ICO vows to impose a million pounds worth of fines in 2016 for nuisance marketing calls
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has warned companies that it impose more fines in 2016 for nuisance calls which have become increasingly prevalent in recent years.
As it attempts to tighten the regulation of law the ICO has vowed to hand out more than a million pounds worth of fines for nuisance calls and text messages.
Last year the ICO issued around £1.14 million in penalties for intrusive marketing practices and the data protection body has warned that it will continue to target companies which it deems to breaking the law.
The ICO's enforcement group manager, Andy Curry, said "the law is clear around what is allowed, and we’ve been clear that we will fine companies who don’t follow the law.
He promised that the practice "will continue in 2016" and added that it has "90 ongoing investigations, and a million pounds worth of fines in the pipeline.”
The ICO received around 170,000 concerns in 2015 from people who’ve received nuisance calls and texts, a similar number to the previous year. PPI claims prompted the most complaints, followed by accident claims while areas identified as emerging sectors for nuisance calls and texts included call blocking services, oven cleaning services and industrial hearing injury claims.
A breakdown of the penalties reveals that companies sending marketing emails will be fined £30,000. The Telegraph Media Group was most recently subject to this punishment after it sent hundreds of thousands of emails on the day of the general election urging readers to vote Conservative. Unwarranted texts will incur a £400,000 while nuisance calls will evoke a £575,000 fine. Companies who sell customer records for marketing will be fined £130,000.