Good news for South Africans frustrated with spam calls

The new national opt-out register for direct marketers in South Africa, proposed by Trade, Industry, and Competition Minister Parks Tau, will give the National Consumer Commission (NCC) full sight of all direct marketers in the country.

This is according to Hardin Ratshisusu, the acting commissioner at the NCC, who explained that direct marketing firms need to “clean” their databases by allowing consumers to opt out of them.

Speaking to Cape Talk, Ratshisusu acknowledged that there are other external opt-out registers for direct marketers but said telemarketers are still abusing consumers.

“The Minister of Trade and Industry has published an amendment to the current regulations. The main thing here is there now has to be a national opt-out register that will be managed by the National Consumer Commission,” he said.

“We do appreciate that there are current external registers, but there is a concern that with the existing structures and frameworks, we still have a lot of abuse of consumers.”

“We don’t have full sight of all direct marketers in the country, and this will require them to register on an annual basis,” he added.

Ratshisusu explained that the processes and regulations surrounding the register and the registration of telemarketers are still being developed.

“We need to, in the regulations, make it clear that direct marketers follow the regulations and ensure that we stamp out unwanted calls to consumers,” he added.

The Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC) recently told MyBroadband that it plans to roll out the new opt-out registry in the 2025/26 financial year.

“This is an electronic system where customers will apply by uploading their details into the registry,” it said.

It added that the registry will enable consumers to restrict or block unwanted communication from direct marketers.

Direct marketers must also register and clear their list of marketing leads before they can run a campaign.

“A cleansed consumer list will be valid for 30 days,” the DTIC added.

Tau first proposed amending the Consumer Protection Act to enable an opt-out register in December 2024.

He proposed amending Regulation 4 of the Act, which provides guidance on how to block unwanted communication from direct marketers.

“The gazetting of the regulation and soliciting input from consumers and interested stakeholders was a step towards the rolling out of the registry,” it said.

“The registry will be run by the National Consumer Commission once the Regulations are promulgated within the new financial year 2025/26.”

As Ratshisusu acknowledged, the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA) already offers a national opt-out registry, but only its members are mandated to use it.

Unlike the DMASA’s registry, Tau wants to ensure all direct marketers are forced to register before they can run campaigns in South Africa.

They must also identify themselves in all marketing communications to ensure consumers can report any contravention of the regulations.

The government crackdown on direct marketing in South Africa has been in the spotlight since February 2024, when the country’s Information Regulator issued a guidance notice classifying telemarketing as electronic communication.

This means it must be regulated under the Protection of Personal Information Act (Popia).

The watchdog told Mybroadband that offenders could face fines of up to R10 million or jail time.

“Following receipt of a complaint on direct marketing, we would conduct an investigation, which may be followed by an enforcement notice,” it said.

“Should the responsible party fail to adhere to the instructions in an enforcement notice, this may result in us issuing an infringement notice, which carries a fine of up to R10 million and/or imprisonment.”

Information Regulator chair Pansy Tlakula explained that the problem isn’t that marketers call consumers but that they spam them with phone calls even if they decline the communication.

“If you decline the communication, they should stop, but they don’t stop,” she said.

The regulator issued an enforcement notice to its first offending company, FT Rams Consulting, in late February 2024.

It hasn’t announced the issuing of any further related enforcement notices since.