The relevant provisions of the EU Directive are now implemented in UK Law as the “Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations” - CCR for short.
The option offered by the Directive to exempt the Passenger Transport sector has
not been taken.
It is possible that under the strict terms of the regulations, there could be some doubt as to whether a contractual relationship exists between callers to a number and the trader being called.
As posted on the original CRD page -
SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jan 14
th, 2014 at 9:57pm:
There are two different issues being raised here with regard to those who are on the borders of the scope of the legislation arising from the CRD:
- Could action be taken against them through the courts for using non-compliant telephone numbers
- Will they switch to compliant numbers
Our hope is that all will switch because it is the right thing to do, regardless of the risk of being subject to legal action. That is not to say that the latter does not help the decision process, but the decision to switch is the only issue that truly matters.
The public pressure to move to compliant numbers is supported and strengthened by the existence of regulations, such as the CCR, Guidance to Government Departments and the forthcoming need to declare the Service Charge. It was imperative to ensure that the terms of these measures were as broad as possible, with respect to the numbers prohibited and the cases covered. Now that this has been achieved, we think it unlikely that many will continue to attempt to resist public pressure by relying on arguments around the borders of the terms of regulations.
The fair telecoms campaign is monitoring the stages of the 08xx to 03xx migration process through 2014 for all important cases: initial comment, determination of policy, announcement of the date of changes, implementation of change. We would be delighted for all supporters to share in this information gathering exercise, but not all of this information may be published.
For example, we are aware of the plans of many who are not yet ready to make formal public announcements. Although this is of no true value until the commitment is made in public, it is helpful in enabling us to focus campaigning energies on cases where the battle has yet to be won. In some cases, it also enables us to offer advice and assistance on points of detail and the way in which announcements are made.
This forum provides an excellent place for public discussion of issues and announcements that can be released in the public domain. I am however sure that readers will recognise that a lot of work goes on "behind the scenes" and organisations are rightly reluctant to make strong public statements, or offer comment that may be repeated in public, until they have all of the detail tied up.
With no wish to undermine the value of this forum, I invite those who are keen to contribute in support of the objectives of the fair telecoms campaign to get in touch.