Do Not Call Exemptions by Country

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in the UK

Allowed if they told you they don't object to your calls · Until they withdraw it

• The TPS and CTPS rules apply to unsolicited marketing calls. If someone on the TPS has told your company that they don't, for the time being, object to your calls, you can call them (PECR, regulation 21(4)). They can withdraw that at any time.
• The ICO puts it as specific consent to calls from you, and says this applies even to existing customers on the TPS. Keep a record of when and how they asked.

Source: PECR, regulation 21 · ICO: Telephone marketing · Cold calling laws in the UK

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in the US

Allowed if they enquired in the last 90 days · 90 days from an enquiry, 540 days from a purchase

• An enquiry or application about your product creates an established business relationship for 90 days, and you can call someone in one even if their number is on the National Do Not Call Registry (16 CFR 310.2(q) and 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B)).
• A purchase, rental or lease, or a financial transaction, extends it to 540 days. A written agreement to your calls, with their signature and number, also works.
• It ends as soon as they tell you not to call them again.

Source: 16 CFR 310.2 (established business relationship) · 16 CFR 310.4 (Do Not Call safe harbor) · Cold calling laws in the US

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Canada

Allowed if they enquired in the last 6 months · 6 months from an enquiry, 18 months from a purchase

• An inquiry or application in the past 6 months is an existing business relationship, which is exempt from the National DNCL Rules. So is a purchase, lease or rental, or a written contract, in the past 18 months.
• Express consent also works: permission on a written, electronic or online form, or a recording of their spoken permission.
• Exempt callers must still keep their own do-not-call list, add requests within 14 days and keep them for three years.

Source: National DNCL: Exemptions · Cold calling laws in Canada

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Australia

Allowed with their consent · 3 months, unless they agreed to a longer period

• You can call a number on the Do Not Call Register if the account holder consented. Express consent means they specifically agreed to telemarketing calls; consent can also be inferred from an existing business relationship.
• Express consent given without a set period expires three months after it was given.
• Consent ends immediately when they say they no longer want calls from you.

Source: Do Not Call Register: Using the register · Cold calling laws in Australia

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Ireland

Allowed: a call they asked for isn't unsolicited · No time limit set

• The rules on NDD opt-outs and on marketing calls to mobiles apply to unsolicited calls, which the regulations define as calls not requested by the called party.
• So a call the person asked for falls outside them. Keep a record of the request.

Source: S.I. 336 of 2011, Regulation 13 · Cold calling laws in Ireland

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Singapore

Allowed with clear consent, no DNC check needed · No time limit we've found

• You don't need to check the DNC Registry before calling someone who has given clear and unambiguous consent to your marketing, in written or other accessible form.
• Calls to an organisation about its own business are outside the DNC rules anyway.

Source: PDPC: Advisory Guidelines on the Do Not Call Provisions (PDF) · Cold calling laws in Singapore

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in the UAE

No exemption found: check the DNCR · Not applicable

• The sources we checked don't describe an exemption for people who asked to be called, so check every number against the TDRA's Do Not Call Registry.
• Marketing calls must still be made between 9am and 6pm, from local numbers registered under the company's commercial licence.

Source: Clyde & Co: UAE tightens telemarketing regulations · Cold calling laws in the UAE

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in South Africa

Allowed with consent, or for customers · Until they object

• Under POPIA section 69, direct marketing needs the person's consent, unless they're your customer. Keep a record of the enquiry or request in which they gave it.
• Customers can be marketed your own similar products if you got their details in a sale and they can object, free of charge, at that time and on every marketing contact.

Source: POPIA section 69 · Information Regulator: Guidance Note on Direct Marketing (PDF) · Cold calling laws in South Africa

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Sweden

Allowed for 3 months after explicit consent · 3 months from consent, 1 year after a customer relationship ends

• Under the NIX rules, you can call someone on NIX for up to 3 months after they gave you explicit consent, or until they withdraw it.
• Existing customers can be called during the relationship and for up to one year after their contract ends.

Source: NIX-Telefon: Rules for the register (Swedish) · Cold calling laws in Sweden

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Norway

Allowed if they asked your company to call · Until they withdraw the request

• Someone on Reservasjonsregisteret can be called by a company they have explicitly asked to call them. They can withdraw the request at any time (Marketing Control Act, section 12).
• Existing customers can also be called about products like the ones they bought, if you got their details through the sale.

Source: Marketing Control Act, sections 12 to 15, 42 and 48 (Norwegian) · Cold calling laws in Norway

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Denmark

Allowed if they asked for the call · No time limit set

• The ban on sales calls to consumers applies to calls they didn't ask for. Their request must be express and unambiguous.
• A sole trader on the Robinson list can always be called if they agreed to be called.

Source: Danish Consumer Ombudsman: Overview of the telephone sales rules (Danish, PDF) · Consumer Contracts Act, section 4 (Danish) · Cold calling laws in Denmark

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Finland

Allowed: live calls are fine unless they refused · No time limit set

• Live calls to individuals are allowed unless they've expressly refused direct marketing, and ASML's Robinson service doesn't block contact closely related to an existing customer relationship.
• If a consumer asked you to call, the rule that phone sales need written acceptance after the call doesn't apply.

Source: Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014), sections 200 to 203 (Finnish) · Consumer Protection Act (38/1978), chapter 6 (Finnish) · Cold calling laws in Finland

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Switzerland

Allowed with a business relationship or consent · No time limit set

• The asterisk and unlisted-number rules cover advertising from companies the person has no business relationship with.
• SECO says companies you're a customer of, or that you've given consent to, may call you, even if your number has an asterisk.

Source: Unfair Competition Act, sections 3 and 23 (English, status 1 January 2025) · SECO: Unwanted advertising calls (German) · Cold calling laws in Switzerland

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in New Zealand

No legal register to check · Not applicable

• There's no government do-not-call register, and the Marketing Association's voluntary service covers personal numbers only.
• Keep your own do-not-call list, and stop calling anyone who asks.

Source: Marketing Association: Do Not Call · Cold calling laws in New Zealand

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Germany

Allowed with prior express consent, documented · Keep the record for 5 years

• A sales call to a consumer needs their prior express consent.
• Under section 7a, document that consent when it's given, such as the request in which they asked you to call, and keep the record for five years.

Source: UWG § 7 (German) · UWG § 7a (German) · Cold calling laws in Germany

Calling Leads Who Asked to Hear From You in Japan

No register to check · Not applicable

• Japan has no do-not-call register. The telemarketing rules only ban soliciting someone again after they've said no.
• Sales to a business for its business are outside those rules.

Source: Act on Specified Commercial Transactions (English, tentative translation) · Cold calling laws in Japan

How to Call Leads Who Asked

1. Record every request: what they asked for, when, and the page or form they used.
2. Call while the exemption lasts: 90 days after an enquiry in the US, 6 months in Canada, and 3 months for consent without a set period in Australia and on Sweden's NIX.
3. Check what the exemption covers. Norway's customer exemption covers only products like the ones they bought, and South Africa's only your own similar products.
4. Stop the moment they ask you to. In every country on this page, that ends the exemption.
5. Keep to legal calling hours. In most countries an enquiry doesn't change them.

For leads who didn't ask, see the do not call registry in every country, and check the legal calling hours before you dial.