New regulations on cold calling: the end of telemarketing?

New legislative developments in telemarketing

On January 27, 2025, the French National Assembly adopted a bill prohibiting telephone canvassing without the prior consent of the consumer.

The objectives of this new regulation are to:

• Strengthen the protection of citizens against unwanted calls
• Combat fraud in public aid; the energy renovation sector is particularly affected
• Make companies accountable for their prospecting practices

This legislative initiative is part of the ongoing efforts to regulate telephone canvassing.

Some reminders about the current rules:

• Since March 1, 2023, a decree limits commercial calls to working days, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., prohibiting these practices on weekends and public holidays.
• A rule on the number of solicitations has also been introduced: a consumer cannot be solicited more than four times a month by the same company, and in the event of refusal, they cannot be contacted again for a period of sixty days.

The regulations planned for March 2025 strengthen consumer rights by requiring companies to provide a simple and effective mechanism allowing consumers to withdraw their consent at any time.

These changes will have a direct impact on prospecting practices, in particular on the use of automated technologies such as outbound callbots. These will have to be adapted to ensure full compliance with the new law.

Impact of the new regulations on callbots

What is an outbound callbot?

An outbound callbot is an artificial intelligence system designed to make automated phone calls in order to interact with human callers. Used mainly for telemarketing, making appointments or verifying data, these tools automate repetitive tasks and optimize call-related costs.

A direct regulatory impact

All telephone canvassing, including automated canvassing, will require the explicit consent of the consumer. Callbots will therefore have to incorporate mechanisms to verify this consent before initiating a call.

These new obligations, expected in August 2026 according to speculation, require a significant adaptation of strategies using outbound callbots, both technically and legally.

What does the future hold?

In the face of these regulatory changes, the future of outbound callbots could move towards:

• More ethical and compliant automation: Companies will need to rethink their strategies to ensure compliance with new legal obligations and consumer expectations.
• The development of inbound callbots: Rather than focusing on active prospecting, companies could invest in callbots that respond to customer requests, thus improving customer service. At Dydu, we have very good feedback from our customers, especially with the callbot DKM, which automates the identification and redirection of incoming calls.
• Hybrid solutions: Combining artificial intelligence and human intervention to guarantee optimal compliance and offer a quality customer experience.

Although these regulations tighten the constraints on telephone canvassing, they also encourage a positive transformation of the sector, favoring more transparent and consumer-friendly practices. Innovation will have to adapt to this new framework to ensure a sustainable future for automation technologies.