savings on electricityor
the perfect package. This scourge affects almost everyone, although rules already exist.
A radical proposal in the Senate
Since 2023, for example, direct sellers are no longer allowed to call at lunchtime, on weekends or after 8 p.m. But clearly, they don't care. And for those who hoped to protect themselves with Bloctel, the service supposed to block commercial calls, the results are more than mixed. With only 2,300 companies registered and scams continuing to mix in with traditional canvassing, people (first and foremost me) can't take it anymore.
For Senator Pierre-Jean Verzelen, enough is enough. He therefore proposed a law that would completely change the rules: purely and simply prohibiting non-consented telephone canvassing. The idea? Switch to a system opt-in
. Clearly, companies will only be able to call if you have given them the green light beforehand. This approach, already used for promotional emails, is applied in other countries such as Germany or the United Kingdom.
Unanimously adopted by the Senate on November 14, 2024, this bill unfortunately still has a long way to go before becoming a reality. : the National Assembly will have to validate the text, and we know that at the moment, this is not necessarily their priority.
What impacts?
On the consumer side, this would be a big step forward. No more complaining about picking up or constantly wondering if you can really block these numbers. On the other hand, for telemarketing companies, this risks being a hard blow. This sector represents between 29,000 and 40,000 jobs, often outsourced abroad. And then, we will also have to respect the GDPR to put all this in place, and it will not be easy (you know, the famous laws on personal data which complicate our lives, so that in the end all our data ends up anyway by getting hacked here and there).
While waiting for the law to be definitively adopted, the call time range could be further reduced. Enough to gain a little more peace of mind, even if, once again, I personally don't have the impression that this has the slightest impact on my side.
A little more patience
In short, if everything goes as planned, this law could revolutionize our daily lives. For the UFC-Que Choisir, it is already a historic victory
. But let's be honest, we have already seen promising laws that, once on the ground, lose their effectiveness. Especially since the scammers will have no trouble continuing their dirty work by pretending to be your bank or the Ministry of Energy
(yes, I've had that before).
In the meantime, apps like those offered by Orange or Google allow you to filter unwanted calls. And here's a good question: how do you protect yourself from these calls? Tell us everything, it will inspire us to offer you a dedicated article, while waiting for this law to be adopted.
