New protection for consumers against nuisance calls.

Oftel has confirmed new measures to protect consumers from misuse conducted over electronic communications networks or services. Following a consultation in June, Oftel has published a statement outlining its new powers to take action against companies or individuals who persistently misuse networks or services in a way that causes annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety to called parties.

The new powers, arising from the Communications Act, could see fines of up to £5,000 being imposed in cases of persistent misuse. However, the powers are unlikely to be used where there are alternative legal remedies, such as the existing laws against malicious communications or the misuse of computers.

Whether a person or company is fined will depend on the nature of the complaint made against them and the steps they take to prevent the misuse happening again.

The types of calls that are likely to be considered to represent misuse include:

• Silent of short duration calls which are abruptly terminated before they are answered;
• Calls that mislead the user into returning a call which may be charged at high rates; and
• Automated calls that simply contain recorded messages for marketing purposes.

The availability of the new powers enables Oftel to take action against activities that can irritate or upset consumers but which fall short of being criminal behaviour. It is hoped that the existence of the powers will itself have a deterrent effect.