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Trai today released its approved final Regulation on Unsolicited
Commercial Communication, for putting in place a mechanism
for reducing the unwanted telemarketing calls, which is what
the Supreme Court had desired.
The apex court, hearing a case on this issue had expressed
the desire that the government should come out with appropriate
rules and regulations on which such complaints could be heard
and redressed.
However, the Authority would declare the regulation effective
only after some of the specific provisions not strictly in
the domain of Trai would get clearance from the Ministry of
Communication and IT and Reserve Bank of India.
In its Regulation Trai has mandated the telecom service providers
to set up a mechanism to receive request from the subscribers
who do not want to receive UCC.
The service providers would have to maintain a Private Do
Not Call List, which would include telephone numbers and other
details of all such subscribers.
The telephone numbers and the area code from this Private
Do Not Call List will be updated online by the operators to
a National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) and thus the NDNC will
have the telephone numbers of all the subscribers from all
over India who have opted not to receive any UCC.
Telemarketers who have been categorised as Other Service
Providers (OSPs) 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 scrubbed by excluding
the numbers listed in the registry and the scrubbed list will
be online transferred back to the telemarketer for making
calls.
The Authority has approached DoT to authorise the National
Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Information Technology,
for taking up the work of designing, installation, operation
and maintenance of the National DNC Registry.
ration and maThe expenditure for setting up and maintenance
of the NDNC Registry will be borne by the Authority.
DoT has also made it mandatory for the Telecom Service Providers
to check valid registration certificate issued from DoT to
the OSPs before providing them any kind of telecom connectivity.
In its regulation, Trai has mandated the Telemarketers/ Other
Service Providers to register themselves with the Department
of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology, Government of India, within three months of commencement
of these Regulations.
If fail to comply, their services may face disconnection.
Existing OSPs who have already registered with DOT may not
require fresh registration.
As a majority of the telemarketers are being employed by
the banking sector, Trai has also approached the Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) and Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to ensure
that no telemarketers are engaged by the sector without valid
registration certificate issued from DoT.
It also wants that all the telemarketers presently engaged
by the banks should register themselves with DoT as OSPs within
three months, failing which their services may face disconnection.
In order to identify the telemarketers, Trai has also requested
both RBI and IBA to prepare a list of telemarketers presently
engaged by different banks, along with the telephone numbers
being used by them for making telemarketing calls and submit
the same to the Authority within a month.
In its communication to DoT, the Authority has also sought
for modification in license conditions of the Telecom Service
Providers and in the guidelines for OSPs so as to bring them
under the ambit of the new Regulations.
On receipt of a complaint from a subscriber who has received
commercial call, though his number is registered in the NDNC
Registry, the Telecom Service Provider of the guilty telemarketer
(subscriber) will be empowered to charge the higher tariff
from the telemarketer who has made the call.
Trai, through a separate Telecom Tariff Order will notify
the amount that will be charged through this higher tariff.
If a telemarketer violates the Regulation for the third time,
the Telecom Service Providers will be empowered to disconnect
his telepho
Trai feels that for effectively and successfully tackling
the issue through this Regulation, cooperation from all the
stakeholders including DoT, RBI, IBA, Telecom Service Providers,
telemarketers and the subscribers is required.
"This Regulation can only become effective after the
DOT recognizes NIC as the agency to set up and maintain the
NDNC and also implement the proposed modifications in the
license conditions of the Telecom Service Providers and in
the guidelines for OSPs," a Trai official has said.
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