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2011: the revolution of Italian telephone directories
Whereas prior to 2011 you could only use names in the directories with a telephone/envelope symbol indicating they had consented to receiving mailing and telephone calls, now the opposite is true, i.e. you can contact anybody except for those that are registered on a dedicated Robinson list "specifically for telephone users (1)".
As a consequence, direct marketing operators will now have approximately 13 million available records for each B2C area rather than 500,000, while the B2B sector will have 3 million contacts.
The steps to take for those that wish to carry out telemarketing are the following:
Check that the supplier is the official owner of the DBU (2) .
Once chosen, the directories must be checked against the "Registro delle Opposizioni" database of consumers that wish to block telemarketers. This process has a cost and is carried out by the company that organises the telemarketing/mailing operation.
With the clean file that is returned it will be possible to telephone, paying attention to the following:
Eliminate those that have asked the company not to contact them (3).
You have 15 days to make phone calls.
Calls must not be made from a hidden number.
Do not make calls after 10 pm or on Sundays.
For sources other than the DBU the telephone opt-in rule applies.
Meanwhile, for postal mailing (4) the law was approved and the operating procedure will be ready soon and therefore the subject of a specific news piece.
Marco Merlo
Italian Representative of Lists4Europe
Legislative references:
1) The "Registro delle Opposizioni" (managed by Fondazione Ugo Bordoni), www.registrodelleopposizioni.it, was introduced Presidential Decree 178/2010.
2) DBU is the unique database with telephone subscribers (fix + mobile) coming from telephone companies. It comes from the law "universal service" and measures adopted by commissioners : data protection and communications.
3) Diritto alla Opposizione ('Right to Oppose') : art 7 paragraph 4 letter b of the Privacy Code.
4) Law no. 106 of 12 July 2011, the right to opt-out of receiving postal advertising, addressed to telephone subscribers.