Ref: 35/00
Date 5 May 2000

A year after their introduction, more than one million people have signed up to the fax and telephone preference schemes in order to stop being sent junk faxes or cold called for goods and services.

Commenting on the success of the schemes, David Edmonds Director General of Telecommunications said today:

"Last year complaints about junk faxes was the top complaint made to Oftel, particularly from small businesses.

"The Direct Marketing Association were appointed by Oftel to run the fax and telephone preferences schemes, which were introduced to stop cold calling and the sending of junk faxes to homes and businesses that did not want to receive them.

"Since their introduction, over one million people have registered with the schemes and the number of complaints to Oftel has dropped off dramatically.

"Oftel now regularly receives calls from people who want to know how to register with these schemes.

"The success of these schemes demonstrates the effectiveness of appropriate measures to protect consumers."

The Direct Marketing Association ran their own voluntary fax and telephone preference schemes before the introduction of the statutory schemes last year. As of April 2000 the numbers registered with the statutory scheme were for the Fax Preference Scheme - 229,281; and for the Telephone Preference Scheme - 1,059,269.

Notes to Editors

1. Organisations that engage in unsolicited direct marketing by phone and fax must not contact individuals and companies that have registered with the opt-out schemes. Telesales companies that breach the Regulations could face action by the Data Protection Registrar. Failure to comply could lead to fines of up to £5,000.

2. People wishing to register with the schemes should call 0845-070 0707 for telephone preference registration and 0845-070 0702 for fax preference registration. Under the fax preference scheme, all domestic consumers are considered automatically exempted from receiving faxes, unless they choose to register with the scheme to receive faxes.

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