Swedes to receive improved protection against unwanted sales calls

Swedish cell-phone users will soon receive better protection against unwanted sales calls by signing up to the so-called NIX-telefon register, local media reported on Saturday.

By signing up to the NIX register, individuals can shut out calls for marketing, sales and fundraising purposes as their phone numbers become inaccessible to various companies.

However, up until now, registering with NIX has not been a guarantee for avoiding such calls. Thanks to a loophole, salespeople can still get through to those who give away their phone numbers while participating in a competition or an online survey, for instance.

Under new rules to be introduced later this month, companies that call up consumers must be able to prove that those consumers have given active consent to receiving sales or advertising calls.

"If companies can't prove that they have the customer's clear consent, then they will have broken the rules as well as sales marketing laws," Jonas Edstrom, president of NIX-telefon, told Swedish Television on Saturday.

The new rules also address another loophole in order to protect vulnerable people. Swedish Television has previously reported that sales people have tricked many elderly people who are registered as private company holders. In such cases, the individual is treated as a company rather than as a consumer, meaning they do not enjoy as strong protections. That will be rectified under the new rules so that private company holders, too, are treated as consumers and can avoid unwanted calls. Endit