From 2 January 2014, organisations that want to do telemarketing via phone calls, text messages or fax will have to check with the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry to ensure that they only contact numbers that are not listed with the Registry.

Set up by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), the DNC Registry is a secure database for consumers to register their Singapore telephone numbers if they wish to opt out of receiving unsolicited telemarketing messages which  offer,  advertise  or  promote  goods  and services for commercial purposes.

“With the setting up of the DNC Registry, organisations can now focus more efficiently on consumers who are interested to receive information on products and services,” said Mr Leong Keng Thai, Chairman of PDPC. “Consumers will also have  the  flexibility  to  decide  if  and  how  they  want  to  receive  telemarketing messages.”

The business rules of the DNC Registry were finalised after PDPC took into consideration feedback received from individuals and 22 organisations and associations in various sectors during a public consultation that it conducted in May 2013.

Under the requirements of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA), organisations, whether based in Singapore or overseas, must check with the DNC Registry to ensure that the Singapore telephone numbers that they are sending telemarketing messages to are not listed in the Registry. These requirements also apply to individuals such as freelancers, real estate agents and insurance agents who are engaged in commercial telemarketing activities.

To check the numbers, the organisations or individuals have to set up an account with the DNC Registry and then submit their lists of telephone numbers for checking. Excluded from this checking requirement are numbers for which the organisation has received clear prior consent to be contacted for telemarketing. Service calls (for example, calls reminding the customer of an appointment), calls for market surveys or research, charitable or religious causes or business-to-business calls are also exempted.

There is a one-time account creation fee of S$30 for local organisations and individuals and S$60 for foreign organisations, as well as payment of one “credit” for each phone number that is checked.

To help organisations, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to lower their compliance cost, every organisation or individual with an account in the Registry will be given 500 free credits annually, which means that they will be able to check 500 telephone numbers for free each year. Pre-paid credit packages are also available, with costs ranging from S$0.01 to S$0.02 for each number checked.

There is a validity period for the results of each check, after which the organisation will have to re-check the numbers with the Registry. In anticipation of organisations needing more time to adjust to the checking requirement, PDPC will allow the checked numbers to be used for up to 60 days from 2 January 2014 to 1 July 2014. Thereafter, the checked numbers can only be used for 30 days before re-checking is required.

This means that if consumers register their telephone numbers before 2 July 2014, they can expect to stop receiving unsolicited telemarketing messages within 60 days or less, and if they do so on or after 2 July 2014, they can expect to stop receiving the messages within 30 days of their registration.

For consumers, DNC registration is free and does not expire. The registration can be done via the DNC website (www.dnc.gov.sg), an SMS to the Registry or a call to the DNC toll-free numbers. Consumers may deregister their telephone numbers anytime they wish to, or the registration will cease when consumers terminate their telephone numbers.

For more information on DNC Registry account creation and charges, as well as consumer registration, please visit www.dnc.gov.sg .