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TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY,
PART III, SECTION 4
TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 03rd December, 2013
No.311-28/2013-QoS- In exercise of powers conferred by section 36, read with
sub-clause(v) of clause (b) and clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 11, of the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997), the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India hereby makes the following regulations to further
amend the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference
Regulations, 2010 (6 of 2010), namely:-
THE TELECOM COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS CUSTOMER
PREFERENCE (FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 2013
(15 OF 2013)
1. (1) These regulations may be called the Telecom Commercial
Communications Customer Preference (Fourteenth Amendment)
Regulations, 2013.
(2) (a) Except as otherwise provided in clause (b),these regulations shall
come into force from the date of their publication in the official
Gazette.
(b) Regulation 4, regulation 5 and regulation 6 of these regulations
shall come into force afterthirty days from the date of their
publicationin the official Gazette. Page 2 of 9
2. In regulation 14 of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer
Preference Regulations, 2010 (hereinafter referred to as the principal
regulations),
(a) in sub-regulation (3), for the word “three” the word “five” shall be
substituted;
(b) after sub-regulation (3), the following sub-regulation shall be inserted
namely : -
“(4) A telemarketer registered with the Authority may, sixty days before
to the expiry of its registration, submit an application to the Authority,
along with the specified fee, for renewal of its registration on the same
terms and conditions.”
3. In regulation 20 of the principal regulations, in sub-regulation 2,---
(a) in clause (a), the following proviso shall be inserted namely : -
“Provided that, the Authority may, from time to time, amend the
provisions of the agreement specified in Schedule-IV and every
agreement entered into between the access provider and telemarketer
shall be modified accordingly, within fifteen days of such amendment”;
(b) in clause (b), the following proviso shall be inserted namely : -
“Provided that, the Authority may, from time to time, amend the
provisions of the agreement specified in Schedule-V and every
agreement entered into between the access provider and transactional
message sending entity shall be modified accordingly, within fifteen days
of such amendment”;
4. In Schedule-III to the principal regulations,---
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(a) for clause 6the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
“6. All new telemarketers shall pay Rupees Five Thousand only (Rs.
5000/- ) as Registration fee. Existing telemarketers, renewing their
registration as per regulation 14, shall pay Rupees Five Thousand
only(Rs. 5000/- ) as fee for renewal of their registration”;
(b) for clause 7 the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
“7. Telemarketers registered with the TERM Cell of Department of
Telecommunications shall apply afresh for new registration as per the
procedure in the Schedule.”
(c) in clause 8,after the words “registration fee” and before the word “by”, the
words “and customer education fee”, shall be deleted.
(d) for clause 9 the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
“9.Full registration fee has to be deposited by the telemarketer and no
part payment shall be accepted.”
(e) insub-clause (a) of clause 10, after the bracket andwords“(registration fee”
and before the bracket and word“) by”, the words “and customer
education fee”, shall be deleted.
(f) clause18 shall be deleted.
(g) clause19 shall be renumbered as clause 18.
(h) clause20 shall be renumbered as clause 19.
(i) clause 21 shall be renumbered as clause 20.
(j) clause22 shall be renumbered as clause 21.
(k) clause23 shall be renumbered as clause 22.
(l) clause24 shall be renumbered as clause 23.
5. In Schedule-IV to the principal regulations,---- Page 4 of 9
(a) in clause 9, for the words, letters, figures and brackets “rupees one lakh
only (Rs. 1,00,000/-)”, the words, letters, figures and brackets “rupees fifty
thousand only (Rs. 50,000/-)” shall be substituted.
(b) for clause 11, the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
“(11) The second party has agreed that on issue of first notice by theAccess
Provider to the second partyfor sending unsolicitedcommercial
communication to the subscriber whose telephone numberappears in the
National Customer Preference Register, the second partyshall deposit
additional security amount of rupees one lakh only (Rs.1,00,000/-). The
second party has also agreed that on issue of second notice by the
Access Provider to the telemarketer for sending similar unsolicited
commercial communication, the second party shall deposit additional
security amount of rupees one lakh fifty thousand only (Rs. 1,50,000/-)
and on issue of third notice by the Access Provider to thetelemarketer for
sending similar unsolicited commercial communication, the second
partyshall deposit an additional securityof amount of rupees four lakh
only (Rs. 4,00,000/-).”
