Marketing callers will not be able to hide their phone number under government plans to address nuisance calls

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has opened a consultation on proposals which would require direct marketers to provide "valid calling line identification" (CLI) (21-page / 476KB PDF) when contacting consumers over the phone.

"CLI is a telephone number that represents the person making a call," the DCMS consultation paper said. "A CLI facility service displays a caller’s telephone number on the recipient’s handset/caller display system (where available) before the recipient accepts the call. Depending on the specifications of the handset/caller display system, the caller display facility may also provide a name that is associated with the calling number."

"For a CLI to be valid it must be a number which can be used to make a return call, i.e. it has to be dialable and not malformed. It must not be a number that connects to a premium rate service. The user of that CLI must have the authority to use that number, either because it is a number that has been allocated to them or because the user has been given permission from a third party who has been allocated that number," it said.

The government said it will need to amend the existing Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) to give effect to its plans. The changes would apply to both live and automated calls, it said. PECR needs to be amended because it "currently confers a right on any person, whether an individual or a company, to withhold their CLI when making a call", it said.

DCMS said that some direct marketing companies are "abusing" the existing right to make calls without providing a valid CLI so as to "make unsolicited calls to consumers".

Under PECR companies are generally prohibited from transmitting or instigating the transmission of unsolicited electronic communications to consumers for the purposes of direct marketing unless the person receiving those communications has given prior consent for the messages to be sent or the sender can demonstrate an existing commercial relationship with recipients. 

The UK's information commissioner has the power to serve fines of up to £500,000 on companies that breach the PECR rules. Head of enforcement at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) Steve Eckersley has welcomed the DCMS proposals.

"When people are able to identify the number behind the call they’ve received, they’re more likely to complain to us and we’re more able to take action," Eckersley said. "We’ve investigated unscrupulous companies who hid their identities. This doesn’t mean we can’t track them down, but it certainly makes our job more difficult. Any changes that make it easier for us to track down and take action against companies making nuisance calls is a change that will reduce the annoyance these calls cause."

DCMS said that failure to adhere to the planned new rules on CLI could lead to a fine from the ICO.

"It is possible that failure to provide CLI by an organisation or individual making live or automated direct marketing calls (without evidence of a wider breach of PECR) may be sufficient to amount to a ‘serious’ contravention of PECR, as defined in ICO’s statutory guidance on civil monetary penalties (CMP) and could therefore result in a monetary penalty. Evidence of multiple breaches or systematic non-compliance will be more likely to amount to a serious contravention of the PECR. However, it will be a matter for the ICO’s determination, having regard to the circumstances of each case," the DCMS consultation paper said.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe, UK minister for data protection, said: "Companies are already being financially punished when they blatantly flout the rules, and mandatory caller ID is just another step we are taking as part of a closely coordinated effort with regulators, industry and consumer groups to tackle the problem."