Danish fines for unlawful sales calls: what the cases were about

Danish fines for sales calls depend on the case: how many consumers were called, what was said on the call, and whether the company had broken the rules before. The big fines since 2025 were for calls without valid consent and for misleading sales talk. The one published fine for calling people on the Robinson list is much smaller: DKK 40,000, from 2020.

How a case ends in a fine

The Danish Consumer Ombudsman (Forbrugerombudsmanden) supervises the rules on sales calls and marketing. Cases usually start with consumer complaints. If the Ombudsman finds the rules were broken, the company can get a warning, an offer to settle with a fine, or be reported to the police.

Many cases end with the company accepting a fine outside court. The Ombudsman's press releases name the company, so the case becomes public.

Both the ban on cold calls in the Consumer Contracts Act and the Robinson list rules in the Marketing Practices Act can be punished with fines, and companies can be punished as legal entities. The amount is set in each case.

The case about the Robinson list

A company, 2020: DKK 40,000. The company called four sole traders who were on the Robinson list. The case ended in a default judgment of DKK 40,000, which means the company did not appear in court (Consumer Ombudsman). It shows that it doesn't take hundreds of calls to get a fine.

If a person is on the Robinson list, calling them to sell is unlawful, even in the sectors where cold calls are otherwise allowed, such as insurance and newspaper subscriptions.

The cases about calls without consent

The largest fines were about something else: calling consumers who had not asked to be called, and misleading them on the call. A Robinson list check does not prevent these cases. Valid, documented consent and an honest conversation do.

Modstrøm, January 2026: DKK 400,000. The electricity supplier paid a fine for unlawful sales calls and misleading consumers. 27 consumers had been called without valid consent, and eight had been misled, among other things into believing the caller was from their current electricity supplier. It was the second time the company was fined for unsolicited calls (Consumer Ombudsman).

Verisure, July 2025: DKK 635,000. The alarm company paid a fine for unlawful sales calls and misleading marketing. 57 consumers and two businesses had been called repeatedly without consent between May 2019 and March 2021. Some were called again after asking not to be (Consumer Ombudsman).

Grøn Elforsyning, April 2025: DKK 700,000. The electricity supplier paid a fine for calling 27 consumers without valid consent and misleading 17 of them, among other things with promises of savings (Consumer Ombudsman). In July 2026 the company, now called ENLY, was reported to the police again, this time for calling 47 consumers on the basis of consents bought from partners (Consumer Ombudsman). That case has not been decided.

A telecom company, 2021: DKK 475,000. The company accepted a fine for unlawful sales calls to 51 consumers (Consumer Ombudsman).

What pushes a fine up

From the cases, mainly:

• The number of people. The fine rises with the number of consumers contacted unlawfully.
• The period. Breaches that went on for months or years weigh more.
• Repeat offences. In the Modstrøm case the Ombudsman stressed that the company had broken the rules before.
• Misleading talk on top. The largest fines combine unlawful calls with misleading statements on the call.

The fine is rarely the only bill. A sale made on an unlawful call does not bind the consumer (Consumer Contracts Act s. 5), so the sale can disappear again. And the press release naming the company stays online.

What about letters?

The Robinson list rule also covers marketing addressed by name and address. Letters go out in large numbers, so one list that was never checked can reach many people on the Robinson list at once. See Addressed mail to Danes and the Robinson list.

Questions and answers

Does the client or the call centre get the fine?

The fines in the cases above went to the companies that sold the product. The rules put the responsibility on the business that markets to the consumer, also when a partner made the calls or collected the consent. Contracts between the two can allocate the cost afterwards, but not the responsibility towards the consumer.

Can a single letter or call lead to a fine?

A complaint and a case are needed, and the published fines are typically about many consumers over long periods. But one letter to a person on the Robinson list is still a breach, and that is often what starts a complaint.

What if our supplier made the mistake?

The business that markets to the consumer is responsible. If you have an agreement that the supplier checks the list, you may be able to claim against the supplier afterwards, but that does not remove your own responsibility.

How Robinsontjek helps

Robinsontjek covers the Robinson list and the record of it. We check each list before it's used, and each list gets a check receipt with the date and the list edition, so you can show when and against which edition you checked. Consent and the content of the call remain yours.

The annual plan is DKK 15,000 excl. VAT (about EUR 2,000) for unlimited lists, and we set it up in your systems. A single list is DKK 995 up to 500 rows and DKK 5,000 above 500 rows. Write to us, or see how a check works.

For the full rules, read Calling Danish consumers: the rules in 2026.