The announcement coincided with the launch of the consultation paper for the European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications.
Mary Tait, assistant director to the directive, said the document was a chance "to review other privacy issues relating to telephone marketing."
She said: "We propose businesses can register on the TPS. We are trying to move to a position where people can make their own decisions about how they are marketed to."
The announcement drew immediate criticism. "We've always said let businesses do business," said Tessa Kelly, DMA director of compliance operations. "This would be a huge blow."
Iain Lovatt, joint managing director at B2B consultancy Blue Sheep, said: "This is serious news. If we can't call firms to verify names we'll move further away from accurate marketing and closer to junk mail. We should not be stopped from marketing to firms just because a receptionist is on the TPS."
Tait also clarified what was meant by "existing relationships" and promoting "similar products", which entitle firms to communicate via email or SMS without having to re-active permission.
Tait said these would be taken extremely broadly. "Existing relationships should not just mean those with a sale attached, but where details were given but a sale not made," she said. But the document did propose fines of up to £5,000 for flouting the terms of the legislation.
This article first appeared in the April issue of Marketing Direct.
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