6. In Schedule-V to the principal regulations,----
(a) in clause 8, for the words, letters, figures and brackets “rupees one lakh
only (Rs. 1,00,000/-)”, the words, letters, figures and brackets “rupees fifty
thousand only (Rs. 50,000/-)” shall be substituted.
(b) for clause 10, the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-
“(10) The second party has agreed that on issue of first notice by the
Access Provider to the second party for sending unsolicited commercial
communication to the subscriber whose telephone number appears in the Page 5 of 9
National Customer Preference Register, the second party shall deposit
additional security amount of rupees one lakh only (Rs. 1,00,000/-). The
second party has also agreed that on issue of second notice by the Access
Provider to the second party for sending similar unsolicited commercial
communication, the second party shall deposit additional security
amount of rupees one lakh fifty thousand only (Rs. 1,50,000/-) and on
issue of third notice by the Access Provider to the second party for
sending similar unsolicited commercial communication, the second party
shall deposit an additional security of amount of rupees four lakh only
(Rs. 4,00,000/-).”
(Rajeev Agrawal)
SECRETARY
Note1: The principal regulations were published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 vide notification No. 305-17/2010-QoS dated
1st December, 2010.
Note 2:The principal regulations were amended vide notification No. 305-
17/2010-QoSand published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III,
Section 4 dated 14th December, 2010.
Note 3: The principal regulations were further amended (second amendment)
vide notification No. 305-17/2010-QoS and published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 28thDecember, 2010.
Note 4: The principal regulations were further amended (third amendment) vide
notification No. 305-17/2010-QoS and published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 31stJanuary, 2011.
Note 5: The principal regulations were further amended (fourth amendment)
vide notification No. 305-17/2010-QoS and published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 28th February, 2011.
Note 6: The principal regulations were further amended (fifth amendment) vide
notification No. 305-17/2010-QoS and published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 18th March, 2011. Page 6 of 9
Note 7: The principal regulations were further amended (Sixth amendment)
vide notification No. 352-4/2011-CA (QoS) Pt. and published in the Gazette of
India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 05thSeptember, 2011.
Note 8: The principal regulations were further amended (Seventh amendment)
vide notification No. 352-4/2011-CA (QoS) and published in the Gazette of
India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 25thOctober, 2011.
Note 9: The principal regulations were further amended (Eighth amendment)
vide notification No. 352-4/2011-CA (QoS) and published in the Gazette of
India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 1st November, 2011.
Note 10: The principal regulations were further amended (Ninth amendment)
vide notification No. 305-24/2011-QoS(SP)and published in the Gazette of
India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 14th May, 2012.
Note11: The principal regulations were further amended (Tenth amendment)
vide notification No. 311-13/2012-QoS and published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 5th November, 2012.
Note12: The principal regulations were further amended (Eleventh
Amendment) vide notification No. 311-23/2013-QoS and published in the
Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 24rd May, 2013.
Note13: The principal regulations were further amended (Twelfth amendment)
vide notification No. 311-23/2013-QoS and published in the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 24rd May, 2013.
Note14: The principal regulations were further amended (Thirteenth
amendment) vide notification No. 311-27/2013-QoS and published in the
Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4 dated 22nd August, 2013.
Note 15: The Explanatory Memorandum explains the objects and reasons of
Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Fourteenth
Amendment) Regulations, 2013 (15 of 2013) . Page 7 of 9
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1. Telecom customers are aggrieved with Unsolicited Commercial
Communications (UCCs) in the form of SMSs or voice calls to promote
commercial activity for quite a long time. In 2009-10, TRAI reviewed the
regulatory framework for controlling UCCs and, on 1st December 2010,
issued “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference
Regulations, 2010”. These regulationshave provision for mandatory
registration of telemarketers with TRAI after payment of a one-time fee of
Rs 10,000/-. These regulations also provided that before taking the
telecom resources from service provider, a telemarketer has to deposit
initially an amount Rs. 1,00,000/- with service provider as security
deposit.
