The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a directive for all access providers to develop a Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) facility (a unified consent-seeking platform) through which service providers and principal entities (banks, business entities, real state companies, etc.) can seek customer consent for promotional calls and messages. Access providers must finish the development and deployment of the DCA platform by July 31 and must finish onboarding all principal entities by November 30. Why it matters: This is yet another step in TRAI’s efforts to curb spam calls and messages. At present, the onus of asking for consent falls onto individual businesses as a result of which access providers are unable to verify this consent. With a unified platform for consent management, customers would be able to easily provide or revoke consent for commercial calls and messages 24x7. Previously, TRAI had created a Do Not Disturb application for filtering spam but this proved to be ineffective with many saying that they continued to receive spam even after opting for DND. Given the lack of success of this app, one is left to wonder whether the DCA facilities would be any different. Other important aspects of the directive Access providers must ensure that the customers are aware of the procedures for registration of preferences, revocation of consent, and the facilities for making complaints or reporting unsolicited commercial communication (UCC) by giving such services due publicity. TRAI may direct access providers to make changes, at any time, in their code…
