TPSL is a wholly owned subsidiary of the DMA, who run the TPS under contract from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
If a telephone number is registered with the TPS/CTPS, organisations are legally required – by the Privacy and Electronic (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 – to refrain from calling it.
In the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) enforces the law and has power to fine firms that break it.
From 25 June 2004 corporate subscribers were also allowed to register on the list under Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2004.
Complaints can be made via the site, TPS will then contact the company and warn them they are breaching the regulations and ask them to add your number to their own Do Not Call list.
In addition to fines, the ICO publishes details of any formal action it takes against organisations on its website and in press releases.
Telephone subscribers who have at some time consented to be called—perhaps by filling in a long-forgotten Web form years ago with a box to tick "if you don't want to receive further information", or a firm of which the subscriber is a customer—may legally be called unless they explicitly withdraw the implied permission given to the organisation concerned.
A call is considered to fall within the TPS remit if it is unsolicited and relates to the sale or marketing of a product or service during a live telephone conversation.
However, some companies may not have set their dialling rate correctly and this means that individuals are receiving calls, where upon answering there is silence.
[4] Organisations that use recorded phone messages (robocalls) for marketing or sales calls must have prior consent from the subscriber.
TPS will investigate unsolicited direct marketing calls from overseas made on behalf of a company that has a UK presence.
If you receive an unsolicited sales and/or marketing call from an overseas company, you should contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).