Telecommunications provider Dodo Australia Pty Ltd has been fined $147,400 after the Australian Communications and Media Authority alleged that an offshore call centre made telemarketing calls on its behalf to numbers on the Do Not Call Register.

ACMA has also accepted enforceable undertakings given by Dodo Australia under the Telecommunications Act 1997 that set out the steps it will take to comply with the Do Not Call Register legislation.

If a business decides to use offshore call centres to make calls, it will be responsible for the calls that those call centres make. There are some steps a business might take to protect itself:

• establish clear, enforceable contractual terms that require the call centre to comply with the Do Not Call Register legislation;
• set up effective procedures for checking numbers against the register;
• train all relevant staff – in Australia and overseas – about their obligations; and
• most importantly, regularly audit the call centre’s calling records to make sure they are not calling any numbers they shouldn’t be.