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Law / Australia

Do Not Call Register Act 2006, Unsolicited Telemarketing Calls

Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth), ss. 11-12, 24-25, 30, Sch. 1, Sch. 2

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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.

In force since .

A telephone contact rule binding public and private bodies.

As of .

What it requires

  • Do not make, or cause to be made, an unsolicited telemarketing call to an Australian number registered on the Do Not Call Register unless the relevant account-holder or their nominee consented, or the call is a designated telemarketing call under Schedule 1.
  • A designated telemarketing call is one authorised by a government body or registered charity supplying its own goods or services, by a registered political party, an independent parliamentarian or an election candidate raising funds for electoral or political purposes, or by an educational institution calling a number used primarily for the private or domestic purposes of a current or former student or a member of their or an employee's household.
  • Treat consent as express, or reasonably inferred from the account-holder's conduct and business or other relationships; never treat a number as consenting merely because it has been published, and treat express consent that does not itself state a period as lapsing three months after it is given.
  • Only a number used or maintained primarily for private or domestic purposes, a fax number, a number used exclusively by a government body, or an emergency-service number can be registered on the Do Not Call Register; an ordinary business telephone number cannot be registered.
  • Do not enter into a contract, arrangement or understanding with another person if there is a reasonable likelihood they, or their employees or agents, will make telemarketing calls to numbers eligible for the Do Not Call Register, unless the contract expressly requires compliance with this Act.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureNo

Private right of actionNo

Penalty structure

Section 25 tiers the pecuniary penalty a court may order under section 24 for a contravention of a civil penalty provision by whether the defendant is a body corporate, whether it has a prior record for that same provision, and whether the provision is subsection 11(1) or (7) or 12B(1) or (8) or another one. With no prior record: 100 penalty units per contravention for a body corporate (2,000 aggregate for 2 or more contraventions on one day), 50 units for any other provision (1,000 aggregate); 20 units per contravention for an individual (400 aggregate), 10 units for any other provision (200 aggregate). With a prior record: 500 units per contravention for a body corporate (10,000 aggregate), 250 units for any other provision (5,000 aggregate); 100 units per contravention for an individual (2,000 aggregate), 50 units for any other provision (1,000 aggregate). The figures recorded here are the highest tier (body corporate, prior record, s. 11/12B), converted at $364 per penalty unit, the amount the Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 fixes under Crimes Act 1914 subsection 4AA(1A) for a civil penalty provision committed on or after . Schedule 3 separately lets the ACMA give an infringement notice as a lower-value alternative to Federal Court proceedings: for a body corporate, 20 penalty units for a single alleged contravention of s. 11 or 12B (up to 1,000 units for 50 or more), and half that for any other civil penalty provision; for an individual, 4 penalty units for a single alleged contravention of s. 11 or 12B (up to 200 for 50 or more), and half that for any other provision.

Rule
Per violation only
As of
Currency
AUD
Fixed cap
3,640,000
Per violation unit
Violation
Per violation amount
182,000

What it reaches

Obligation class

Consent, Prohibition

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

Section 11 bars making, or causing to be made, an unsolicited telemarketing call to an Australian number registered on the Do Not Call Register, unless the relevant account-holder or their nominee consented or the call is a designated telemarketing call exempt under Schedule 1: one authorised by a government body or registered charity supplying its own goods or services, by a registered political party, an independent parliamentarian or an election candidate fund-raising for electoral or political purposes, or by an educational institution calling a number used primarily for the private or domestic purposes of a current or former student, or a member of their or an employee's household.

Section 12 separately bars entering into a contract, arrangement or understanding likely to result in telemarketing calls to eligible numbers unless it expressly requires compliance with the Act. Under Schedule 2, consent can be express or reasonably inferred from the account-holder's conduct and business or other relationships, but unlike consent for a message under the Spam Act it can never be inferred merely because a number was published.

Unless it says otherwise, express consent lapses three months after it is given. Only a number used or maintained primarily for private or domestic purposes, a fax number, a number used exclusively by a government body, or an emergency-service number is eligible to be registered, so an ordinary business telephone number cannot be registered and this prohibition does not, by itself, reach a call to it.

Sections 11 and 12 are civil penalty provisions, and section 25 tiers the maximum pecuniary penalty a court may order under section 24, with subsection 11(1) or (7) the higher tier.

Section 30 lets the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2), on the application of the ACMA or a person who has suffered loss or damage from one or more contraventions found in ACMA-initiated proceedings under section 24, order the perpetrator to compensate that person; this is an application within an existing proceeding, not a free-standing civil action.

When LexLint raises it

  • automated_outreach

Read the law

Federal Register of Legislation, official compilation of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

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