Why don’t the calls stop?

A litany of unknown calls: “I have training to offer you”, “Madam, I try to join you! »… Telephone canvassing the mood of Jeanne, doctor in Tarn-et-Garonne. Especially when it is on duty, at nightfall and the medical centers seek to reach it for emergency consultations. “The directors often use similar numbers,” she annoys. Sometimes I won by mistake and waste precious time! »»

The setting is clear, however. A decree of 2022 is supposed to regulate the flood of untimely calls for promotional offers, subscriptions or even surveys. In order to avoid scams, two other texts even confirm the ban on canvassing for energy renovation and the public training system for training.

Alas, our phones are still too ringing. The fault of unscrupulous call centers, which flourish as companies outsource their customer services. At the end of the line, French -speaking employees of companies installed in France, such as Armatis, or even in Morocco, such as Konecta, Remoteperformance …

To the taste of associations, certain companies are too little controlled. The services of the DGCCRF (Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and the Repression of Frauds) already have a large number of surveillance missions to be carried out. They apply many sanctions against fraudsters: up to 375,000 euros for a legal person. But, in view, the benefits generated by canvassing can go up much higher.

In addition, in this juicy business, whose turnover exceeds 3 billion euros per year according to INSEE, the scams are numerous. The crooks? Simple individuals or clandestine call centers that take advantage of telephony via the Internet to harass consumers with usurcops. A resident of Deux-Sèvres, Françoise is broken to these eccentric calls: “They are trying sentences like:” Do you remember the work that you had to do in your attic? “, Testifies the retiree. So I spend some time blocking shady numbers! An artisanal solution, which remains the most effective.

In 2014, the consumer law gave rise to the implementation of the Public Platform Bloctel. This website allows consumers to report their refusal of commercial requests and companies are required to check it. “But professionals benefit from an exception, as they can contact consumers who already have a contract with them, points out Benjamin Recher. You can therefore be called by your insurance or your telephone operator, for example, for a multitude of other offers. »»

Result of this observation: three-quarters of the French are called at least once a week and 38 % are every day, according to a survey by the Association of Consumers UFC-Que Choisir, carried out in 2023.

Faced with this situation, the political world goes into a crusade. On January 27, 2025, the National Assembly voted to ban telephone canvassing without the prior consent of the consumer. The text, subject by macronist deputies and environmentalists, must still go through the Senate and could be a revolution.

“French legislation starts from the principle that consumers agree to receive these calls, unless they really express their refusal,” explains Benjamin Recher, in charge of institutional relations at the UFC-Que Choisir. This bill therefore aims to reverse the steam. We prohibit canvassing if the person has not explicitly said yes. Consumer associations are delighted, but remain wary. If the law is too flexible, phones will continue to ring.