them if you have their consent, or you have an existing business relationship (meaning they’ve made a purchase from you within the last 18 months, or they’ve made an inquiry within the past 6 months).

In addition to the DNCL, even telemarketers making exempted calls (charities, political parties, newspapers) must keep an internal do-not-call-list of consumers who have indicated that they do not wish to be contacted.

It will be interesting to see how these rules work in practice. I’ve read on the CRTC website that the rules will be good for business because anyone who isn’t on the DNCL is more receptive to telemarketing (and, presumeably, more likely to buy). I don’t think this is very good logic.