On 13 September, the Ministry of Information, Communications and The Arts (MICA) released a public consultation paper on the proposed consumer data protection regime. The paper included the question of whether Singapore should also set up a do-not-call registry (DNC), and the overwhelming indication was that Singapore needs such a registry. Subsequently, MICA released this consultation paper on 31 October.
The public has been subjected to unsolicited marketing messages either through short message service (SMS), multimedia message service (MMS) or facsimiles (faxes). This is expected to increase with technology such as voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), which makes telephone marketing calls cheaper and easier. Thus, the main objective of this registry is to ensure that all organizations and businesses making marketing calls to individuals check their calling lists against the DNC before doing so.
The following are the salient points of the consultation paper for the proposed DNC:
- Currently, this space is subject to self-regulation. An example of such a regime is the telemarketing guidelines for the financial industry issued by the Contact Centre Association of Singapore. Such schemes, however, suffer from the lack of an enforcing mechanism and are applicable only to members of the respective bodies;
- The specific type of messaging to be covered by the proposed DNC is marketing messages, which is defined as an offer to supply, advertise or promote goods or services. This is so even if other parts of the message concerned are not about marketing;
- Individuals may still receive non-marketing messages from bodies like charitable organizations promoting volunteerism or electoral or political messages from political bodies. Market research and other kinds of survey messages will not be blocked;
- Electronic mails are excluded, as they can be dealt with easily by technical means and serious spamming is covered under the Computer Misuse Act and Spam Control Act;
- Messages sent to mobile telephones through technologies such as location-based services are not covered, and MICA is seeking public feedback on whether they should be included under the proposed DNC;
- Both business and residential telephone numbers issued under the National Numbering Plan in Singapore will be covered by the proposed DNC. Companies that outsource their marketing services to call centers or telecom operators located outside of Singapore are also covered, as long as they have a presence in Singapore;
- Registration of the numbers on the DNC is free for individuals and will remain in force so long as they are not terminated or withdrawn by the owners. Businesses need to register via an online process. Organizations sending marketing messages are obliged to check with the DNC for their registered numbers;
- Explicit consent must be obtained from the individual that has registered his or her number with the DNC before any marketing message is sent, even if the individual is an existing customer. For example, a broadband service provider must obtain explicit consent before sending promotional discount for re-contracting. However, if the message is a change in service standard, then consent is not needed as it is not a marketing-related message;
- Organizations cannot use an unlisted or blocked number to send out marketing messages and are required to check with the DNC that the numbers they are marketing to are not listed on the registry. Any potential marketing list of numbers from an organization should be sent to the DNC, and the DNC will return the list minus those registered numbers. Organizations will have to pay an annual subscription fee to the DNC to check for the numbers. MICA is proposing a nominal or free service for SMEs through a lookup service for small quantities of marketing lists to enable them to comply with the DNC without a heavy financial burden;
- The Data Protection Commission (DPC) will oversee the enforcement of the DNC, and a maximum fine of up to $1 million SGD is recommended. A granular penalty ceiling of $1,000 SGD per telephone number is also recommended as the majority of the offences may be non-malicious in nature. Appeal against DPC decisions is also provided for, similar to the general data protection legislation.
The proposed DNC is an extension of the proposed data protection regime to protect the personal information of consumers. This time, it is against the intrusive and unwanted marketing messaging through SMS, MMS or telephone calls from marketing companies. Apart from irritating consumers, some of these calls incur expensive long-distance telephone charges if the recipients are in a country where incoming calls are not free. Marketing companies are expected to provide their feedback on the proposed DNC before 28 November. Moving forward, 2012 will see a new regulatory landscape on consumer marketing data and protection in Singapore.
