Anatel authorizes the blocking of calls made by bots

The National Communications Agency (Anatel) has issued a precautionary measure to prevent abusive telemarketing, those calls made by bots, otherwise known as robocalls.

The use of a technological solution for making huge calls of up to 3 seconds is, by Anatel, an inappropriate use of communication services.

In accordance with this procedure, users have 15 days, from the date of publication of the decision, to adopt appropriate measures of activities and, accordingly, stop the overload of calls to consumers without effective communication.

After this period, operators will be required to block calls from users who continue to generate excessive calls. The ban will last for 15 days or until the user formally commits with Anatel to refrain from incorrect practices and submit approved actions.

However, the blocking of outgoing calls should not affect the maintenance of other communication services contracted by the user.

The operators must submit a biweekly report to Anatel on blocked users, relevant numbering resources used, traffic volume, and call block dates.

irregular numbers

Anatel determined through an injunction that, within 30 days, phone providers would block calls that use numbers that the agency did not specify — irregular phone line numbering — whether they came from their own network or came from other providers.

Operators and users who do not follow the rules may be fined up to R$50 million.

The preventive measure Anatel is valid for 3 months.

Telemarketing code

Another measure to combat abusive telemarketing is to identify calls with the prefix 0303. The aim is to give consumers the freedom so that, upon receiving a telemarketing call, they can identify the caller and thus exercise their right to answer it or not. a call. Until June 8, all businesses in the sector must use the code.