The Telephone Preference Service, set up by the Direct Marketing Association (UK) Limited (DMA), was originally formed in 1995 as a voluntary self-regulatory mechanism to enable consumers to opt-out of receiving unsolicited sales and marketing calls.

Following the adoption of the Telecommunications Data Protection Directive by the European Parliament in 1997, the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) and the Office of Communications (OFCOM) entered into a public consultation period resulting in The Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999 which affect all telemarketers in the UK and came into force 1st May 1999 and replaced on 11th December 2003 by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. The Directive and Regulations are wide-ranging in their scope and should be studied carefully, in their entirety, by UK tele- & fax-marketers.

In February 1999 OFCOM issued an Invitation To Tender for the Management of the Telephone and Fax Opt-Out Schemes. The DMA was awarded the contract to run the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Fax Preference Service (FPS).

The TPS enables Individuals to register their objection to receiving direct marketing calls with a central service.

Telemarketing companies are able to receive the list of numbers that have been registered by subscribing to the TPS.

The Regulations require that companies comply with an Individual's request for suppression made to the central registration scheme no later than 28 days after the request was registered.

Who are Individuals?

Individuals are consumers, sole traders, and (except in Scotland) partnerships.

What are the differences between the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS)?

The TPS enables Individuals (consumers, sole traders, and (except in Scotland) partnerships) to register their objection to receiving direct marketing calls with a central service. This means that the TPS file contains consumer telephone numbers as well as some business numbers.

The CTPS includes corporate bodies such as a limited company in the UK, a limited liability partnership in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or any partnership in Scotland. It also includes schools, government departments and agencies, hospitals and other public bodies.

Therefore if you are contacting ‘business’ numbers for the purposes of sales and marketing, you must screen against both the TPS and CTPS files, as the TPS file contains business number also. If you are solely contacting consumers for the purposes of sales and marketing, then you only need to screen against the TPS file.