> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ruleinside.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Calling consent and calling hours
> Confirm your store may have an AI agent contact its customers, and set when your agent may call.
Open **Settings** and choose the **Calling consent** tab. The page has two cards:
* **Calling consent**, where an owner confirms, for the whole account, that the store has a lawful basis to contact
the people it asks RuleInside to contact. Until this is confirmed, **nothing outbound is sent**.
* **Calling hours and days**, which sets when your agent may call your customers.
If your workspace has no store yet, the page shows "This workspace is not linked to an account yet." and nothing else.
## Who can change this page
Everyone in your workspace can see this page. Only an **owner** can confirm, withdraw, or change calling hours and
days. Other members see the controls greyed out and "Only an owner of this workspace can change this." See
[Who can do what](/roles).
## The Calling consent card
The card explains: "Before this account can place automated calls, you confirm you have a lawful basis for calling
each person on your list. That can be consent they gave you, or a list you obtained lawfully from someone else. It
has to cover automated AI voice calls where you trade."
This confirmation is separate from the consent you record on each contact, and **you need both**:
* the consent on a contact says on what basis that person may be contacted (see [Contacts](/contacts));
* this confirmation is you, as the owner, taking responsibility for the whole list.
Until an owner confirms, **no calls and no WhatsApp messages are sent**, even to contacts marked **Calls:
callable**. Calls and messages held back for this reason are retried a limited number of times rather than cancelled
at once, but do not rely on that: confirm before you launch a campaign.
### Status
| What you see | What it means |
| - | - |
| **Confirmed**, with "Confirmed for" the country, and the date and time | Active. Outbound calls and messages can run, subject to the checks on each contact. |
| **Not confirmed**, with a red "Outbound calling is paused" alert | Nothing is sent. The alert gives one of the reasons below. |
| "Please re-confirm" | We have updated the wording since you confirmed. **Your calls are still running.** Read the new statement and confirm again when you can. |
| "We could not load this" | "This is a problem on our side, not a sign that anything is wrong with your account. Please reload in a moment." |
**Why outbound calling can be paused:**
| Reason | What the alert says | What to do |
| - | - | - |
| Never confirmed | "You have not confirmed this yet. No calls or messages will be sent until you do." | Confirm. |
| Withdrawn | "You withdrew this confirmation. Nothing will be sent until you confirm again." | Confirm again when you are ready. |
| Country changed | "You confirmed this for" one country, "but the account is now set to" another. "Consent rules differ by country, so please confirm again" for the new one. | Confirm for the new country. |
| No country | "Your account has no country set, so we cannot tell which rules apply. Choose one below and confirm." | Choose the country and confirm. |
| Could not check | "We could not check your confirmation, so nothing is being sent. This is on us. Please try again shortly." | Try again shortly. |
Your dashboard shows the same warning. When paused: "Your account cannot place automated calls until you confirm you
have a lawful basis for calling the people you want us to contact. Nothing is being sent in the meantime." When the
wording has changed: "We have updated the wording of the calling-consent confirmation. Your calls are still running.
Please read it and confirm again when you have a moment." Both have a **Review and confirm** button that opens this
page.
### Fields
| Field | What it does | Values and default |
| - | - | - |
| **Country your account trades in** | The country whose consent rules apply. "This decides which consent rules apply. Change it here if that ever changes." | A searchable list. Type the country's name (with or without accents), another common name for it, or its two-letter code. If nothing matches: "No country matches that. Try the country's own name, or its two-letter code." Starts as "Select a country", or shows the country you confirmed, or the country already set on your account. |
| The statement | The exact text you are confirming, for the country you picked. Before you pick one: "Choose a country to read the statement you are confirming." | Written by RuleInside, naming your country. Stored word for word when you confirm. |
| **I have read the above and confirm it is true.** | Required tick box. | Cleared after each successful confirmation. |
"I confirm that, for every person I ask RuleInside to contact, I have a lawful basis under the law of Italy (IT) to
contact them by telephone with an automated AI voice agent, and that these contacts were obtained in a way that
permits such calls. That basis may be consent given to me directly, or consent obtained by someone else and
lawfully passed to me, for example through a purchased or rented marketing list, provided it covers a call of this
kind being made for my account.
