From this Saturday, April 30, the National Do Not Call Registry and from this Monday users can sign up to avoid phone calls from unknown numbers where cell phone promotions, credit or debit cards or discounts on some service are offered.
The record was created by article 181 of the Law of Accountability 2020 and entered into force on January 1, 2022. However, the government had a period of up to 120 days to regulate it and President Luis Lacalle Pou ended up signing the decree Last Friday, April 22.
“We see this as a user’s right not to be disturbed and we also penalize the abusive use of the telephone medium for promotions, sales and services of any kind.”, he had told The Observer the head of the National Directorate of Telecommunications (Dinatel), Guzmán Acosta y Lara.
How to sign up
Those interested, who are holders of a telecommunications servicethey will be able to tell your company (Antel, Claro or Movistar) the will not to be contacted. To start the process, companies will have three commercial channels: through the website of each companyso face-to-face in the places that the companies determine or by SMS 6622.
Through these contact channels, users who request it they will enter their telephone number or all those of which they are holders, to a registry that will be in the orbit of the Regulatory Unit of Communication Services (Ursec).
Within five daystelephone companies must send Ursec a list with the numbers of the service holders who said they did not want to receive the calls.
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In the law they are exempted from that registration “calls from those who have a current contractual relationship, as long as they refer to the strict purpose of the link“, so the telephone companies will be able to contact their client to offer them a new mobile phone contract when it is about to end or commercial banks will also be able to continue sending their card promotions to their clients.
The Do Not Call record not only includes calls to cell phones or landlines, but also includes text messages (SMS) and communications through platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegramso that those who offer the services that the user does not want will not be able to communicate by those means either; emails are not included.
The role of companies
The users may report if there is a breach of the law. In the event that a company does not respect these cases, the situation will be evaluated by Ursec, who may apply the sanctions that he deems pertinent.
Companies interested in carrying out advertising campaigns they must register with Ursec free of charge to be able to consult the Do Not Call registry of the three telecommunications companies.
this record will update every 30 daysso those interested in launching campaigns should review the list to see which new users have joined or which have unsubscribed.
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Regarding users in general and who have chosen not to sign up for the Do Not Call registry, the decree establishes a time slot in which the call centers can contact you.
“It will be understood that the calls are made in a reasonable manner and at reasonable times if they are made in Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., or Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.unless the users expressly request to be contacted at a different or specific time or day, which must be duly documented and preserved by whoever carries out the campaign”, expresses the decree signed on April 22 by Lacalle Pou.
On the other hand, advertising campaigns should be done from an identifiable number. “You cannot call from an unknown number and they must indicate which company they belong to and by whom they are in charge of carrying out such an advertising campaign”, Acosta and Lara had explained.
