If adopted in its current form, the ACA Standard will severely limit the availability of services integral to direct marketing, including data verification, validation and append – in other words, the ability for an organisation to verify and update customer records or append telephone numbers will be hindered. In addition, the proposals will have a substantial impact on organisations that need to verify identity or personal details of individuals for the purpose of fraud prevention, credit checking, establishing an account or debt collection.

Click here to download the draft Standard, consultation paper and Standard Guideline.

Background
With the exception of Sensis directories, such as White Pages, most public telephone directories in Australia are created using data from the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND). The IPND is a Government controlled, central database of all listed and unlisted Australian public telephone numbers.
There are currently five companies in Australia licensed to access the IPND database for the purpose of producing public telephone directories.

Proposed Government restrictions
Although the Government intends to allow the licensed organisations to continue producing paper or electronic telephone directories from IPND data, which may be available for marketing purposes, it proposes that the companies producing these directories will be prohibited from providing any of the following directory services:
• validation services whereby a customer database can be screened against a directory to confirm accuracy of records held.
• appending services whereby a telephone number is automatically appended to a list of customer names and addresses
• updating services: whereby a database is screened against a directory and inaccurate records are automatically updated
• directory assistance services: which allow more than one individuals contact details to be obtained at a time.

It is important to note that the ACA proposals have not yet been adopted. Currently, licensed organisations are permitted, and organisations can legitimately use, any of the directory services outlined above.

Outcome
If adopted, the outcome will be as follows:
• The availability of telephone data validation, updating and appending services will be severely limited.
• There will be a significant reduction in market competition. Initially there would be only one supplier (Sensis) that will have access to (directly from the carrier) and be permitted to use telephone customer information to provide validation, updating and append services.
• Many organisations wanting to validate, update or append telephone data will need to do so manually by cross referring each individual record with the directory listing.
• Business costs will increase through a slow down in certain operations, reduced ability to keep data up-to-date and accurate, and increased possibility of bad debt and fraud. Customers will inevitably bear the brunt and will be affected by higher prices, greater inconvenience and missed opportunities.

Next steps
Over the coming week ADMA will be developing a response to the ACA proposals and considering what action is required to ensure the direct marketing industry position is taken into account. This will include the following:
• A response will be submitted to the ACA on behalf of ADMA members before the closing date of 1 July 2005. A copy of the ADMA submission will be available from the members’ section of the ADMA website.
• Meetings will be held with to both the Office of the Minister and the Department for Communication, IT and the Arts to explain the impact on industry and request that the ACA be directed to take such issues into consideration.
• ADMA members will be supplied with a template submission to send to both the ACA and the Department for Communication, IT and the Arts.
• A meeting will be convened between ADMA, licensed directory producers, telecommunication companies and related industry association to develop a coordinated industry response and provide direct feedback to the ACA.

For further information please contact Jodie Sangster, Director- Legal & Regulatory Affairs on 02 93680366 ext.224 or jodie.sangster@adma.com.au

Privacy Update
Privacy Commission clarifies direct marketing recommendations
During a recent panel session at the ADMA Forum, the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (OFPC) clarified the direct marketing recommendations that were made after completing a review of the Privacy Act 1988. The direct marketing recommendations were included in a report entitled "Getting in on the Act: The Review of the Private Sector Provisions of the Privacy Act 1988".

The Report recommended that the Government consider:
1. Amending the Privacy Act to provide that (a) consumers have a general right to opt-out of direct marketing approaches at any time and (b) organisations would be required to comply with the request within a specified period of time
2. Amending the Privacy Act to require organisations to take reasonable steps, on request, to advise an individual where it acquired the individuals personal information.
3. Exploring options for establishing a national ‘Do Not Contact’ register.
With regard to recommendation 3 above, Robin McKenzie, Director of Corporate & Public Affairs with the OFPC, confirmed to ADMA Forum attendees that the Privacy Commission had left this recommendation "deliberately vague" to allow the Government scope to consider whether a ‘Do Not Mail’ as well as ‘Do Not Call’ service was required.

ADMA has made clear that it does not support the introduction of a Do Not Mail service and representation will be made to both the Department and the Office of the Attorney-General to restate this position. ADMA is also meeting with Commonwealth Attorney-General Philip Ruddock on 6th June to discuss this matter further.

National ‘Do Not Call’ service
During the month of May, two Government regulators have made a recommendation for the introduction of a National ‘Do Not Call’ register. The first came on 4th May, with John Pinnock from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman(TIO), publishing a press release urging the Commonwealth Government to introduce a National ‘Do Not Call’ service.

Following publication of the press release, the ADMA CEO, Rob Edwards met with Mr Pinnock to discuss the issue and to gain the TIO’s support for ADMA’s ‘Do Not Call’ proposal that is currently being considered by the Office of the Minister for Communications, IT & the Arts. The TIO committed to support ADMA with regard to the proposal.

The second recommendation came from the Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner in its Final Report on the Review of the Privacy Act 1988. This suggested the Government investigate the introduction of a ‘Do Not Contact’ service (see above story).

ADMA has already drafted a proposal for a national ‘Do Not Call’ register, which is currently being considered by the Office of the Minister for Communications, IT & the Arts, and is meeting with the Ministers Office during the week beginning 13th June to discuss the initiative further.