Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition Parks Tau has amended the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) to protect South Africans from intrusive spam calls by opportunistic telemarketers.
This is something the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) was supposed to do, but companies found a loophole: the Act does not completely ban telemarketers; it only regulates how they can contact people.
According to the amendments of the Consumer Protection Act that came into effect on Wednesday, the National Consumer Commission (NCC) will be responsible for administering and maintaining the national opt-out registry, ensuring direct marketers comply with registration and opt-out rules, and enforcing action against any entity that contacts consumers in violation of their marketing preferences.
Changes to the CPA
The amendments introduce “cleansing”, which is a process of removing consumers who have opted out of any electronic communication from the direct marketer’s database, ensuring that they are no longer contacted.
This means direct marketers must cleanse their databases monthly against the NCC’s opt-out registry. They are also prohibited from marketing to any consumer who has registered a block.
The public can place a pre-emptive block by filling in a form and submitting it to the consumer watchdog. The Commission must ensure the registry remains continuously accessible, except in cases of unexpected technical downtime, and must notify the public if the system is unavailable for 24 hours or longer.
No more spam messages
The draft amendments to the Consumer Protection Act introduce stronger disclosure requirements for direct marketing communications.
Marketers will be required to clearly identify themselves in every message, including their registered business name, physical address, and reliable contact details.
The aim is to improve transparency so consumers can easily verify who is contacting them and hold businesses accountable for any misuse of their personal information or aggressive marketing practices.
The amendments also tighten rules around the sending of bulk SMS messages by reinforcing consumers’ right to opt out through a national blocking system.
Marketers to pay
According to the amendments, marketers will be required to pay a prescribed renewal fee. This is “to facilitate the effective operation of the opt-out registry”.
The regulations set out a fee structure that includes an initial registration cost of R2 574 in 2026, which gradually increases to R2 979.73 by 2029.
Annual renewal fees begin at R1 930.50 and rise to R2 234.80 over the same period. In addition, marketers will be charged a “cleansing fee” of 12 cents per data record in 2026.
The tariff framework also provides for a review of these fees every three years.
Consumers’ role
For the public, consumers will be required to provide accurate information needed to register a pre-emptive block in the opt-out registry. Consumers must also ensure that the information they keep in the opt-out registry is always up to date.
“The commission must use the information received as the custodian of the opt-out registry, solely for the purpose of operating the opt-out registry.
No information to be handed out
The Act also stipulates that the NCC must “not disclose to a third party any confidential information received through the administration of the opt-out registry, without the consent of the party from whom such information was received, except where required by the application of law to disclose such information”.
The commission must also verify all information received for registration in the opt-out registry with other relevant state organs before registering profiles.
