Telephone advertising prohibited

International With an amendment to the law on unfair competition, the German parliament prohibits harassment through telephone advertising if the consumer has not given their consent.the publishing and DM industries have fought in vain against the bill. Publisher President Hubert Burda: "In Germany, we are to be largely prohibited from expanding and exploiting our knowledge of customers and markets using modern technologies." The amendment would cause up to 400,000 jobs to move to less regulated countries. In Switzerland, advertising calls are only prohibited if the consumer has expressly objected to them. According to Christian Altenburger, Managing Director of the Swiss Direct Marketing Association, however, there are strict regulations for calls abroad that must comply with the respective legislation of the recipient country.