The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) have had another makeover. These regulations underpin the rules around telephone and email marketing, particularly “cold calling”. Many companies have been fined in recent years by the Information Commissioner’s Office for nuisance telemarketing calls but some perpetrators slip through the net by dissolving one company and setting up a new one. The amendment to PECR (SI 1189 of 2018) which came into force in December 2018 allows the ICO to pursue the directors and owners of businesses that are responsible for unlawful telemarketing with fines of up to £500,000.

Presumably this maximum will align with GDPR maximum fines once the new Electronic Communications Regulation is passed in the EU do we think?