The government has announced that it will introduce personal liability for directors for nuisance call fines in spring 2017. This amendment will allow the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to issue fines of up to £500,000 to each company director for nuisance calls. If a company has multiple directors then each could be liable for a fine. According to the ICO, it has issued more than £2.7 million in penalties for nuisance calls since April 2015. However, £2.26 million of those penalties remain unpaid. Many limited liability companies try to avoid the fines by declaring bankruptcy, only to re-emerge subsequently under a new name.
This checklist highlights the key data protection issues a business should consider when carrying out direct marketing. It explains how customer information should be collected and how product information should be communicated to existing customers.
