Companies which make unsolicited calls, known as Spam calls, face massive fines due to a new law which came into effect yesterday.
From yesterday June 29 the new General Telecommunications Law prohibits commercial cold calling and includes fines of thousands of euros for companies that ignore it.
However, there are some circumstances when these calls remain legal.
According to the law the right to not receive unwanted commercial calls is established unless previous consent is given.
Consent is the principal reason that we may continue to receive such calls, given that the aim of these calls is to sell us something.
Commercial calls will also be legal if there is a “legitimate interest” to justify calling. According to the Data Protection Agency this could cover previous customers in the last 12 months. However, once again express permission must have been given eg. by ticking the box giving permission on a previous contract.
