France has banned unsolicited telemarketing phone calls, in what a consumer group is hailing as a "small revolution" for the sales industry. From Tuesday, unsolicited calls are prohibited for businesses in all sectors - but there are some exceptions. "This is a victory for consumers, the vast majority of whom do not want to receive sales calls," she said. Germany, Austria and Italy are among the European countries that impose significant restrictions on telemarketing calls, often referred to as cold calls. In the UK, most telemarketing calls are legal provided the recipient has not objected to the call and their number is not on a statutory list of people or businesses who do not want to receive calls.