How to stop unwanted commercial prospecting by phone?

Did you put your house up for sale on a classified ads website and since then, you are contacted by a Luxembourg real estate agency? Were you approached by a Spanish craftsman for energy renovation work? By soliciting French consumers by phone, foreign companies orientate their commercial activities towards France, and thus have to respect French regulations concerning commercial prospecting by phone. Explanations of these rules.

 

You have the right to know who’s calling you and why

From the start of the call, the trader has to reveal their identity or the identity of the company they are calling for and specify the commercial nature of the call.

You will have to, also, be informed that you have the possibility to sign yourself up for free on the “liste d’opposition au démarchage téléphonique Bloctel” if you do not wish to be subject to commercial prospecting. Any trader who uses telephone canvassing has to refer to the organisation in charge at least once a month to ensure that the commercial prospecting files are up to date. Any trader who calls a customer registered on the “Bloctel” list can be fined up to 375 000 €. If a contract follows such a call made illegally, the contract can be declared invalid.

No solicitation during weekends and public holidays

Since the 1st March 2023, solicitation by phone in France is only authorised:

  • Monday to Friday
  • From 10AM to 1PM and from 2PM to 8PM

Whether you are registered on the “Bloctel” list or not, you are not allowed to be contacted on Saturdays, Sundays, and during public holidays.

Furthermore, traders aren’t allowed to contact you or attempt to contact you by phone:

  • More than 4 times over a period of 30 calendar days,
  • If you have refused the solicitation during the conversation, and this during a period of 60 days from the refusal.

 

“Bloctel” system in France

In France, the Bloctel system lets you register up to 10 landline or French mobile phone numbers. Unless you unregister or modify them, they are registered for 3 years.

If you’re registered on Bloctel, a trader can solicitate you by phone only:

  • If it’s in relation to the execution of a contract in progress (e.g.: a craftsman calls you about the work on the installation of a kitchen in progress);
  • If it’s to offer complementary products and services to a contract in progress (e.g.: the same craftsman calls you to suggest the installation of a complementary household appliance to the kitchen being installed);
  • If you have communicated your phone number freely and unequivocally to be called back by this trader;
  • If the caller is a polling organisations and non-profit organisations that do not engage in commercial prospecting.

What do I do if ever I receive calls despite being registered on Bloctel?

File a report to SignalConso. Please note, you can only report calls coming from French traders.

To report a foreign number, you will have to do so to the competent body in the country from which the call was made. If you have questions on this subject, do not hesitate to contact us.

Keep in mind, the Bloctel system does not cover fraudulent SMS. In this case, please visit the website SignalSpam, transfer the SMS to 33 700 and report the overtaxed number on the website Surmafacture.fr. Do not confuse the “Bloctel” system with the internal opposition lists of some operators, which only allow you to not appear in directories. However, the traders who approach people by phone use lists and databases to carry out their commercial prospecting.

Ban on commercial prospecting for energy renovation works

In France, a trader cannot approach you by phone to offer you energy renovation work (e.g.: insulation work) if you aren’t a customer.

Any breach of this prohibition is punishable by an administrative fine of up to 375 000€. Any contract that is concluded from such an approach is invalid.

Beware of fraudulent proposals! There are many scams in these sectors.

Obligations in case of commercial prospecting from insurances

In terms of insurance contracts, the insurer who calls you has to:

  • Immediately make sure you are willing to continue the conversation after presenting themselves and having informed you of the commercial nature of the call;
  • Warn you about the recording of the call (retention of the call during 2 years in case of the conclusion of a contract);
  • End the phone call if you indicate during the conversation that you are not interested by the proposal;
  • Make sure that you can cancel your insurance at the same time as you sign the proposal made by phone which covers the same risk, in order to avoid an accumulation of insurances;
  • Leave a 24h interval between the agreement made by phone and the signature of the contract. Following the signature, you will have to be informed of the conclusion and taking effect of the contract, of your right of withdrawal and of the procedures for examining claims relating to the contract.

 

Are you interested in the proposal done by commercial prospecting?

If you are interested by the proposal made by phone, you have to receive, following the call, by post or by e-mail, a confirmation of the offer that was made, and which includes the following elements:

  • Full contact details of the professional
  • The price and essential characteristics of the good or service
  • The time of delivery or execution of the contract
  • Recourse to legal guarantees and commercial warranties
  • The possibility of using an alternative dispute resolution body
  • The existence, or non-existence of the right of withdrawal as well as its terms and conditions

It is only after you’ve signed and accepted the written offer or given your consent electronically (by the means of an email or a button mentioning concretely that you accept the contract) that you are permanently engaged. The trader, however, cannot collect payments before 7 days, except for certain specific contracts (in particular subscriptions to newspapers). You still have the right to change your mind.

Be careful of (un)commercial practices!

Do not continue the conversation further if the trader offers you to finalise the contract immediately on their website, all while still being on a call with you! It is a commercial practice that doesn’t give you time to recheck the characteristics of the product and/or of the service, to consult the general terms and conditions that apply and even online reviews about the trader in question.

Additionally, be careful when the trader offers you a digital service like an online video game or a service that could run immediately (like a real estate advertisement post) and asks you, during the call, to tick a box that explicitly takes away your right of withdrawal.

Calls from other countries: Sign yourself up on an opposition list

Opposition lists exist in most European countries, and are often called “Robinson lists”. These lists include consumers who voluntarily signed themselves up in order to stop receiving commercial prospecting.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t yet exist a unique opposition list for all of the European Union. Therefore, if you receive calls coming from companies based in other European countries, you will have to sign up on the opposition lists from these countries.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.