Federal High Court rules on cold-calling

The Federal High Court of Justice in Civil Matters (Bundesgerichtshof) has ruled that a credit institution may not ‘cold-call’ a private customer even if the customer has given his prior consent in a clause in the standard business terms and conditions of the credit institution. In the opinion of the Court, cold calling of a customer for sales purposes violates Section 1 of the Law against Unfair Competition (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb). Unsolicited calls would only be permissible if the customer had given his consent to such a call in advance. However, a corresponding clause in a standard business terms would not suffice according to the judgement. Such a clause would constitute a disadvantage to the customer, prohibited by the Law on Standard Terms of Businesses (Gesetz zur Regelung des Rechts der Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen). The court held that, given the variety of other existing media for financial promotion, it is not necessary to cold call private customers.