Ofcom announces new measures on persistent calls

Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have published an update on their joint action plan to tackle nuisance calls and texts>The latest update highlights recent targeted enforcement action, new ‘blocking’ measures to help stop nuisance calls getting through to consumers and progress in their call tracing work. It also summarises how Ofcom is working to share intelligence with Government, other regulators and law enforcement agencies to tackle the problem.
Ofcom has powers to take action if a person ‘persistently misuses an electronic communications network or service’, The policy sets out examples of conduct that Ofcom is likely to regard as persistent misuse, and explains priorities for enforcement action. The main focus of the policy is on silent and abandoned telephone calls.

Following consultation, Ofcom has updated the policy to enable Ofcom to target better the causes and effects of persistent misuse, and to take more effective enforcement action to protect consumers. In particular, it makes clear that Ofcom is likely to prioritise action wherever forms of misuse cause significant consumer harm. The new policy comes into force on 1 March 2017.

The full Persistent misuse statement can be found here