ICO (UK) - EB Associates
| ICO (UK) - EB Associates | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Authority: | ICO (UK) |
| Jurisdiction: | United Kingdom |
| Relevant Law: | Regulation 21B Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 Section 40 of the Data Protection Act 1998 |
| Type: | Investigation |
| Outcome: | Violation Found |
| Started: | |
| Decided: | 29.11.2021 |
| Published: | 01.12.2021 |
| Fine: | 140,000 GBP |
| Parties: | EB Associates Group Limited |
| National Case Number/Name: | EB Associates |
| European Case Law Identifier: | n/a |
| Appeal: | Unknown |
| Original Language(s): | English |
| Original Source: | ICO (in EN) |
| Initial Contributor: | Frederick Antonovics |
The UK DPA (ICO) fined EB Associates Group Limited approximately €164,500 (GBP 140,000) for instigating over 107,000 illegal cold calls to individuals about pensions schemes.
English Summary
Facts
EB Associates Group Limited (EBAG) is a financial advisors group. The ICO found that it "positively encouraged" its 'introducer appointed representatives' (IARs) to make call for "the purposes of direct marketing in relation to occupational pension schemes or personal pension schemes" by offering between £300 and £750 for each referral made to it after a call.
Holding
The ICO first restated that Regulation 21B PECR requires that the entity making such direct marketing calls be an 'authorised person or a person who is the trustee or manager of an occupational pension scheme or a personal pension scheme'. It held that whilst EBAG would meet the criteria to be considered an authorised person, the IARs it instigated to make the calls did not.
Further, neither of them had the valid consent of those who were called, or that they had an existing customer relationship with them, as required by Regulation 21B(2)(b) and 21B(3)(b) PECR. Indeed, they obtained the data to make these calls from six competition/offer websites. EBAG could not provide evidence of specific or freely given consent (per Article 4(11) GDPR), as individuals had only agreed to those websites' privacy policies.
The ICO found that "between 11 January 2019 and 30 September 2019, EBAG instigated the use of a public electronic communications service for the purpose of making 107,003 unsolicited calls for the purposes of direct marketing in relation to occupational pension schemes or personal pension schemes contrary to regulation 21B of PECR."
Thus, the ICO fined EB Associates Group Limited approximately €164,500 (GBP 140,000).
Comment
This is the largest fine to date (02/12/2021) that the ICO imposed on a company for making such calls.[1] The DPA stated that EBAG came to its attention during a wider investigation into organisations making pension cold calls, signalling more such fines are likely to be imposed.
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English Machine Translation of the Decision
The decision below is a machine translation of the English original. Please refer to the English original for more details.
Action we've taken/
Enforcement/
EB Associates MPN
EB Associates
Date
01 December 2021
Type
Monetary penalties
Sector
Marketing
Between 11 January 2019 and 30 September 2019 there were 107,003 unsolicited direct marketing calls made to subscribers in relation to occupational pension schemes or personal pension schemes, with those calls being instigated by EB Associates Group Limited when it did not hold valid consent.
Further Reading
EB Associates monetary penalty notice
Action we've taken
PDF (347.68K)
EB Associates enforcement notice
Action we've taken
ICO issues its largest fine to tackle illegal pension cold calls
About the ICO
Action we've taken/
Enforcement/
EB Associates MPN
EB Associates
Date
01 December 2021
Type
Monetary penalties
Sector
Marketing
Between 11 January 2019 and 30 September 2019 there were 107,003 unsolicited direct marketing calls made to subscribers in relation to occupational pension schemes or personal pension schemes, with those calls being instigated by EB Associates Group Limited when it did not hold valid consent.
Further Reading
EB Associates monetary penalty notice
Action we've taken
PDF (347.68K)
EB Associates enforcement notice
Action we've taken
ICO issues its largest fine to tackle illegal pension cold calls
About the ICO
EnglishCymraegEnglishCymraeg
