Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025 

Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025

TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 12th February, 2025

TELECOM COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS CUSTOMER PREFERENCE (SECOND AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 2025 (1 of 2025) No. RG-25/(25)/2023-QoS.— In exercise of the powers conferred upon it by section 36, read with sub-clause (v) of clause (b) and clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 11, of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act 1997 (24 of 1997), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India hereby makes the following regulations further to amend the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (6 of 2018), namely:-

1. Short title, extent and commencement. —

(1) These regulations may be called the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025 ( 1 of 2025).

(2) These regulations shall apply throughout the territory of India.

(3) These shall come into force after thirty days from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette except regulation 8, regulation 17; sub-clauses (a) and (b) of regulation 20; and sub-clause (b) of regulation 21, which shall come into force after sixty days of publication of these regulations in the Official Gazette.

2. In regulation 2 of the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2018 (6 of 2018) (hereinafter referred to as the principal regulations), (a) for clause (z), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

“(z) “Fully blocked” means stoppage of all types of commercial communication requiring explicit consent except commercial communication sent under inferred consent and Government Message or Government Voice Call;”;

(b) after clause (z), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-

“(za) “Government Message or Government Voice Call” means any message sent or voice call made on the directions of –

(a) the Central Government or the State Government or any body established under the Constitution; or

(b) the Authority or by an agency expressly authorized for the purpose by the Authority:

Provided that such messages are sent or voice calls are made through the DLT platform.

Explanation: There shall not be any requirement of seeking Consent for receipt of these communications nor shall there be any option in the Preference Register to block such communications;”;

(c) after clause (ah), the following provisos shall be inserted, namely:-

“Provided that such consent shall not extend beyond duration / discharge of the contract between the Sender and the Recipient:

Provided further that in case of commercial messages, such Consent may be clearly and reasonably inferred from the registered Content Template;”;

(d) for clause (au), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

“(au) “Promotional Message” means the commercial communication containing promotional material or advertisement of a product or service:

Provided that the Sender shall give an opt-out mechanism to the Recipient in the same Message, as may be specified by the Authority:

Provided further that if promotional content is mixed with any type of Transactional or Service Message, such Message shall be treated as a Promotional Message.

Explanation: These Messages shall only be delivered to Subscribers who have not blocked their preference under the applicable category in the Preference Register or have given their Consent in the Consent Register, as applicable. If the Sender has acquired explicit digital consent, as provided under the regulations, from the intended Recipient, then such Promotional Messages with explicit consent shall be delivered to the Recipients irrespective of their preferences
registered, under the applicable category, in the Preference Register;”;

(e) for clause (av), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

“(av) “Promotional Voice Call” means commercial communication any voice Commercial Communication containing promotional material or advertisement of a product or service:

Provided that if promotional content is mixed with any type of commercial Voice Call, such voice call shall be treated as a Promotional Voice Call.

Explanation: These calls shall only be delivered to Subscribers who have not blocked their preference, under the applicable category, in the Preference Register or have given their Consent in the Consent Register, as applicable. If the Sender has acquired explicit digital consent, as provided under these regulations, from the intended Recipient, such Promotional calls with Explicit Consent of the Recipient shall be delivered to the Recipients irrespective of their preferences registered, under the applicable category, in the Preference Register.”;

(f) for clause (bh), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:-

“(bh) “Service Message or Service Voice Call” means a message sent or voice call made by a Sender to –

(i) its Customer or Subscriber to provide information pertaining to any product or service, its warranty, product recall, software upgrade alerts, safety or security of the product used or purchased by the Customer, periodic balance alerts, information regarding delivery of goods or services, and such Messages are not promotional in nature and do not require Explicit Consent; or

(ii) a Recipient to facilitate or complete a commercial transaction involving the ongoing purchase or the use by the Recipient of the product or services offered by the Sender after obtaining Explicit Consent from the Recipient and such Messages are not promotional in nature:

Provided that such Explicit Consent shall be for seven days or as directed by the Authority from time to time: Provided further that a transactional Message or transactional Voice Call containing information pertaining to service
shall be treated as a Service Message or Service Voice Call;”;

(g) for clause (bt), the following clause shall be substituted, namely: –

“(bt) “Transactional Message or Transactional Voice Call” means a Message sent or Voice Call made by a Sender to its Customer or Subscriber in response to Customer initiated transaction within thirty minutes of the transaction relating to any product or service such as OTP from banks, non-bank-entities like e-commerce, apps login etc., transaction alerts and confirmations, balance alerts post completion of a transaction, refund information, etc. and such Messages or calls are not promotional in nature and does not require Explicit Consent;”;

(h) clause (bu) shall be deleted;

(i) for clause (bw), the following clause shall be substituted , namely:-

“(bw) “Unsolicited Commercial Communication or UCC” means any commercial communication that is neither as per the consent nor the registered preferences of the Recipient and does not include: –

(i) any transactional message or transactional voice call;

(ii) any service message or service voice call;

(iii) any message or voice calls transmitted on the directions of the Central Government or the State Government or bodies established under the Constitution, when such communication is in public interest;

(iv) any message or voice calls transmitted by or on the direction of the Authority or by any agency expressly authorized for the purpose by the Authority:

Provided that any commercial communication made by a Sender which is not registered with any Access Provider for the purpose of sending commercial communication shall be treated as an Unsolicited Commercial Communication:

Provided further that any message sent or voice call made, in the guise of commercial communication or otherwise, to deceive the recipient or to attempt to deceive the recipient shall be treated as an unsolicited commercial communication under these regulations so far as the misutilization of telecom resources by the sender is concerned;”.

