France has banned unsolicited telemarketing phone calls, in what a consumer group is hailing as a “small revolution” for the sales industry.<\/b><\/p>\n
From Tuesday, unsolicited calls are prohibited for businesses in all sectors – but there are some exceptions.<\/p>\n
Calls will only be permitted if they relate to a contract a person has already entered into or the company has obtained prior consent to be contacted for marketing.<\/p>\n
“It cannot be stressed enough that peace and quiet is a right, and it is time to stop exposing consumers to unwanted solicitations,” consumer advocacy group Que Choisir Ensemble, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“This observation also holds true online and on the street, which are saturated with demands to consume,” group president Marie-Amandine St\u00e9venin added.<\/p>\n
She said the group had long been advocating “for an end to the automatic assumption that someone in their home or private life is a potential customer.”<\/p>\n
“This is a victory for consumers, the vast majority of whom do not want to receive sales calls,” she said.<\/p>\n
But the law change has riled some business groups, and officials in Morocco, where the call centre sector is heavily reliant on the French market.<\/p>\n
One government minister estimated the telemarketing restrictions could lead to the loss of up to 50,000 jobs, according to a report in Moroccan newspaper Le Matin.<\/p>\n
The head of France’s direct-selling trade association, the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration de la Vente Directe (FVD), also criticised the reforms for adding what he said were administrative burdens for businesses.<\/p>\n
“You’ll have to obtain written consent from your customer, and you’ll also have to keep proof of that consent,” Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Billon said in comments reported by the New York Times.<\/p>\n
According to a 2025 parliamentary report, 97% of people are annoyed by telemarketing calls, with the authors wryly noting it is “one of those rare issues that unites people in France”.<\/p>\n
The same report found 72% of French people reported being contacted on their mobile phones at least once a week, while 38% said they were called once a day.<\/p>\n
Germany, Austria and Italy are among the European countries that impose significant restrictions on telemarketing calls, often referred to as cold calls.<\/p>\n
In the UK, most telemarketing calls are legal provided the recipient has not objected to the call and their number is not on a statutory list of people or businesses who do not want to receive calls.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"