New French Telemarketing Law Could Threaten Thousands of Jobs in Tunisia
Tunisia’s call center and telemarketing sector could face pressure from a new French law aimed at regulating aggressive telephone canvassing.
The legislation, which is expected to enter into force in France in August, could affect foreign-based call centers operating from Tunisia. According to a report by the Italian news agency Nova, the new rules may concern nearly 20 percent of outbound sales calls made from Tunisia.
The impact could be particularly significant for smaller Tunisian call centers, which rely heavily on outbound telemarketing. The report warns that the law could reduce activity for many operators and put several thousand jobs at risk.
Larger companies specializing in customer service and inbound call management, however, are expected to be less exposed to the new rules.
A Growing Sector with Strong Export Potential
Tunisia’s call center and customer relations industry currently employs between 25,000 and 27,000 people across more than 100 companies, ranging from multinationals such as Teleperformance and Concentrix to small and medium-sized local firms.
The sector has continued to grow despite Tunisia’s wider economic challenges. According to a study by the National Chamber of Call Centers and Customer Relations, affiliated with UTICA, call center and telemarketing revenues reached 1.181 billion Tunisian dinars in 2023, equivalent to about $400 million.
This compares with 831 million dinars in 2019, or about $282 million, representing average annual growth of around 9 percent.
With around 250 active companies, the sector is now one of Tunisia’s leading exporters of value-added services. It contributes around 0.5 percent of GDP and works almost exclusively with foreign markets.
Heavy Dependence on France Remains the Main Risk
The sector’s biggest vulnerability is its strong dependence on the French market, which accounts for nearly 84 percent of total revenue.
This concentration exposes Tunisia’s outsourcing ecosystem to shifts in the French economy and to new European regulations on telephone canvassing, outsourced services and data management.
The new French law therefore highlights both the strength and fragility of Tunisia’s call center industry: a dynamic, job-creating export sector that may need to diversify its markets and services to reduce regulatory risk.