As of March 10th, a new rule by the National Telecommunications Agency in Brazil (Anatel) has come into force, which establishes that telephone operators have to make the code 0303 available to marketing companies. In practice, this means that, when looking at the phone screen, consumers will always know if the call is from a company trying to sell a product or service, as the call will always show up with the code 0303. Thus, people will be able to choose whether to answer the call.

The new code does not apply to calls asking for donations, such as those from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social projects, or those collecting debt. According to Anatel, consumers will have the right to request a preventive block of calls originating from active telemarketing (i.e., sales calls) apps.

“Today, you have telemarketing companies with thousands of numbering resources. They call you to sell a product, you refuse and block it. Then, they call from another number and you end up having to block 999 numbers from the same company”, said Vinícius Caram, a superintendent at Anatel, in an interview with Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. “We decided to put an end to this situation, to empower consumers, so they can decide who they want calls from, who they want to block, and whether they would want to do a general block”, he added.

The 2021 report on Unwanted Calls in Brazil was carried out by the Mobile Time website and Opinion Box, a research company. It provides the following data on the topic: 92% of those surveyed responded that they have received telemarketing calls on their cell phones, 89% said that the calls are annoying, and 51% said that they receive four or more calls a day.

For now, the new rule only applies to calls originating from cell phones. In June, it will also be applicable to landline calls.

Questions
1) What will change in the rule starting in June?
a) Only landlines will use the code.
b) Only cell phones will use the code.
c) NGOs will start using the code.
d) Landlines will also use the code.

2) Are you for or against this measure? Why?

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