The National Opt-Out Registry: What Your Business Must Do

If your business markets by phone, SMS, WhatsApp, email or social media, a new compliance duty started in September and the deadline is December. The National Opt-Out Registry is live, and an unregistered direct marketer may not contact consumers at all.

What the registry is

Section 11 of the Consumer Protection Act has given consumers the right to block direct marketing since 2011. What was missing was a mechanism. On 15 April 2026 the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition gazetted the Consumer Protection Act Amendment Regulations, 2026, and on 7 October 2026 the National Consumer Commission launched the National Opt-Out Registry to administer it.

The shift is worth understanding. Until now a consumer who did not want to be called had to deal with each marketer separately, and consent buried in a contract signed years ago kept the door open. Under the new system a consumer registers one block, and that block overrides consent given in the past, including consent in the fine print. The commission's draft guidelines put it plainly: existing consent is invalid once a consumer registers a pre-emptive block.

The dates that matter

Registration for direct marketers opened on 15 September 2026 and runs to December 2026. A marketer who does not register in that window may be in contravention of section 11 of the Act read with the Regulations, and an unregistered marketer may not contact any consumer for direct marketing.

From December 2026 to April 2027 there is a five-month cleansing window at no cost, for marketers to check their lists against the registry and learn the process. From 15 April 2027 the commission enforces the law in full.

Consumers can already create a profile and register blocks, but those blocks begin removing names when cleansing starts. The commission has said so directly: if you block now, a marketer may still call you tomorrow, but once cleansing begins they must take your details off.

What it costs

The 2026 registration fee is R2 574, and registration is renewed annually at R1 930,50. Once enforcement begins there is a cleansing fee charged per data entry, starting at 14 cents in 2027. That fee is charged only for consumers who have actually blocked you, so a list of a million contacts in which twenty people have blocked the marketer attracts a charge on twenty entries.

What your business has to do

Three obligations, and they are not optional.

Register on the registry and renew annually. Cleanse your contact lists against it every month, before running any campaign. Keep your communications identifiable, so a consumer can see who is contacting them and how to reach you.

Then look at how you obtain consent in the first place. A pre-emptive block defeats prior consent, so a marketing database resting on an old tick box is not the safe asset it was assumed to be.

What non-compliance costs

The National Consumer Tribunal may impose an administrative fine of up to R1 million or 10 per cent of annual turnover, whichever is greater. The commission's draft guidelines go further, warning that serious cases may be prosecuted, with a fine or up to twelve months in prison.

Two points of honesty about the framework. The compliance guidelines were published for public comment on 2 October 2026 and comment closed on 17 October 2026. They are not binding, but anyone applying the Act must take them into account. And until the registry bites in May 2027, the practical protection a consumer has today is still POPIA, where the Information Regulator has made clear that an opt-out is not consent.

What To Do Next

• Establish whether anything your business does counts as direct marketing, including outsourced call centres and bought-in leads
• Register on the registry before December 2026, and diarise the annual renewal
• Build monthly list cleansing into your marketing process now, during the free window, rather than in April 2027
• Audit how you collect consent, and stop relying on clauses buried in old contracts
• If you buy leads or lists, ask the supplier what they do about the registry, and keep the answer on file

How We Can Help

OM Baloyi Inc advises businesses on consumer protection compliance, direct marketing obligations and the contracts behind them. If you market to consumers, or you buy marketing services, we can review your process, your consent wording and your supplier arrangements before the enforcement date arrives.