FEDMA (Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing) Council for Contact Centres/Teleservices met to discuss the recent global issues which pose new challenges to the sector and to agree an action plan.
The introduction of the US Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission's mandatory Do-Not-Call list has attracted over 50 million entries so far.
"The call centre business in the USA, as a result, is in deep crisis" said Charles Prescott, Senior Vice-President of the US DMA.
In addition, the Council also heard of the recent problems in the UK which have lead to a large increase in the number of households registering in the UK Telephone Preference Service over the past couple of months.
"There is a clear and serious threat that the US example will encourage similar regulations in Europe. It is FEDMA's primary task to protect the European interactive and direct marketing sector. We have agreed to review our 1997 teleservices guidelines; study how to deal with problems with predictive diallers; and, most importantly, provide a platform for all the players- the contact/call centres, the users and the telecos - to debate and find proactive solutions to prevent restrictions being adopted in Europe", said Alastair Tempest, Director General of FEDMA.
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