The Information Commissioner's Office has taken enforcement action against Orion Forklift and Plant after 1700 complaints were made about the company's marketing activities.
Orion, based in Kent and owned by Ivor Cox, was the subject of complaints made both by individuals and by organisations signed up to the Fax Preference Service (FPS), after Orion had repeatedly sent out unsolicited faxes advertising the company and its services. Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, Orion could not send direct marketing faxes to:
- individual subscribers to the FPS who have not given prior consent to Orion to send such information;
- corporate FPS subscribers who have previously informed the company that they do not wish to receive direct marketing on a particular fax line; or
- any subscriber that has registered their fax number with the FPS.
According to the ICO, Orion continued to send unsolicited faxes to individuals even when it had been told repeatedly to stop this practice, and in some cases sent faxes in the early hours of the morning to residential addresses. On 24 September, following its investigation, the ICO issued an Enforcement Notice against Orion, obliging it to cease all infringing activities within 35 days.
If you wish to register your fax number for the Fax Preference Service, you can visit http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/fps/. This website also allows you to register for the Mailing Preference Service and the Telephone Preference Service.
MacRoberts offer practical and effective advice and training on data protection law including how you can protect yourself or your business from unsolicited marketing. Should you wish to discuss any of our data protection services please contact us.
Disclaimer
The material contained in this article is of the nature of general comment only and does not give advice on any particular matter. Recipients should not act on the basis of the information in this e-update without taking appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.
