ACCAN welcomes the revision of Communication Alliance’s Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMs Industry Code. The code outlines procedures to reduce the number of scam calls and short messages (SMs) delivered to Australian telecommunications consumers. Scam calls and short messages are annoying at best and harmful at worst and ACCAN approves of measures that limit their spread. While the industry code is a timely addition for restricting scam calls and short messages, it could be further improved with clarification regarding two points:
- It’s important that any information about scam calls and short messages that consumers need to know is easy to find and accessible for everyone. We recommend that the code ensure that all consumer educational materials comply with Communications Alliance’s Guidelines on Developing Accessible Documents.
- It’s also key that consumers have their service interrupted as little as possible. ACCAN proposes that the code mandate that service providers make efforts to unblock an incorrectly blocked public number within 24 hours.
Reducing scam calls and short messages is important to consumers and ACCAN will continue to work with Communications Alliance, the Australian Communications Media Authority (ACMA) and other stakeholders to ensure communications consumers concerns are heard.
Download: 
ACCAN Comments on the Communications Alliance Reducing Scam Calls and Scam SMs Industry Code93.78 KB