3. For regulation 3 of the principal regulations, the following regulation shall be substituted, namely:-

“3. Commercial communications through network of Access Providers.— (1) Every Access Provider shall ensure that any commercial communication using its network takes place only using registered headers or the number resources allotted to the Senders from special series assigned for the purpose of commercial communication.

(2) No Sender, who is not registered with any Access Provider for the purpose of sending commercial communications under these regulations, shall make any commercial communication, and in case, any such Sender sends commercial communication, all the telecom resources of such Sender may be put under suspension or may also be disconnected as provided under these regulations.”.

4. For regulation 4 of the principal regulations, the following regulation shall be substituted, namely:-

“4. Intimation regarding use of Auto Dialer or Robo-Calls.— Every Sender shall notify the Originating Access Provider, in advance, about the use of Auto Dialer or Robo-Calls as well as the intended objective of such calls in writing.”.

5. For regulation 22 of the principal regulations, the following regulation shall be substituted, namely:-

“22. Other obligations of Access Providers. — (1) Every Access Provider shall, –

(a) in case of misuse of Headers and Content Templates-

(i) ensure that traffic from the concerned Sender shall be suspended by all the Access Providers immediately till such time, the Sender files a complaint with the law enforcement agencies under the relevant laws, and Sender reviews all its Headers and Content Templates and takes corrective measures as per the regulations to prevent misuse of its Headers, Content Templates and other relevant credentials:

Provided that no action shall be taken by Access Provider unless the concerned Sender has been given a reasonable opportunity of representation;

(ii) ensure that, if Delivery TM is complicit in misuse of Headers or Content Templates, the Sender shall file a complaint against Delivery TM with the law enforcement agencies under relevant laws;

(b) ensure that whenever a Sender or Telemarketer is suspended or blacklisted by any Access Provider and its status is updated by it on DLT platform, other Access Providers shall stop traffic from such entities immediately, but not later than twenty-four hours from the time of suspension or blacklisting, and shall not allow re-registration of these entities during the period of suspension or blacklisting;

(c) develop a mechanism for the registered Senders and RTMs to self-certify annually: –

(i) their registration details so as to ensure availability of their up-to-date details with the Access Providers;

(ii) all of their registered headers, content templates and Consent Templates:

Provided that any failure on the part of the registered Sender or RTM to certify their registration details, registered headers, Content Template and Consent Templates shall lead to automatic suspension of such Senders and RTMs or their registered headers, content templates and Consent Templates, as the case may be:

Provided further that Access Providers shall incorporate suitable provisions in its agreement with the Sender or RTM to ensure compliance of the provision;

(d) ensure that the transmission of the Commercial Communication is authenticated by the Senders on whose name the Headers or number resources from special series for making commercial communication are issued, in such manner as may be specified by the Authority from time to time;

(e) maintain proper traceability of Messages from Senders to the Recipients and accountability of each entity in the chain and to allow sufficient flexibility in the ecosystem and ensure that–

(i) there shall not be more than two Telemarketers i.e. one Telemarketer with Aggregator Function and one Telemarketer with Delivery Function, or as directed by the Authority from time to time;

(ii) RTMs are mandated to use digital platforms that record the trace when the messages pass through them by making necessary provisions for such usage shall be incorporated in the agreement between Access Provider and RTM;

(iii) the functions of the Telemarketer for Delivery Function shall include ensuring that the commercial communication handled by them is traceable and necessary provisions for such function shall be incorporated shall be made in the agreement between Access Provider and the Telemarketer for Delivery Function;

(f) at its discretion, specify the fee for registration of Senders and RTMs and for other activities as provided under these regulations such as registration of Headers, Content Template, etc. and may also prescribe security deposits to safeguard against UCC:

Provided that the Authority may specify the fee for registration of Headers, Content Template, etc. or any other activity provided under these regulations, or it may direct the Access Providers to specify such fee;

(g) at its discretion, impose financial disincentives on registered Senders and Telemarketers or forfeit their security deposit, and also suspend or blacklist them, in case violation of the regulations can be attributed to the failure of such entities to discharge the functions assigned to them:

Provided that if the Authority has reason to believe that measures specified by the Access Providers against the registered Senders and Telemarketers are not effective, it may direct the Access Providers to take appropriate measures;

(h) ensure to make provision for registration of grievances by RTMs and Senders and their redressal;

(i) enter into agreements with the registered Senders, the Telemarketers with Delivery Functions and the Telemarketers with Aggregator Functions and ensure that–

(i) the agreement with registered Senders shall include, –

(A) the roles and responsibilities of the Sender under the provisions of these regulations and the actions that can be taken against them in case of non-compliances. The agreement shall clearly stipulate that it shall be the sole responsibility of the Sender to ensure that only registered Headers or the number resources allotted to such Sender from the special series assigned for the purpose of making service and transactional calls, are used by it for making such calls and no promotional content shall be mixed in it;

(B) the provision for legal action by the registered Sender against the Telemarketer in case of misuse of Headers or Content Templates by the Telemarketer;

(C) the responsibility of the Sender to ensure availability of their up-to-date information with the Access Providers by self-certifying, on annual basis, their registration details and all registered Headers, Content Templates and Consent Templates, failing which the Senders or the uncertified Headers and templates, as the case may be, shall be automatically suspended;

(ii) the agreement with registered Telemarketers shall include –

(A) the roles and responsibilities of Telemarketers specified under these regulations and the actions that can be taken against them in case of non-compliances;

(B) responsibility of Telemarketer to ensure availability of their up-to-date information with the Access Providers by self-certifying, on annual basis, their registration details and all registered Headers, Content Templates and Consent Templates, failing which the Telemarketer or the uncertified Headers and templates, as the case may be, shall be automatically suspended.”.

6. In regulation 23 of the principal regulations, –

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