Mexico’s Senate approves reform with fines of up to 2.3 million pesos — Mexico News Daily

Mexico’s Senate unanimously approved a reform to the Federal Consumer Protection Law that provides for penalties for intrusive telemarketing calls and other unauthorized commercial contacts. This was reported by Mexico News Daily.

Fines for calls and messages

According to the bill, companies could be fined between 56,570 and 2.3 million Mexican pesos for repeatedly contacting people without their consent to offer credit cards, insurance, loans, services or other goods.

The changes will apply not only to telephone calls. They will also cover other channels used for advertising appeals to consumers, including digital tools and messengers such as WhatsApp. Senator María del Rocío Corona Nakamura also noted that companies will not be able to contact people without their consent through text messages, email or other means.

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Existing registries have not stopped spam

The author of the initiative, National Action Party Senator Mayuli Latifa Martínez Simón, said that the reform is intended to protect consumers’ privacy and allow them to opt out of advertising. Her initial proposal provided for the creation of a registry similar to the U.S. Do Not Call Registry, but other senators stressed the need to strengthen sanctions.

Mexico already has two registries for opting out of unwanted advertising: REPEP for commercial calls and REUS for financial services. According to Truecaller, Mexico ranks sixth in the world in the number of spam contacts: one user receives an average of 20 to 25 such contacts per month. The document will be sent to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration and a final vote. If approved, the reform will take effect the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation.