DUBAI: The UAE has announced plans to clamp down on persistent cold callers, with companies who violate the new rules facing fines of up to Dh150,000 ($40,838) and possible termination of their operating licenses.

The regulations are being introduced by the Ministry of Economy and the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority to protect the public from rogue telemarketers, according to local reports. 

The new guidelines apply to all licensed companies in the Emirates, including those in free zones, which promote products by calling landlines and mobile phones.

From August this year, telemarketing calls will be restricted to between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Call-backs are prohibited if a consumer rejects a service or product, and no same-day follow-up calls are permitted.

Companies must obtain prior approval from the authorities. Marketing calls must originate from numbers registered to licensed companies, not individuals.

Customers can file a complaint for any violations. Penalties include warnings being issued, fines of up to Dh150,000, partial or total suspension of activities, license cancellation, and disconnection of telecommunication services for up to one year.

“The resolutions aim to regulate telemarketing to maintain economic and social stability, ensure companies adhere to designated channels and times for marketing, and reduce unwanted marketing calls to respect consumers’ privacy,” said a statement from the government’s media office.

Companies must exercise due care in their marketing activities to avoid disturbing consumers and adhere to the highest standards of transparency, credibility, and integrity, it added.

The new regulations are part of the government’s ongoing efforts to safeguard consumer rights and ensure companies comply with established rules. In January 2022, the TRA launched the Kashif service, which shows the origin of calls, to reduce the number of anonymous calls received by residents. By the end of that year, all private companies had to register their phone numbers with the Kashif service.

The Do Not Call Registry, in place since September 2022, helps stop unwanted calls. Telemarketers must now receive individuals’ consent before making promotional calls and are advised not to call numbers listed in the DNCR without it.

Companies that fail to obtain prior approval can be fined Dh75,000 for the first offense, Dh100,000 for the second, and Dh150,000 for the third. Fines of up to Dh150,000 can be imposed for calling individuals registered the DNCR. Additionally, financial penalties ranging from Dh25,000 to Dh75,000 can be levied for misleading or deceiving customers during sales calls.

Authorities stated that companies could face telemarketing activity suspension for seven to 90 days, license cancellation, removal from the commercial register, and disconnection of telecommunication services for rule violations.

MOSUL: It was the simple night-time act of watering flowers on his street in Mosul’s Old City that made Saqr Zakaria stop and think about just how safe this last bastion of Daesh militants had become since it was liberated in 2017.
“I thought for a second, ‘where am I?’” said Zakaria, who left the city in 2005 but returned to set up a cultural center, the Baytna Foundation, in 2018 at a time when thousands of bodies were still being cleared from the ruins.
The jihadist group declared its caliphate at the Grand Al-Nuri Mosque just down the road after taking Mosul a decade ago, imposing an extreme form of Islam that saw them kill members of minority groups, ban music and destroy archaeological sites.
The maze of alleyways in this part of the city on the west bank of the Tigris River became a site of regular killings, kidnappings and crime with the rise of Islamist insurgents after the 2003 US.-led invasion.
Much of it was pulverized, and thousands of civilians were killed, in the battle to free it.
But despite political infighting, allegations of corruption and delayed reconstruction, life is returning on both sides of the river.
Many of the more than two dozen people who spoke to a Reuters reporter on a four-night visit to the city said they felt more secure today than at any time in the last two decades.
“Life consisted of eating and sleeping and locking your door so you’re not kidnapped or killed or blown up. We were deprived, and today we are making that up,” said Zakaria. His foundation, housed in a traditional Moslawi home with an inner courtyard, has become a leading attraction for local and foreign visitors, including French President Emmanuel Macron in 2021.
Shortly after he spoke, an elderly man walked into the courtyard and shed tears at the sight of pictures, hung on a wall, of the city’s intellectual and cultural elite that harkened back to better days.
“This is Mosul,” said Nizar Al-Khayat, a former school director in his 70s, his voice wavering. “No matter what, it remains a cultured, civilized city.”
Local officials and residents say there is a long way to go before Mosul sheds the legacy of Daesh.
Rubble is still being cleared seven years after the city was liberated. Pockmarked buildings with collapsed floors and exposed rebar can still be seen around Mosul. The Old City is in ruins.
But bridges have gone up. New restaurants have opened where patrons tuck into Lebanese cuisine and sway their heads to the nostalgic sound of Syrian tenors.
A souk and curbside cafes by the river buzz with life late into the night, formerly unthinkable in a city where people locked themselves in their homes by late afternoon.
Even as the city works to restore basic infrastructure, it is focused on expanding green areas and touristic attractions like a new riverside corniche, said Firas Al-Sultan, a technical adviser to Mosul municipality.
Monuments to the city’s rich inter-faith history, like the Grand Nuri Mosque and the Al-Tahera Church visited by Pope Francis in 2021, are being rebuilt. (Reporting by Timour Azhari and Khalid Al-Mousily in Mosul, Editing by William Maclean)