Faced with the harassment that the French suffer from call centers, new regulations for cold calling came into force in France in March 2023. The objective? Better protect consumers against nuisance calls.
The fear of call centers
A recent report published by Arcep, the telecoms regulator, shows that 65% of French people said they no longer pick up their phone when the caller’s number is unknown. In most cases, they approach a telephone advisor who will do everything not to let them go – and convince them to subscribe to a service.
However, one of the measures validated by the government in March last year is explicit: telephone canvassing centres are prohibited from using mobile numbers (starting with 06 or 07) for canvassing. This practice, which previously generated the highest response rates, is no longer permitted. In other words, all the numbers that call you and start with 06 or 07 are not call centers. At least, if they respect the law.
For calls made from a landline, direct sellers must also use specific numbers that start with 09 48 or 09 49 as well as other numbers varying by geographic region (see explanations below).
As explained by our colleagues at Le Parisien on Thursday, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) has however warned the general public about certain numbers 09 48 15 and 01 62 from an “operator who pretends to be the Ministry of Energy to sell photovoltaic panels in particular”.
Indicators by region:
In metropolitan France, the numbers on which canvassers are authorized to call you begin with 0162, 0163, 0270, 0271, 0377, 0378, 0424, 0425, 0568, 0569, 0948, 0949. In other words, if the number displayed on your smartphone begins with these digits, you are guaranteed to have an advisor in front of you who wishes to approach you.
Below, our colleagues at Ouest France have published a map of metropolitan France with the indicators specific to each region. If you are in Alsace and a number contacts you with a 03 77 or a 03 78, it is a call center. If you no longer wish to receive calls from these companies, simply block or ignore these numbers.
Similarly, there are specific codes for telephone canvassing in the French overseas departments and territories: 09475 for Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, 09476 for Guyana, 09477 for Martinique, 09478 and 09479 for Réunion and Mayotte. Same principle: if you do not want to be disturbed, simply put these numbers on “mute”.
Applications to combat abusive canvassing
If you are unable to filter calls, you can also rely on third-party applications to do this job. Developed by the telephone operator, Orange Téléphone is a collaborative application accessible to everyone – even non-Orange customers. Users can not only be notified of an unwanted call but they can also report a malicious call.
“With anti-spam, you are alerted to unwanted calls before you pick up and you can block them with one click. (…) You can automatically block numbers you have reported, hidden numbers, a specific country or even ranges of numbers,” we can read on the official website. With millions of users, it is a reference. You can download it here.
Less popular in France, we can also mention the Hiya or Truecaller applications which have hundreds of millions of users. The latter identify numbers and inform users with a color system. Truecaller now also integrates an AI-generated voice detection feature, as an additional feature.
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