Complaints on Do Not Call Registry

Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Communications and Information as of 31 March 2014 (a) what is the number of residents who have registered with the Do Not Call Registry; and (b) what is number of complaints received pertaining to offences related to the Do Not Call Registry.

The Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information (Mr Lawrence Wong) (for the Minister for Communications and Information): Mdm Speaker, by the end of March 2014, about 595,000 Singapore telephone numbers have been registered with the Do Not Call Registry. Over 3,200 organisations have also set up accounts with the Registry, with more than 113 million telephone numbers submitted for checking.

Since the Do Not Call rules came into effect on 2 January this year, the Personal Data Protection Commission has received some 3,000 valid complaints. The Commission has been following up on these and enforcement action continues to be taken, with over 200 written notices issued by the Commission to warn organisations of non-compliance. For more serious breaches, offers of composition have been made and accepted by two organisations. The Commission also continues to investigate one organisation with the most serious breaches, with a view to prosecution. Further details of the case will be provided by the Commission once investigations are complete. For complaints relating to illegal activities such as unlicensed money lending matters, the Commission has referred these cases to the Police for their attention.

We would like to thank members of the public who have come forward to provide information on organisations that may not be complying with the Do Not Call rules. It is hoped that the public can continue to assist the Commission in its investigations and respond positively if approached.

Madam, I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply. I note that more than 590,000 people have registered with the DNC registry. Is this number within the expectation of the Ministry?

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The second question is, I understand from the Senior Minister of State's reply that the Personal Data Protection Commission refers the moneylending SMSes to the Police instead of investigating them under the Data Protection Act. Does the PDPC follow up with Police on the number of such complaints and how they are being followed up by the Police?

The third supplementary question is, the Minister of State has said that for one case, MCI may bring the case for prosecution in the Courts. For the other cases, will they be brought to the Courts or will they mostly be settled with a compound fine?

Madam, on the first question on registration, whether they are up to expectations, I would say that we have had a good response so far. It is difficult to say what the expectations were from the outset, but generally, we have had good response and feedback from the implementation. We will continue to publicise the scheme to make sure that there is widespread awareness from the public.

On the second point on unlicensed moneylending cases, unlicensed moneylending is a serious criminal offence. And so, the PDPC would want to work with the Police or to refer these cases to the Police to follow up on. We will continue to track them but we do want to make sure that the cases are dealt with in a serious fashion because of the gravity of these offences. The PDPC does not take unilateral action but they will work with the Police to make sure that there is follow-up on these cases.

On the third point about composite fines, and the fact that there was only one case with a view to prosecution and what would be the follow-up for the other cases, this will again depend on the seriousness of the offence. As I had mentioned, offers of composition had been made for two so far. And quite a number may also end up in this category. The very serious cases, the PDPC will certainly continue with prosecution. I am unable to give a breakdown today because investigations are still on-going for many of the cases.