§ 31. Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the arrangements for preventing unsolicited fax messages. [124618]
§ Dr. HowellsThe arrangements for avoiding unsolicited direct marketing faxes are contained in the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999. These ban the sending of unsolicited direct marketing faxes to individual subscribers, and introduce an "opt-out" scheme—the Fax Preference Service—for corporate subscribers.
698WThere is good evidence that the arrangements are delivering effective protection to subscribers from unwanted faxes. The number of complaints to Oftel about these faxes has fallen sharply since the Regulations came into force. Over the same period of time, the number of subscribers registered with the Fax Preference Service has risen from less than 15,000 to over 280,000.
The Data Protection Commissioner's Office are responsible for enforcing the Regulations and will take action against those that they feel have wilfully or negligently breathed the Regulations. The Data Protection Commissioner has recently issued enforcement notices to two companies in relation to the sending of direct marketing faxes, and is considering enforcement actions against a number of others.