Information Commissioner and Ofcom commit to tackling nuisance calls

home_phoneThe Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Ofcom have published a joint action plan to protect consumers from nuisance calls.

The two watchdogs have joint responsibility for taking action against organisations that generate nuisance calls or message.

The ICO is responsible for tackling companies who make unwanted marketing calls and send unsolicited marketing text messages, while Ofcom has powers tackle silent and abandoned calls.

Today’s joint plan commits the two organisations to co-operate on a series of initiatives, including assessing the impact of the Telephone Preference Service on the level of unsolicited live sales and marketing and improving call and message tracing processes to track down those responsible for making nuisance calls.

Claudio Pollack, Ofcom’s Consumer Group Director said: “This joint action plan serves to cement our partnership with the ICO as we work together to tackle nuisance calls and protect consumers.”

Simon Entwisle, ICO Director of Operations added: “Only concerted, joint action can tackle the consumer menace of nuisance calls. This plan shows we mean business and outlines how we will continue our work with Ofcom to tackle the problem.”

The joint action plan can be found here and a blog post to accompany today’s announcement can also be found on the ICO’s website.

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