Soon you can be free of annoying cold calls in France
Oliver Gee - [email protected]
Published: 4 May, 2016 CET.
Updated: Wed 4 May 2016 10:43 CET
If you're sick of getting nuisance cold calls in France, you'll soon be able to put a block on them.
"Hello? Sorry, who? No, I don't want to buy some new solar panels, thank you."
Yes, we've all been there but soon France will help residents put a stop to these kind of unwanted calls (also called 'nuisance calls').
A new service that will allow people to block these phone calls will be launched on June 1st in France, a move that has been in the pipeline since 2014.
Secretary of state for consumer affairs, Martine Pinville, has put her name behind the government-backed initiative.
"I can guarantee you that this will definitely work," she told the RTL channel, using the kind of language that's perhaps more typical of a cold caller.
All you'll have to do is visit the Bloctel website here (a site that isn't live yet) and add your home or mobile number to the database, then click that you don't want to be called.
At the end of each month, the call centres around France will by law have to monitor their databases and remove any unsubscribers from their lists.
This of course means that after registering, you might still receive the calls until the end of the month when the companies update their systems.
The initiative will see those companies not abiding by the new laws risking fines of up to €75,000 providing they are in France.
Callers from abroad won't be prosecuted, said Pinville, but anyone receiving calls from abroad have been urged to report the name of the company to officials so they can trace them back to France.
While some consumer groups have called for a total ban on cold callers instead, others have noted that this would put up to 20,000 people in France out of a job.
Bloctel, meanwhile, only applies to cold calls, so if you're getting unwanted "cold texts" then you're going to have to continue putting up with it.
So how does it all work?
First, fill in a pre-registration form, by clicking here.
Scroll down and click on the ‘démarrez votre inscription’ button at the bottom of the page.
Fill in your email, password, name, contact numbers, address and register the numbers you wish to block.
Within 48 hours, a first email will be sent to you, containing a link. Click on the link to confirm registration within ten days.
A second email will be sent to access your personal space.
Job done. Now just wait one more month and you will never receive annoying calls again. At least not from companies trying to sell you things.
This will all need to be repeated in three years time, when the system will be updated, but a reminder email will be sent to remind you to renew your subscription.
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"Hello? Sorry, who? No, I don't want to buy some new solar panels, thank you."
Yes, we've all been there but soon France will help residents put a stop to these kind of unwanted calls (also called 'nuisance calls').
A new service that will allow people to block these phone calls will be launched on June 1st in France, a move that has been in the pipeline since 2014.
Secretary of state for consumer affairs, Martine Pinville, has put her name behind the government-backed initiative.
"I can guarantee you that this will definitely work," she told the RTL channel, using the kind of language that's perhaps more typical of a cold caller.
All you'll have to do is visit the Bloctel website here (a site that isn't live yet) and add your home or mobile number to the database, then click that you don't want to be called.
At the end of each month, the call centres around France will by law have to monitor their databases and remove any unsubscribers from their lists.
This of course means that after registering, you might still receive the calls until the end of the month when the companies update their systems.
The initiative will see those companies not abiding by the new laws risking fines of up to €75,000 providing they are in France.
Callers from abroad won't be prosecuted, said Pinville, but anyone receiving calls from abroad have been urged to report the name of the company to officials so they can trace them back to France.
While some consumer groups have called for a total ban on cold callers instead, others have noted that this would put up to 20,000 people in France out of a job.
Bloctel, meanwhile, only applies to cold calls, so if you're getting unwanted "cold texts" then you're going to have to continue putting up with it.
So how does it all work?
First, fill in a pre-registration form, by clicking here.
Scroll down and click on the ‘démarrez votre inscription’ button at the bottom of the page.
Fill in your email, password, name, contact numbers, address and register the numbers you wish to block.
Within 48 hours, a first email will be sent to you, containing a link. Click on the link to confirm registration within ten days.
A second email will be sent to access your personal space.
Job done. Now just wait one more month and you will never receive annoying calls again. At least not from companies trying to sell you things.
This will all need to be repeated in three years time, when the system will be updated, but a reminder email will be sent to remind you to renew your subscription.
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