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The service for the citizen

The Public opt-out registry, originally reserved for users in public telephone directories only, was extended to all national reserved numbers, including mobile phones. It is now possible to subscribe free of charge all numbers for which you do not wish to receive telemarketing offers. Opt-out may also refer to paper advertising, if the address is listed in public telephone directories. Subscription to the RPO, therefore, prevents operators from processing users’ personal data for the purpose of sending advertising and direct sales materials, commercial communications or for carrying out market research via telephone or paper mail.

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All land-line and mobile telephone numbers can be subscribed, both those already included in public telephone directories and those included in private ones.
Subscription to the RPO cancels consents to telemarketing and to the transfer of personal data previously issued to third parties for promotional campaigns, points collection, discount and loyalty awards.
Withdrawal of consent is effective both on human-operated and automated calls (so-called “robocalls”)
After subscribing to the service, you may only receive calls authorised within the framework of contracts that have been in force or terminated not more than 30 days before (e.g. from the telephone and energy sector) and those for which you had given your consent after the date of subscription to RPO.
If you have already subscribed to the new RPO, but have subsequently signed a telemarketing consent for your telephone number, don’t worry: you can use the “Renew subscription” feature to cancel all advertising consents again.
Once the number has been subscribed to the new RPO, it is still possible to request “Selective revocation” to cancel the opt-out against specific operators from whom you intend to receive promotional calls.

Automatic subscriptions to the new RPO

The following will be automatically subscribed to the new Public opt-out registry:

at the time of start-up, numbers already in the RPO reserved only for users in public telephone directories
when the appropriate ministerial decree is published, all land-line telephone numbers not included in public telephone directories (also called “private”)

In both cases, as there is no explicit request from the citizen, previous consents remain valid, with the option for the user to cancel them via the “Renew subscription” feature.

Procedure to be followed in the event of a suspected violation of the RPO

If you are an RPO subscriber and continue to receive unwanted advertising via telephone or paper mail, please check that:

the subscription was successful: the most immediate way to check whether subscription was successful is to call our toll-free number 800 957 766 from a land-line and 06 42986411 from a mobile phone

15 days have elapsed since the telephone opt-out or 30 days since the postal opt-out: maximum periods, permitted by law, within which telemarketing operators must necessarily update their contact lists to include the opt-out expressed by citizens, if they plan to contact the same numbers

you have not given specific consent to the processing of your telephone number for marketing purposes to third parties from whom you receive unwanted calls after the date of your initial subscription or renewal of your RPO subscription

you have not given specific consent to the processing of your postal address in public telephone directories for marketing purposes to third parties from whom you receive unwanted paper advertising

telemarketing calls do not come from companies with which you have contracts in force or contracts terminated no more than 30 days before (e.g. in the telephone and energy sector), as the law provides that this type of consent remains valid despite subscription to the RPO (subject to the right of revocation exercised against individual subjects)

telemarketing calls come from operators subscribed to the RPO’s services for the verification of their contact lists, by accessing the “Participating operators” section of the site

telemarketing calls come from call centres included in the Registry of communications operators (known as “ROC”) kept by the Authority for Communications Guarantees

telemarketing calls are made with unencrypted numbers (i.e. visible on the display) that can be redialled or using specific codes and prefixes established by the Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees (0843 and 0844)

What to do if you believe you are unlawfully receiving advertising phone calls or unwanted paper mail:

you can report the failure to comply with the rights acquired by subscribing to the RPO to the Italian Data Protection Authority (through specific web form) or you can file a complaint with the judicial authorities

you can report to the Italian Authority for Communications Guarantees the violation of the rules laid down on the subscription of the call centres with the ROC and the numbers they use, which must be unencrypted and which can be redialled or preceded by the prefix 0843 or 0844