Your tryst with the annoying telemarketing calls are about to get over, provided you take a little preventive step.
The process for telecom subscribers to get their name included in the ‘National Do Not Call’ (NDNC) Registry, which would lead to complete end to all unsolicited commercial communications (UCCs) — or telemarketing calls as they are commonly known as —– has started.
A specific website —www.ndncregistry.gov.in — to guide people on how to include their numbers on the NDNC registry, has been created following recommendations in this regard by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which were accepted by the Department of Telecommunications sometime back.
Any mobile or landline subscriber who does not wish to receive telemarketing calls, can request for inclusion of his or her telephone number in the NDNC Registry.
Such requests sent through their telecom service providers will be stored in NDNC Registry, which is coming into effect from September. Subscribers can make a ‘Do Not Call’ requests via letters, phone calls, SMS or on-line, the guidelines on the website say.
However, a random check with the call centres of a range of private as well as PSU operators showed that most of them were still not aware about the details of the registry.
Free of cost
According to the new website, any existing or new subscriber can request his telephone number to be included in the Registry free of cost.
The telecom service provider will acknowledge the request within ten days. Requests will become effective in 45 days from the date of request. Subscribers can confirm inclusion of their numbers from the NDNC registry home page.
Subscribers will also have the option to cancel their earlier requests.
In case a subscriber receives such calls even after 45 days of successful inclusion of his number, he would be able to lodge complaints with his service provider. Telemarketers will face a penalty of Rs 500 for each violation and there is provision for disconnection in case of repeated violations.
The primary objective of the NDNC Registry is to curb UCC, which has been defined as “any message, through telecommunications service, which is transmitted for the purpose of informing about,or soliciting or promoting any commercial transaction in relation to goods, investments or services which a subscriber opts not to receive”.
However, it does not include any message relating to a service or financial transaction under a specific contract between the parties to such contract, any message relating to charities, national campaigns or natural calamities transmitted on the directions of the government or agencies authorised by it.
It will also not include messages transmitted on the directions of the government in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality.