France has banned unsolicited telemarketing phone calls, in what a consumer group is hailing as a "small revolution" for the sales industry.
From Tuesday, unsolicited calls are prohibited for businesses in all sectors - but there are some exceptions.
Calls will only be permitted if they relate to a contract a person has already entered into or the company has obtained prior consent to be contacted for marketing.
"It cannot be stressed enough that peace and quiet is a right, and it is time to stop exposing consumers to unwanted solicitations," consumer advocacy group Que Choisir Ensemble, said in a statement.
"This observation also holds true online and on the street, which are saturated with demands to consume," group president Marie-Amandine Stévenin added.
She said the group had long been advocating “for an end to the automatic assumption that someone in their home or private life is a potential customer.”
"This is a victory for consumers, the vast majority of whom do not want to receive sales calls," she said.
But the law change has riled some business groups, and officials in Morocco, where the call centre sector is heavily reliant on the French market.
One government minister estimated the telemarketing restrictions could lead to the loss of up to 50,000 jobs, according to a report in Moroccan newspaper Le Matin.
The head of France's direct-selling trade association, the Fédération de la Vente Directe (FVD), also criticised the reforms for adding what he said were administrative burdens for businesses.
"You'll have to obtain written consent from your customer, and you'll also have to keep proof of that consent," Frédéric Billon said in comments reported by the New York Times.
According to a 2025 parliamentary report, 97% of people are annoyed by telemarketing calls, with the authors wryly noting it is "one of those rare issues that unites people in France".
The same report found 72% of French people reported being contacted on their mobile phones at least once a week, while 38% said they were called once a day.
Germany, Austria and Italy are among the European countries that impose significant restrictions on telemarketing calls, often referred to as cold calls.
In the UK, most telemarketing calls are legal provided the recipient has not objected to the call and their number is not on a statutory list of people or businesses who do not want to receive calls.
Source: BBC
– Agencies