I confirm that establishing that basis, keeping the record of it, and judging whether it is valid in Italy (IT)
are my responsibility as the account owner, not RuleInside's. I understand that RuleInside applies do-not-call,
opt-out and calling-time suppression on my behalf, but does not verify where my contacts came from or whether I
may lawfully call these people.
If a person or an authority ever raises a question or a complaint about a call made for my account, it is mine to
answer and to resolve, including any claim, fine or cost arising from my decision to contact that person, and
RuleInside will provide the call and consent records it holds to help me do that."
RuleInside does not give legal advice. The statement records what you confirm. Whether your basis is valid in your
country is for you to judge.
### Confirming
Pick it under **Country your account trades in**. The statement for that country appears.
Read it in full. It is what you are confirming.
Tick **I have read the above and confirm it is true.**
The button reads **Confirm**, or **Confirm again** if you have confirmed before. It is greyed out until a country
is chosen and the box is ticked. You see "Confirmed. Outbound calling is cleared for this account."
If saving fails you see "Could not save that. Please try again." or a more specific message, for example: "Only an
owner of the organisation that owns this store can confirm this. Ask an owner to sign it." If you see "This store is
linked to more than one organisation, so it is ambiguous who may sign for it." or "This store is not linked to an
organisation, so no one can sign for it.", contact support.
**Confirming also sets your account's country** to the one you chose. If you start trading in a different country,
choose it and confirm again.
### Withdrawing
**Withdraw** appears only when the confirmation is active. It opens a second step titled "Read this before you
withdraw", with the withdrawal statement for the country on record:
> I withdraw the calling-consent confirmation previously given for Italy (IT). From this point my account no longer
> confirms that it holds a lawful basis for contacting people by an automated AI voice agent. I understand that no
> new outbound calls or messages will be started for this account until a new confirmation is given, and that
> anything already scheduled may still be delivered.
"This is recorded exactly as written, and cannot be edited afterwards."
* **Yes, withdraw** (red) withdraws the confirmation. You see "Withdrawn. Nothing further will be sent until you
confirm again."
* **Cancel** goes back without changing anything.
The withdrawal is for the country on record, not for whatever is selected in the country list at that moment.
After you withdraw, no new calls or messages are started, but **anything already scheduled may still be
delivered**, as the statement says.
### What is kept on record
Every confirmation and every withdrawal is kept as a new, permanent record: what was done, the country, the exact
statement, who signed and when. Nothing earlier is edited or deleted. The newest record decides whether outbound
calling is active.
## The Calling hours and days card
"When your AI agent may call your customers. Each customer is called in their own local time."
Calling hours and days decide when **phone calls** are placed. Two kinds of WhatsApp message also wait for them: a
**Marketing** template, and the WhatsApp message a campaign sends after a call. Other WhatsApp messages are not held.
A Marketing follow-up in a conversation the customer started goes at once only within 24 hours of that
conversation; after that, it waits too. See [WhatsApp](/whatsapp).
| Field | What it does | Values and default |
| - | - | - |
| **Account calling hours** | Heading for the hours. | |
| **Set my own calling hours** | Unticked: "Using the standard hours: 08:00 to 21:00, in each customer's local time." Ticked: two hour pickers, a start "to" an end. | **Default: unticked**, so 08:00 to 21:00. Start from 00:00 to 23:00, end from 01:00 to 24:00, whole hours only. The start and end cannot be the same hour. Untick and save to return to the standard hours. |
| **Account calling days** | Seven switches, Mon to Sun. | **Default: every day.** At least one day must stay on. |
| **Timezone for customers we cannot place** | The time zone used only for customers whose own time zone cannot be worked out from their number or profile. | **Default: "None: skip these customers".** Or a named time zone from the list, for example Europe/Rome. |
| Confirmation tick box | Appears only for hours that are not entirely inside 08:00 to 21:00, including overnight hours. | Required to save those hours. |
Under the hours: "A campaign can use its own hours instead. Hours outside 8:00 to 21:00 are your choice and your
responsibility, and we keep a record of your confirmation."
