Regulation Hub Update - August 2020

14 Aug 2020

This article is written by Steve Sullivan who is the Deputy Chair of the Contact Centre Council.

Another month and another – unexpected – ICO fine for a firm breaking the PECR rules.

This time Rain Trading of Lampeter has been fined £80,000 for outbound calling numbers which had been registered with the TPS. Rain Trading – which traded as Intelligent Home Energy – sold loft insulation through telemarketing and came to the ICO’s attention due to the number of consumer complaints generated.

The ICO followed its frequent pattern and lodged a Third-Party Information Notice (“3PIN”) with Rain Trading’s telco provider to identify the company. It transpired that Rain Trading didn’t TPS screen any numbers or even operate an internal ‘Do Not call’ list and voluntary ceased calling not long after the ICO’s investigations got underway. So it seems unlikely that the fine will ever be paid

The Eurpean Court of Justice has struck down the Privacy Shield mechanism that allows for the transfer of personal data between the EU and the US (4 years after Privacy Shield’s predecessor, the Safe Harbour agreement itself went West). The data protection lawyer’s fall-back, Standard Contractual Clauses, will in most cases provide and alternative legal basis, but quite possibly not in all. Here the DMA team explain more.

FCA Consults on Revising Its Vulnerable Customer Guidance

The FCA announced a consultation on proposed updates to its guidance for the fair treatment of vulnerable customers.

This is not just significant for financial services firms, but for all people managing their businesses' interactions with customers. The concept of customer vulnerability has gone from a slightly left-field concern to a mainstream issue, partly thanks to some pioneering work by the DMA Contact Centre Council. The original DMA guidance is still available here.

No news of note from Ofgem this month. And despite the sunny weather, another month has gone by without a supplier going out of business.

Similarly, all quiet from Ofcom this month, too.

Number Look-Up Firm Fined £1.1m

The PSA has fined Plus Que PRO SAS £1.1m for running a misleading number look up site called "The Shops". Consumers calling retailers via the indirect numbers it promoted were charged £2.50 irrespective of how short the call was (and "The Shops" frequently presented details for non-existent shops or reassigned its premium rate numbers to other retailers).

The Fundraising Regulator has been quiet over the summer, aside from producing a guide for the public on 5 things you can expect from fundraisers during the Coronavirus pandemic - including that fundraisers won't shout at the public or make sudden movements towards them that would breach social distancing guidelines.