Network agency imposes high fines for unauthorized telephone advertising

Intrusive calls, aggressive conversation – last year the Federal Network Agency imposed particularly high fines for unauthorized telephone advertising. Mostly it was about energy supply.

Last year, the Federal Network Agency imposed fines of more than 1.4 million euros for unauthorized telephone advertising – around 300,000 euros more than in 2022. According to the authority, there was a noticeable trend towards more serious harassment and deliberate legal violations.

“Many companies still do not adhere to the legal requirements when carrying out advertising calls,” said authority boss Müller. “This means that the Federal Network Agency had to impose particularly high fines in 2023.”

Advertising calls are only permitted if those called have given their prior consent. The advertising consent can be revoked later. If the phone rings afterward, that is also a violation of the law.

Number of complaints decreased

The number of complaints to the Federal Network Agency fell significantly last year. The authority received a total of 34,714 complaints about unauthorized telephone advertising. In the previous year, 64,704 German citizens contacted the network agency. Netzagentur boss Müller spoke of a “ray of hope”.

However, the authority also attributes the trend to the fact that many people no longer work from home. As a result, they were not disturbed when companies called their landlines at home during the day.

Individual fines of 300,000 euros

As in the previous year, the advertising calls in question in 2023 were mostly about energy supply. In particularly bold cases, callers initially pretended to be employees of the current energy supplier or a comparison portal in order to obtain personal data such as meter numbers or meter readings.

According to the network agency, such behavioral patterns became noticeable “in a serious form” last year. In this sector, the Bonn authorities imposed a fine of around 300,000 euros each in four cases.

There were also cases of companies that constantly called and attracted attention through aggressive conversation. Last year, this resulted in several hundred complaints to the Federal Network Agency within a short space of time.

With information from Märte Burmeister, WDR.