§ Sarah TeatherTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry where money received from fines for making unsolicited telephone calls and faxes is paid. [186236]
§ Mr. TimmsIf a company or individual were to contravene an enforcement notice issued by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and were to be successfully prosecuted in a magistrates court and 765W subjected to a fine, the fine would be paid to the local Magistrates Court Committee (MCC) and would then be forwarded to HM Treasury.
§ Sarah TeatherTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what costs to(a) industry and (b) consumers she estimates to have been incurred each year since 1999 as a result of unsolicited (i) telephone calls and (ii) faxes. [186237]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Government do not have an estimate of the cost to industry and consumers of receiving unsolicited telephone calls and faxes. The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) scheme for consumers started as an industry-led voluntary scheme until EU regulations required that member states introduce a statutory provision for consumer registration.
In deciding to extend the right of consumers to register with the TPS to corporate subscribers at the end of 2003, the Government produced a regulatory impact assessment, which concluded that the benefits of having the option to register outweighed the additional cost to marketing businesses for cleaning up their telephone lists.
§ Sarah TeatherTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the maximum penalty is for(a) sending unsolicited faxes and (b) making unsolicited telephone calls; and how many times it has been incurred in each year since 1999. [186238]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has responsibility for enforcing the rules on unsolicited marketing including the sending of unsolicited marketing faxes to numbers registered on the Fax Preference Service (FPS) and making unsolicited marketing calls to numbers registered on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). The ICO has issued formal enforcement notices against more than a dozen companies and individuals in respect of unsolicited marketing faxes.
A company or individual that contravenes an enforcement notice commits a criminal offence and, upon successful prosecution, could be subject to a fine of up to £5,000 in a magistrates court. As the ICO has no evidence that the companies and individuals against whom notices have been issued warrant prosecution, to date no fines have been imposed in respect of contravention of these rules.
§ Sarah TeatherTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many prosecutions there have been in each year since 1999 for(a) sending unsolicited faxes and (b) making unsolicited telephone calls; [186239]
(2) how much money has been raised in each year since 1999 from fines resulting from prosecution of persons making unsolicited telephone and fax calls. [186248]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has responsibility for enforcing the rules on unsolicited marketing including the sending of unsolicited marketing faxes to numbers registered on the Fax Preference Service (FPS) and making unsolicited marketing calls to numbers registered on the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). The ICO has issued formal enforcement notices against more than a dozen companies and individuals in respect of unsolicited marketing faxes.
766WA company or individual that contravenes an enforcement notice commits a criminal offence and, upon successful prosecution, could be subject to a fine of up to £5,000 in a magistrates court. As the ICO has no evidence that the companies and individuals against whom notices have been issued warrant prosecution, to date no fines have been imposed in respect of contravention of these rules.
§ Sarah TeatherTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many(a) individual and (b) business numbers have been registered under (i) the telephone and (ii) fax preference schemes in each year since they have each been operational. [186242]
§ Mr. TimmsThe table shows the total number of telephone numbers registered under the TPS since 2001. Corporate registration to the TPS began on 25 June 2004, since when there have been 48,183 corporate registrations.
Number registered 2001 1,737,028 2002 2,535,094 2003 3,908,440 2004 5,214,737