Unlike national customer service regimes, which apply to a function, the harmonised obligations apply by reference to the activity itself — interaction with natural persons, processing of their data, provision of a support service. Sector and size are irrelevant.
Size
Categories of audience
| Category | Legal position | Verified size | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outsourced customer service providers | Performing party, with contractual liability of its own and liability as a data processor | Concentrate 83 % of the sector’s seats; 74.7 % of operations are outsourced | Second |
| In-house operations in retail, healthcare, industry and services | Obliged as a trader in the consumer relationship | 25.3 % of operations are in-house | Second |
| Technology vendors, integrators and training providers | Interested, and exposed through the systems they supply | Directly affected by the article 50 transparency duty | Third |
| Financial services and insurance | Obliged, with conduct supervision layered on top | Covered by the Spanish regime as a service of general interest | First |
| Providers of essential public services — energy, water and waste | Obliged, with reinforced application | Portugal: 39 electricity and gas suppliers; 352 water and waste operators | First |
| Electronic communications and postal services | Obliged, with a sector regulator of its own | The sector with the highest volume of consumer complaints | First |
Quantitative data comes from the Portuguese Contact Centre Association, from the study it commissioned from Deloitte, from Eurostat and from the sector regulators cited on each page. Figures drawn from different sources are not additive, and the notes indicate where the series diverge. [Data not confirmed in an official source is marked in square brackets and italics.]
Locate your organisation
The first question is not which service you need, but which category your organisation falls into and what follows from that.