Trai invites comments on regulations against spam commercial calls, texts

Certain issues have arisen during the implementation of regulatory framework to protect consumers from unwanted promotional calls, said Ministry of Telecommunications

To protect consumers from unwanted promotional calls and messages, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) issued a consultation paper on Wednesday (August 28) seeking public comments on the “Review of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (TCCCPR-2018)”.

The TCCCPR-2018, implemented in February 2019, was designed to address the issue of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC). The Ministry of Telecommunications stated that certain issues have arisen during the implementation of the regulatory framework.

“This consultation paper aims to address these observed issues, which require immediate attention. The provisions of regulations related to these issues may need amendment,” it added.

These regulations aim to protect consumers from unwanted promotional calls and messages while allowing businesses to send targeted communications to customers who have consented or set preferences to receive them.

The broad issues discussed in the consultation paper include:

• ·  Definitions of Commercial Communications
• ·  Provisions related to Complaint Redressal
• ·  UCC Detection System and actions taken
• ·  Provisions related to Financial Disincentives
• ·  Provisions related to Senders and Telemarketers
• ·  Analysis of the high volume of voice calls and SMS

The consultation paper, available on the Trai website (www.trai.gov.in), also explores the possibility of differential tariffs for voice calls and SMS to discourage UCC. Written comments on the consultation paper are invited from stakeholders by September 25. Counter-comments, if any, may be submitted by October 9, 2024. Comments and counter-comments should preferably be sent in electronic form to the email address advqos@trai.gov.in, read the statement.

Earlier, Trai highlighted the need for a joint effort to tackle spam messages and calls in a meeting with representatives from IRDAI, PFRDA, RBI, SEBI, MoCA, and MeitY. The government has noted several instances of misuse of headers and templates, with fraud often occurring through the transmission of malicious links embedded in messages.