WHAT'S NEW
CPD 2010/11 Renewal period
Full details of current CPD requirements can be downloaded from The Office of Fair Trading.
Press on theCPD Points link abovefor details of Think's CPD workshops.
The do not call register now in force
The following information has been downloaded from the official site of the Do Not Call Register. Please note that this legislation applies to all telephone calls made by a real estate agent in order to solicit business, and comes into force on 31 May 2007. The abstract below has been taken from www.acma.gov.au/donotcall. All agents are advised to visit this site and familiarize themselves with the Legislation.
What is a telemarketing call?
A telemarketing call is defined in the Do Not Call Register Act as a voice call made with a purpose to offer, supply, provide, advertise or promote:
- goods or services
- land or an interest in land
- a business opportunity or investment opportunity
- calls to solicit donations.
Calls that are not considered telemarketing calls are:
- product recall calls
- fault rectification calls
- appointment rescheduling calls
- appointment reminder calls
- calls relating to payments
- solicited calls
- calls not answered by the person to whom the call is made.
What are the new telemarketing rules?
New legislative rules will apply once the Do Not Call Register is operational. These rules are as follows:
Telemarketing calls must not be made to numbers listed on the Do Not Call Register unless:
- the individual telephone account holder, or their nominee, has consented to receiving the call in advance
- within the previous 30 days, the telemarketer responsible for a call has received information from the register operator indicating that the number was not recorded on the Do Not Call Register
- the call was made by mistake
- the person making the call took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid breaching the relevant requirements of the Act, or
- the call is a ‘designated telemarketing call’ authorised by a government body, religious organisation, charity, registered political party, independent member of parliament, parliamentary election candidate or educational institution. Only particular types of telemarketing calls constitute designated telemarketing calls.
This rule applies equally to telemarketers and other organisations which cause telemarketing calls to be made to Australian numbers, for example, by contracting or entering into arrangements with telemarketers to provide telemarketing services on their behalf.
An individual’s consent to receive calls must be ‘express’ or capable of being ‘inferred’ from the individual’s business and other relationships.
Express consent -
may occur where an individual, or their nominee, has specifically agreed to receive a telemarketing call from the entity responsible for the call being made. Importantly, where express consent is given for an unspecified period, then the express consent is taken to expire three months after it was given.
Inferred consent -
may occur where an individual does not expressly consent to receiving a particular telemarketing call but there is a clear and reasonable expectation that the call will be received. An example is where a bank calls a current account holder. Consent may not be inferred simply because a telephone number has been published.
Telemarketing calls include cold calling and calls to customers that, among other things, advertise or promote the supply of goods or services, land or interests in land, business or investment opportunities, or solicit donations.
The above information is provided by THINK REAL ESTATE for the information of its clients. It is general information to alert clients as to changes in legislation and cannot be relied upon. All agents should make their own enquiries and seek suitable professional advice before undertaking any course of action.
