Companies that practice abusive telemarketing are in the sights of the National Consumer Secretariat (Senacon), linked to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. It opened administrative proceedings against 26 of them. The measures are an offshoot of the decision that, on July 18, banned irregular activity across the country.
“Telecommunication companies, banks and telemarketing centers were notified to present a defense. If convicted, they are subject to fines of up to R$ 13 million each”, explained Senacom.
Last July 20th, the Ministry of Justice opened an internet channel for citizens to denounce companies that insist on abusive telemarketing, denuncia-telemarketing.mj.gov.br.
In the electronic form, consumers must enter, among other information, the date and origination number of the call with area code (if any), the name of the telemarketer or which company it represents and whether permission has been given to offer products and services.
Complaints will be investigated by the National Consumer Secretariat and forwarded to Procons [Programa de Proteção e Defesa do Consumidor]for analysis and opening of any administrative process for non-compliance with the measure.
Historic
The suspension of abusive telemarketing activities was determined by Senacon based on the number of complaints registered in the National Consumer Defense Information System (Sindec) and in the consumer.gov.br portal. In the last three years these channels received 14,547 complaints.
From the analysis of the complaints, the secretariat concluded that the data used by the companies for the practice of telemarketing considered abusive are not consented by consumers, nor passed to them from an existing legal basis.
In view of this, the Ministry of Justice understood that the practice of abusive active telemarketing violates the precepts of the Consumer Defense Code, the General Data Protection Law and the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet.
The leaders of Procons, the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and the National Data Protection Authority (ANDP) were informed about the opening of the processes, so that they take the measures they deem appropriate.
