The end of unwanted calls? On Monday evening, January 27, the National Assembly adopted a new bill that prohibits telephone canvassing without the consumer's prior consent. The measure, introduced by an EELV MP, had been demanded by certain consumer protection associations for several years.
This is not the first time that French legislators have tried to reduce the number of unwanted calls from the French. Since 2016, it has been possible to register on Bloctel to limit these canvassing, but the system has proven to be more than ineffective.
A bill that still has to go through the Senate
A decree applied in March 2023 also limited the time slots for these calls, now only possible from Monday to Friday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Call centers must also comply with new frequency rules: the same individual cannot be contacted more than four times per month. If the consumer refuses the canvassing, these companies must wait 60 days before being able to call them back.
But all of these measures had been deemed ineffective: the associations were asking that canvassing be simply prohibited, unless the consumer consents: a request supported by Delphine Batho, EELV MP for Deux-Sèvres, who introduced an article to this effect last November in a bill aimed at combating fraud involving public aid.
This article therefore includes a new principle: the fact that any commercial canvassing without consent will now be prohibited, if the bill goes through its adoption process. Companies wishing to canvass consumers would then have to obtain consent, before being able to call them for prospecting purposes. The bill, adopted unanimously in the National Assembly, must still go through the Senate to become law.
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