Executive Branch once again observes the signing of a law banning spam calls: what will happen with the law?

The government of Dina Boluarte has observed for the third time the law signed by the Congress of the Republic, which seeks to eliminate spam calls and messages. Through a letter sent to the president of the Parliament, Alejandro Soto, the Executive Branch communicated the reasons for its decision and stressed that this norm “would be eliminating the possibility of making a first contact with the purpose of obtaining the consent (of the user).”

The response from the Legislative Branch was not long in coming. The president of the Consumer Protection Commission, Wilson Soto, announced that they will insist on the approval of this law that seeks to impose new limitations against companies that call users without their consent. However, there are still some procedures to be carried out before the law is approved and reviewed again in the Plenary of Congress.

Executive considers law banning spam calls: why?

The Executive Branch sent a letter last Thursday, July 4, to the President of Congress, Alejandro Soto, with the aim of informing him that The bill seeking to extend the ban on spam calls was observed. According to the document, the legislative proposal could make it more difficult to obtain the consent required for future commercial communications, impacting both advertisers and consumers.

“This prohibition would make it impossible for the data subject to expressly and unambiguously express his or her consent to subsequent communications of this nature, limiting not only the interest of the data controller (in this case, the advertiser), but also that of the data subject, preventing him or her from choosing to access offers, if they are relevant to him or her,” the document states.

The Executive also said that preventing first contact with consumers contravenes the Personal Data Protection Act and raised concerns about the practical application of the proposed law.

“The allocation of special telephone numbers to third parties called “providers” could affect the efficient allocation of said resource, running the risk of not having sufficient numbering capacity, as it is a scarce resource, making management and supervision of said numbering resource by the Ministry of Transport and Communications – MTC difficult,” they explained.

Finally, the government of Dina Boluarte called on Congress to “conduct a thorough and careful evaluation of the need and scope of the information validation mechanisms proposed in the bill, as well as their implications for the inviolability and secrecy of telecommunications.”

Anti-spam call law under review: What will happen with the law?

For the third time, the government of Dina Boluarte observed the rule that prevents companies from making spam calls and messages to users. As we recall, the first time was on May 2, 2023 and the second time was on October 11 of the same year.

In light of this decision, the president of the Consumer Protection Commission, Wilson Soto, announced “the beginning of a fight in Congress to approve the law by insistence” and described the Executive’s response as an “absurd obstacle.”

“We regret that a crucial law to protect consumers from constant harassment by spam calls has been adopted. The Executive’s observation, which insists that providers have the right to make initial contact to obtain users’ consent, is absurd,” he said.

Let us remember that the Congress of the Republic ended its legislative session for the period 2023-2024 on Saturday, June 15. Thus, the Permanent Commission is the only body that has the power to legislate until July 19. Thus, an eventual ruling on the insistence of the law that prohibits spam calls and messages could be addressed in the resumption of parliamentary activities scheduled for August.

If majority support is obtained in the Consumer Protection Committee, the ruling will be ready to be reviewed again in the Plenary Session of Congress, which could approve it by insistence.