Register: All talk no grunt?
Register: All talk no grunt?
April 4, 2007: Registrations for the Federal Government’s Do Not Call Register opened with a bang: Australians registered in their thousands, servers crashed and industry calls were made to ensure the legislation did not become another ‘white elephant.’
The response of registrations in its initial inception suggests Australians are more then ready to do away with annoying telemarketer and nuisance calls. The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts says it’s looking to ensure the service can handle more over one million registrations in the first week.
“The Do Not Call Register allows families to reclaim their evening as their own, to once again enjoy uninterrupted dinner times,” the Minister for DCITA Minister Helen Coonan said Thursday. “Based on overseas experience, there is expected to be a high level of demand for the Register – as many as one million registrations expected in the first week.”
The overwhelming response to the Register’s opening has prompted DCITA to encourage users to access a separate Do Not Call Register website as they enter into the DCITA homepage.
Following the Register’s initial success, the Australian Teleservices Association has requested a Government guarantees that the Register will not full into the trap of white elephant legislation. The ATA has called on Senator Coonan to clearly outline the Government’s enforcement strategy and provide details of enforcement funding over the next five years.
The concerns have been raised given the impact the Register will have on the industry compared to the measurable benefit to consumers. The ATA warns the ability for Australia to compete overseas may be hindered by the need for Australian businesses to reduce their use of telemarketing for leads generation.
Executive Director of the ATA, Michael Meredith says the ATA wants to assure its members that the Register can product its desired outcomes, as it’s hard enough for the industry to accept additional cost and read tape for compliance.
“If clear, definable and measurable enforcement strategies are absent from the mix, all we are left with is a dead hand that threatens to stifle growth and cost jobs in the industry,” says Meredith. “It is not clear at this stage how effective enforcement will be funded and the concern is the Do Not Call Register will end up a massive white elephant that is costly and unwieldy to correctly administer.”
In North America’s experience with a Do Not Call Register, the ATA points out that just 30 cases of non-compliance have ever been enforced through the courts by the regulator. This success rate, is in stark contrast to the thousands of jobs lost due introduced legislation.