The Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) has launched a public consultation concerning a draft Royal Decree relating to the fight against international voice calls using spoofed Belgian phone numbers.
As scam calls are a blight on society that cause significant financial and economic damage to consumers, businesses, and public bodies, regulatory authorities are looking into measures to protect the public from this phenomenon. One action involves the rules around the use of numbering resources.
The main proposed measures include requirements to block operators who receive live incoming international telephone calls, as well as ensuring that roaming and foreign telephone numbers are operating properly.
Notably, specific measures regarding nomadic calls and calls originating from cloud-based teleconferencing services made using Belgian telephone numbers are also proposed. Mainly, these calls may be authorised if routed via a special interface where the routing of the call, from the originator of the call to the special interface, is entirely under the control of the operator who initiates the call until the operators receive the first the incoming international telephone calls.
Measures regarding caller identification are also included in the draft Decree, including that upon simple request from BIPT, the name, address, and contact details or, where applicable, other identification data by a direct or indirect method of the user who made a given call, must be communicated within 24 hours by operators receiving incoming international calls directly via their international network interfaces. If the response is not provided in time, or if it is incomplete or incorrect, this operator must block all incoming calls from this user.
It is important to note that the draft Decree does not contain provisions specifically mentioning the sub-allocation of numbers, but it makes the use of such resources subject to more strict requirements. Similarly, other EU Member States, including France, Luxembourg, and Ireland, are currently taking measures to severely limit the possibility for providers of electronic communications to obtain numbers from third parties. Instead, numbering resources must be obtained through a primary direct allocation from national regulatory authorities.
BIPT has invited stakeholders to provide on the proposed measures by 14 December 2023.
If you are interested in learning more about Belgian legislation or require support in sending comments to BIPT, please contact Chrystel Erotokritou, Compliance Manager, at chrystel.erotokritou@accesspartnership.com or Sofia Stellatou, Policy Analyst, at sofia.stellatou@accesspartnership.com