2. The aforesaid provisions were made in the regulations with the aim that
if all telemarketers registered themselves with the Authority and the
consumers electing not to receive promotional commercial messages
register themselves in NCPR, the menace of UCCs would be controlled.
However, subsequent events proved otherwise. Though some did register
as telemarketers, many others chose to continue operating as
telemarketers without registering themselves as such. That is, most of
those sending UCCs, operated beyond the pale of TRAI’s regulations; they
obtained multiple SIMs as “normal subscribers” and made calls or sent
out messages (SMSs) in bulk as UCCs to other telecom subscribers.
3. The UCC menace persisted leading consumers to complain about the
number of UCCs being received. At various points of time, the Authority
has responded to consumers’ concerns by intervening through
Regulations and Directions to curb the problem. The significant
measures taken includes Stopping UCCs sent through international
routes, [Providing a ceiling on the number of SMSs per SIM per Page 8 of 9
day,]Economic deterrent to sending more than 100 SMSs per SIM per day,
Mandating signature verification of bulk SMSs, Enhancing consumer
awareness and obtaining an undertaking from subscribers against
sending commercial SMSs, Making it easy for consumers to file a
complaint, Disconnection and blacklisting of subscribers who do
telemarketing without registering themselves with TRAI etc.
4. While the Authority’s regulatory interventions have tempered the menace
of UCCs, it has not altogether abated. The problem is that UCCs (SMSs
or calls) from persons not registered as telemarketers continue to irritate
and harass normal subscribers. Such individuals deliberately
masquerade themselves as “normal subscribers” even though their
primary purpose for obtaining telecom resources is for telemarketing
activities.
5. The Authority has noticed with concern that a large number of
complaints received from consumers pertain to calls or messages
originated by or on behalf of banks, insurance companies, builders etc.
who are promoting their business by engaging unregistered
telemarketers in total disregard of the regulations made by the Authority.
These organisations, being the principal are equally responsible for the
non-compliance of the regulations and directions issued by the Authority
to address the problem of UCC. Hence, in order to make these entities
accountable, the Authority has decided to amend the regulations (13th
Amendment) to provide for disconnection of all telecom resources of such
organisations if they are found to be engaged in telemarketing through
unregistered telemarketers.
6. Authority has noticed that after implementation of The Telecom
Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Thirteenth Page 9 of 9
Amendment) Regulations, 2013 majority of complaints pertaining to
entities such as banks, insurance, builders etc. are against those
subscribers who were not registered as telemarketers and were making
the UCC through their normal 10 digit mobile numbers. Authority has
asked all the major erring banks to submit their action taken report in
respect of complaint. In response, some of the major banks have
submitted thatthere are small dealers/ agents,in their business
model,who do not have much incentive to afford the initial security
deposit of Rs. 1,00,000/- with service providers for working as a
telemarketer. Although, banks assured that they have mandated the
condition of registration as telemarketer with TRAI is compulsory for
becoming the dealers/ agents of bank, however, they also requested to
reduce the registration charges and initial security deposit for becoming
a telemarketer to motivate and provide the opportunity to these small
agents/ dealers to do the business in a legitimate manner.
7. Authority has also observed that one of the primary reason for non
registering as telemarketer by such agents/ agencies is saving in cost of
registration and initial security deposit. Therefore, Authority considered
the request and is of the view that unsolicited commercial
communication may be significantly reduced if majority of these
unregistered callers are registered as telemarketer with TRAI and use the
prescribed telemarketing resources for making the commercial calls/
SMS. Accordingly, to facilitate and to motivate these agencies/ agents to
register themselves with TRAI, the Authority reviewed the registration
period, registration feeand initial security deposit amount through these
regulations.
