The “CMA”:http://www.the-cma.org sent notice to members last night announcing that the National Do-not-call service was now law:
bq.. Legislation that mandates the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to set up a national do-not-call service has been passed by both Houses of Parliament and has received royal assent from the Governor General. This is a major victory for the Canadian Marketing Association, which has since 2001 been a strong proponent of a national DNC service that applies to anyone who uses the telephone to market goods and services.
CMA successfully lobbied for an exemption in the legislation for calls to existing customers. Equally important, the legislation includes the CMA definition for “existing business relationship”. Among other exemptions, the legislation also allows for calls made by or on behalf of a “registered charity” as per the federal Income Tax Act definition.
The CRTC is expected to soon initiate the consultation process necessary for formulating more detailed regulations. This process will allow CMA to address some outstanding concerns with the CRTC, including a clear exemption for business-to-business calls.
Based on CRTC estimates, we expect the national do-not-call service to be in operation in the summer or fall of 2007.
p. “This Globe & Mail article”:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051129.wxbills29/BNStory/National/ about the final flurry of legislation before the government fell ends with a very funny bit on the DNC:
bq.. The government knew that a law banning unwanted phone calls would be popular with Canadians, because it called them at home to ask before it was introduced.
According to Industry Canada documents obtained through Access to Information, the department spent $14,010 to have the polling company Environics ask 2,000 Canadians about the merits of such a law.
Among the questions the pollsters asked: “Which of the following best describes how you feel about receiving unsolicited phone calls: You like to receive them? You tolerate receiving them? They annoy you? You hate receiving them?”
Only 1 per cent of respondents said they like to receive unsolicited phone calls.
p. The establishment of the do-not-call by the FCC in the United States a few years ago caused a major shift in thinking for many marketers and I expect the same to happen here.