How to tell telemarketers to get lost – officially

South Africans can register blocks against direct marketers on the government’s new National Opt-Out Registry now – not from May 2027, as the National Consumer Commission’s (NCC’s) own launch statement indicated – the commission has told TechCentral. But a block won’t stop the calls straight away.

The system has been open for consumers to register profiles since July 2026 and is “ready for consumers to register a pre-emptive block against any direct marketer who has registered on the system”, the NCC said after the registry’s launch on Wednesday . Enforcement, the NCC said, will follow the roll-out plan.

“So, if you block now, they may still call you tomorrow, but when they start cleansing, they have to remove your name and details,” said NCC spokeswoman Phetho Ntaba.

Registering a block is free under the Consumer Protection Act. Ntaba outlined the process:

The consumer block form published with the regulations confirms that a passport number can be used in place of an ID number.

There is a catch: you can only block marketers that have registered on the system.

Direct marketers have until December to register. From December, they can clean their lists against the registry at no cost, but the cut-off for free cleansing is 15 April 2027, Ntaba said. “From this day onwards, the NCC will enforce the cleansing with a fee.”

That matches what trade, industry & competition minister Parks Tau said at the launch: that the commission would “enforce the law in full” from 15 April 2027.

Marketers will pay a cleansing fee only for consumers who have blocked them, the NCC said. For a database of one million consumers in which 20 people have registered a block, the marketer pays for 20 entries, Ntaba explained. At the 2027 rate of 14c, that is R2.80.

The regulations set the fee “per data entry” at 12c in 2026, rising to 14c in 2027 and 18c by 2029. Law firm ENS had warned that this wording could see a marketer’s entire database charged each time it is cleansed. The NCC’s answer addresses that concern, though the draft guidelines that set out the narrower reading are not binding.

A block applies only to direct marketers registered on the system, so it is unlikely to deter scammers. “Scam and marketing networks are becoming more sophisticated, using spoofing and artificial intelligence to reach consumers,” Tau acknowledged at the launch, according to SANews .

Nor will it stop calls that are not marketing. Under the NCC’s draft compliance guidelines, published in Government Gazette No 55465 on 2 October, calls about an existing account, a delivery or a complaint are not affected – though an unsolicited sales pitch added to a service call counts as direct marketing.

A block also overrides consent given in the past. Under the draft guidelines, “historical or existing consent is invalid once a consumer registers a pre-emptive block”. Tau said this includes “consent buried in the fine print of a contract you signed years ago”.

“If a marketer keeps contacting you, report it to the National Consumer Commission,” Tau said.