Under the days: "Customers are called only on these days, in their own local time. Hours that run past midnight count
as the day they start. A campaign can use its own days instead."
### Overnight hours
If the start is later than the end, the hours run overnight, and the card says so, for example: "These hours run
overnight: from 22:00 until 02:00 the next morning." Overnight hours count as the day they start.
### Hours outside 8:00 to 21:00
You can choose hours outside 08:00 to 21:00, for example to call from 07:00. You then have to tick the confirmation,
which reads, for example: "I choose to call customers from 07:00 to 21:00 in their local time. I understand these hours
are outside 8:00 to 21:00 and I am responsible for them."
When you save, RuleInside first checks that you are an owner, then records your confirmation (who, the hours, and
when), and only then saves the hours. Possible messages: "Only an owner of this workspace can confirm calling hours
outside 8:00-21:00." and "Calling hours outside 8:00-21:00 need the owner to confirm that they choose these hours and
are responsible for them."
### How each customer's local time is worked out
RuleInside works out each customer's time zone in this order:
1. the time zone stored on the contact, if there is one;
2. the time zone given by the phone number's prefix, when that prefix points to exactly one time zone;
3. your **Timezone for customers we cannot place**.
If none of these applies, the customer is **skipped**, not guessed. When a number's area spans several time zones, the
call is placed only when your hours hold in all of them.
When you change **Timezone for customers we cannot place** from None to a time zone, the card warns you: "Customers
who are skipped today because we cannot tell their timezone will become callable, in this timezone, once you save."
### Saving
**Save calling hours and days** saves the card. It is greyed out while the hours are not valid or a required
confirmation is not ticked. You see "Calling hours and days saved.", or "Could not save the calling hours. Please try
again." Only owners see this button.
If the card cannot be read, it shows "Could not load your calling hours" and "Please refresh the page. If this keeps
happening, contact support."
If your saved hours or days were ever unreadable, RuleInside calls nobody rather than guessing.
### Campaigns with their own hours
A campaign can set its own hours, its own days, or both. They replace the account's for that campaign only, and hours
and days are replaced independently. They can be changed only while the campaign is still a draft. See
[Campaigns](/campaigns).
## Common questions
Check this page first. If it says **Not confirmed**, an owner must confirm. Then check your calling hours and days.
Only an owner can confirm, withdraw, or change calling hours and days.
No. When only the wording has changed, your calls keep running. Read the new statement and confirm again when you
can.
Consent rules differ by country, so the confirmation must be given again for the new country.
No new calls or messages are started. As the withdrawal statement says, anything already scheduled may still be
delivered.
Yes. Tick **Set my own calling hours**, choose the hours, and tick the confirmation. That choice, and the
responsibility for it, are yours, and RuleInside keeps a record of it.
The customer's. Each customer is called in their own local time.
Their time zone cannot be worked out (set a **Timezone for customers we cannot place**), or it is outside your
hours or days where they are, or they opted out, are on your do-not-call list, have no consent to call, or have
been contacted too often recently. See [How calling rules protect your customers](/outbound-rules).
Partly. WhatsApp **Marketing** templates and a campaign's WhatsApp message after a call wait for the person's
calling hours. Other WhatsApp messages do not. A Marketing follow-up in a chat the customer started goes at once
only within 24 hours of that chat.
No. RuleInside records what you confirm and applies do-not-call, opt-out and calling-time suppression for you.
Whether your lawful basis is valid is for you to judge.
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