Telemarketing to Italy: the rules a call centre must know before dialling

Consent and the opt-out register

It starts with Article 130 of the Italian Privacy Code (Legislative Decree no. 196 of 2003):

• automated calls, without a human agent: the consent of the person called is required;
• calls with a human agent: allowed under the GDPR, the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and to directory-listed numbers that are not on the opt-out register.

Consent is valid if it is freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous (GDPR, Article 4); not if it is generic, pre-ticked or cannot be documented (code of conduct, Article 12). When a person objects to marketing, their data are no longer used for that purpose (GDPR, Article 21).

Any Italian number, landline or mobile, can be entered on the public opt-out register, the Registro pubblico delle opposizioni (Law no. 5 of 2018; Presidential Decree no. 26 of 2022). Joining it withdraws earlier consents, except those tied to contracts in force or ended no more than thirty days before; anyone doing telemarketing checks the register every month and before each campaign. Details in the guide to the opt-out register.

The number you present

A call centre calling Italian numbers always presents the calling number, the CLI (Calling Line Identification), even when it works offshore: Law no. 5 of 2018 requires it, and AGCOM, the Italian communications authority, enforces it. Disguising who is calling is forbidden (Privacy Code, Article 130).

• 0843 and 0844: since 2018, 0843 for statistical calls and 0844 for market research, advertising and sales; otherwise, a number that can be called back (AGCOM Decision 156/18/CIR). The guide to the prefixes.
• ROC: the call centre registers with the Register of Communication Operators and declares every number it uses (Decree-Law no. 83 of 2012).
• The anti-spoofing filter: a call from abroad with an Italian landline number has been blocked since 19 August 2025; with an Italian mobile since 19 November 2025, unless the phone really is roaming (AGCOM Decision 106/25/CONS). The guide to the filter.

If you call from abroad

For anyone calling Italy from another country, the sources say:

• the GDPR also applies to those not established in the European Union if they process the data of people in the Union to offer them goods or services (Article 3);
• the person called must first be told the agent’s country; if it is outside the Union, they can ask, within the same call, for an agent in Italy or in the Union (Decree-Law no. 83 of 2012, Article 24-bis);
• whoever moves a call centre outside the Union, even by outsourcing it, notifies the ministries named in the law and the Garante, Italy’s data protection authority, at least thirty days beforehand;
• the client is jointly liable with the call centre it hires, including one abroad (Law no. 5 of 2018; Decree-Law no. 83 of 2012).

The code of conduct

The Code of conduct for telemarketing and teleselling was given final approval by the Garante with decision no. 148 of 7 March 2024 (Official Journal no. 73 of 27 March 2024). It covers calls to people in Italy, from callers operating in Italy or abroad. It binds its members, who apply it by contract to non-member suppliers: if your client is a member, it must ask you to in your contract. Among other things, it sets these rules for call centres:

• at the start of the call, the name of the call centre and of the client, and whether the call comes from outside the European Union;
• no calls before 9:00 or after 20:00 Monday to Friday, before 10:00 or after 19:00 on Saturdays and the days before public holidays, none on Sundays and public holidays, unless agreed with or requested by the person.

For call centres working for telecoms operators there is also AGCOM’s code (Decision 197/23/CONS).

The fines

• Garante: for breaches of Article 130, up to €20 million or, for companies, up to 4% of total worldwide annual turnover of the previous financial year, whichever is higher (Privacy Code, Article 166; GDPR, Article 83); the same applies to ignoring an objection registered through the opt-out register (Law no. 5 of 2018).
• Decree-Law no. 83 of 2012: €50,000 for not registering with the ROC; €150,000 for each missing or late notice about a call centre outside the Union; €50,000 for each day the person called is not told the agent’s country.

On 31 July 2026 the Garante announced a €9,516,000 fine on a telecoms company, over rogue call centres calling on its behalf from numbers not registered with the ROC or spoofed; on 7 May 2025, fines of €3,000,000 on an electricity and gas supplier and €850,000 on the network of agencies and companies involved.

With Mercurion

Mercurion carries the calls: 0843 and 0844 numbers and other Italian numbers, activated through a partner carrier, and CLI voice routes. Before opening traffic we check with you which country you call from, with which numbers and over which routes. Consent, checking the opt-out register and legal assessments remain with you and your client: Mercurion handles none of them and gives no legal advice.