Seven Canadian Companies Fined $1.28 Million for Unsolicited Telemarketing Campaigns

Since March 30, 2016, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has issued C$1.28 million in fines to seven Canadian companies for operating unsolicited telemarketing campaigns. Sirius XM Canada, Inc., paid more than half of the fine, C$650,000, for hiring telemarketers to make unsolicited calls on its behalf in violation of the CRTC’s Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. These Rules require that companies engaging in telemarketing, either on their own or through hired call-centers, register as telemarketers and obtain a valid subscription to the CRTC’s National Do Not Call List. In addition, the fine alleged that the calls placed on Sirius’ behalf were made with auto-dialing technology and failed to clearly identify Sirius XM at the beginning of the call.

Aside from Sirius XM Canada, the following entities were also subject to the CRTC’s fines:

• Raid Inc. – C$500,000
• Right at Home Reality Inc. – C$65,000
• Re/Max Active Realty Inc. – C$20,000
• Leads, Call Centers & Marketing Solutions Inc. – C$30,000
• 8472416 Canada Inc. (operating as Télémarketing TS) – C$8,000
• 9165-2602 Québec Inc. (operating as Planification Marketing CF) – C$5,000

Some of the numbers called during these companies’ campaigns included numbers registered on the CRTC’s National Do Not Call list. The CRTC has been active in enforcing compliance with the Do Not Call list, which contains over 13 million registered telephone numbers, and has imposed more than C$8 million in fines to date.

Tip: These fines demonstrate that telemarketers and third-party call centers that are subject to Canadian regulations are expected to be registered and have a valid subscription to the CRTC’s National Do Not Call List to avoid enforcement actions by the CRTC.