New UAE Telemarketing Regulations: What you need to know

The United Arab Emirates has issued new regulations for marketing via telephone calls. The Cabinet Resolution No. 56 of 2024 Regulating Marketing via Telephone Calls and Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2024 Concerning Violations and Administrative Penalties (together the “Regulations”) aim to protect consumers from unwanted and deceptive marketing calls and to ensure compliance with ethical and legal standards in relation to marketing calls.

The regulations apply to all companies licensed in the country, including those located in free zones, that market products or services through marketing telephone calls.

Obligations and controls for telemarketers

Regulation 56 of 2024 introduces several obligations to be complied with prior to undertaking telemarketing activities in the UAE, including obtaining prior approval to practise telemarketing activity from the competent authority, training employees undertaking telemarketing on ethics of behaviour and on the basic principles of using the “Do Not Call” Register, using a local phone number registered with a licensed telecommunications provider, establishing communication channels for consumers interested in receiving marketing information and ensuring that marketing communications are targeted to these consumers, recording telemarketing calls and ensuring that consumers are informed at the beginning of the call that the call is recorded, maintaining a record of marketing calls and submitting periodic reports to the authorities, respecting the privacy and preferences of consumers and abstaining from calling those who are registered in the Do Not Call Registry or those that decline calls.

Additional controls also require that companies making telemarketing calls, including defining the company’s identity and the purpose of communication, revealing the source from which the consumer’s number was obtained if requested, avoid using pressurising, misleading or deceiving practises when marketing the product or service, inquiring after the customer’s desire to engage in the call promoting or advertising products, and ensuring that calls are made only between 9 am in the morning and 6 pm in the evening.

Consumer Protection

Consumer now have the right to register in the Do Not Call Registry to stop receiving marketing phone calls and may file a complaint with the competent authority regarding unwanted marketing phone calls.

The Regulations also prohibit disclosure of a consumer’s personal data without their consent or trading it for the purposes of reprocessing by companies that wish to market their products or services through telemarketing.

Penalties

Resolution No. 57 of 2024 imposes administrative penalties for violations of the above provisions, which may include warnings, fines, suspension or cancellation of the license, removal from the commercial register, and cutting off communications services. The penalties vary depending on the type and severity of the violation and the repetition of the offense.

For example:

• A company that fails to obtain prior approval to practice telemarketing activities from the competent authority may be penalised an administrative fine of AED 75,000 for the first time, AED 100,000 for the second time and AED 1,50,000 for the third time, while a company that failed to provide comprehensive training to the company’s marketers may be fined AED 10,000 for the first time, AED 25,000 for the second time and AED 50,000 for the third time..

The regulations were published on 28 June 2024, and will come into effect 60 days after their publication in the Official Gazette, which is expected to be on 27 August 2024. Therefore, companies and individuals engaged in marketing via telephone calls should review their practices and policies and ensure compliance with the new regulations to avoid potential liabilities and penalties.