Fight at telemarketing illegalapproved a new regulatory tool. After Public Register of Oppositions (active from 28 July 2022), the Code of Conductas announced today byPrivacy Guarantor Authority.
It is a further tool for protecting citizens’ rights based on the strengthening of control procedures by the entire Customer Relations chain: clients, outsourcers, list providers, lead generators and subcontracted agencies. Finally, therefore, a tool that regulates the behavior of the entire supply chain, using logics of sharing responsibilities and cross-checking to secure every phase of the management of citizens’ personal data, from collection, to use, to cancellation.
The Code of Conduct rewards the work of proposition and synthesis implemented by Assocontact and OIC and comes after a year of joint working tables between Confcommercio, Confindustria, Assocontact, Asstel, Asseprim, Assocall, DMA Italia, OIC (Business and Consumer Observatory).
The Code of Conduct represents a system of rules of conduct and management that integrates with the recommendations of the European legislator, the national legislator and the Supervisory Authorities such as the Guarantor for the Protection of Personal Data, the Guarantor of Competition and the Market and the ‘Authority for communications guarantees, as well as sector regulatory institutions, and is configured as a further element of contrast to illegal telemarketing which joins the other measures already in place, reinforcing their effectiveness in a synergistic way.
“We consider the criticisms of the provision completely gratuitous and unjustified, since the Code was drawn up with the collaboration of consumer associations – explains the president Furio Truzzi of Assoutenti – Any new tool that increases the privacy of citizens must be supported, even if it is clear that the new Code alone cannot be enough to solve the problem of illegal telemarketing”.
“For this reason we ask the Government to take a further step by providing, as other countries have done starting from Holland, an “Opt-in” system, whereby only those who register in the appropriate Register give express consent to telemarketing and therefore can receive commercial calls – continues Truzzi – In any case, Assoutenti will start monitoring to verify compliance with citizens’ right to privacy after the formal entry into force of the Code of Conduct”.
“It is a new starting point in the battle against wild telemarketing, a phenomenon which day after day becomes more and more unsustainable and which damages those who work in compliance with the rules – says the president Codacons, Gianluca Di Ascenzo – A tool that we hope will work better than the Register of Public Oppositions, which unfortunately hasn’t brought the desired results so far”.
On the basis of the data collected by Codacons, in fact, to date despite the Register counting 4 million members, more than 2.5 million Italians registered in the Register continue to receive commercial calls from call centers and specialized operators. Approximately 38% of the commercial calls received by users offer electricity and gas supply contracts, while 31% are linked to the telephony world; In the last period, the share of telephone calls offering investments and online trading has grown, reaching 30% of the total.
Lelio Borgherese, President of Assocontact he has declared: “We are satisfied, the Code is a valuable tool and I have to thank the Privacy Guarantor Authority who has provided us with all the support necessary to reach our goal. For us it is the sign that the path taken is the right one: Citizen & Customer Relations, a fundamental service, is full of opportunities for people, for industry and for the country but suffers from few, serious, critical issues which are structural and they can only be overcome if we all work together and rewrite the rules of the game. The Code of Conduct was the first step in 2023, together with the Certification of Professional Skills, a process that has just begun with UNI which protects the employability of workers and trains their skills to offer ever more quality to citizens. All small big steps but the goal remains the Law of relaunch “
The Operational President of OIC Raffaella Grisafi, comment: “This Code is the confirmation of the successful choice of a working method in which the logic of collective responsibility and a choral and dialogic approach prevailed. Each with their own identities and interests has worked on a common project for the benefit of all”
Also the President of OIC Gianluca D’Ascenzio you say “satisfied” by adding that “at the same time, we are aware that the approval of the Code represents a starting point for contrasting a phenomenon which day after day becomes more and more unsustainable and which damages those who work in compliance with the rules”
For Assocontact, the Code of Conduct is in fact only one of strategic pieces to make workers safeand female workers and revive the sector through the quality of the service.
The other fundamental tool is the Certification of skills because it allows the relationship of trust to be recovered between citizens, consumers and the Contact Center through the introduction of a standard of digital skills and professional competences and professional updating procedures. A tool intended to transform access and internal mobility for male and female workers, career opportunities and career paths upskilling e reskilling. The use of these two tools represent new perspectives for the sector and citizens and consumers.