> ## 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.

# How calling rules protect your customers

> The checks every outbound call and WhatsApp message passes before anyone is contacted.

Every time your assistant is about to call someone, or send them a WhatsApp message, RuleInside checks that person
first. The checks run for each person, every time, and a person who fails any one of them is not contacted. You do
not have to switch them on: they apply to every account.

## The checks

Before any of the checks on a person, RuleInside checks your whole account:

* **Your store has confirmed it may contact its customers.** An owner confirms, under
  [Settings, Calling consent](/calling-hours), that the store has a lawful basis to have an automated AI voice agent
  contact the people it asks RuleInside to contact, in the country it trades in. Until this is confirmed, **no calls
  and no WhatsApp messages** are sent.

Then, for each person, in this order:

<Steps>
  <Step title="They have not asked to stop">
    Someone who opted out on a channel is never contacted again on that channel. People opt out by telling your
    assistant during a call, by replying STOP on WhatsApp, through your own system, or when someone in your team uses
    **Opt out** on the [Contacts](/contacts) page (which stops both calls and WhatsApp). Only the customer can
    reverse an opt-out, and only on WhatsApp, by replying START (see [WhatsApp](/whatsapp)).

    On WhatsApp there is also a marketing-only stop: someone who told WhatsApp to stop marketing messages from your
    business is sent no more **Marketing** templates from your store, until they turn your marketing messages back
    on in WhatsApp. See [Why a send is suppressed](/whatsapp-send#why-a-send-is-suppressed).
  </Step>

  <Step title="They are not on your do-not-call list">
    Numbers on your do-not-call list are never contacted on that channel. Every opt-out is added to the list
    automatically, so it stays in force even if the person is imported again later. Calls and WhatsApp are listed
    separately: a STOP on WhatsApp stops both, while a "do not call me" on the phone does not stop WhatsApp.
  </Step>

  <Step title="They agreed to be contacted on this channel">
    A person is called only when your contact list records a lawful basis to call them, and is sent a WhatsApp message
    only when it records a lawful basis to message them on WhatsApp. One channel never implies the other. A newly
    imported contact has no consent until you record it (see [Importing contacts](/importing-contacts)).
  </Step>

  <Step title="It is a reasonable hour where they are (calls only)">
    Calls are placed between 8:00 and 21:00 in the person's own time zone, on any day, unless you set other calling
    hours or days for your account or for one campaign. Hours outside 8:00 to 21:00 must be confirmed by an owner.
    The time zone comes from the contact's details or their phone number; when neither gives one, the person is not
    called unless you have set a **Timezone for customers we cannot place**. See
    [Calling hours](/calling-hours#the-calling-hours-and-days-card). WhatsApp **Marketing** templates and a campaign's
    after-call WhatsApp message also wait for the person's calling hours; other WhatsApp messages do not. A Marketing
    follow-up in a chat the shopper started goes at once only within 24 hours of that chat.
  </Step>

  <Step title="They have not been contacted too often">
    RuleInside limits how often one person can be contacted, and each account has a maximum number of calls per day.
    The numbers are on [Plans, limits and what happens at the limit](/limits).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## When a check cannot be completed

If a check cannot be completed at that moment, for example because a list could not be read, the person is **not**
contacted. RuleInside never contacts someone because a check failed to answer. In the same way, if your saved calling
hours or days could not be read, nobody is called.

When calls and messages are held back only because your store has not confirmed calling consent yet, they are not
cancelled at once: they are tried again a limited number of times. Confirm before you launch a campaign so that
nothing is held back.

## Campaigns with their own hours

A campaign can use its own calling hours, its own calling days, or both, instead of the account's. They can be changed
only while the campaign is a draft. Each person in the campaign is still checked against every other rule above. See
[Campaigns](/campaigns).

<Note>
  These rules are the minimum RuleInside applies. You remain responsible for the consent you record and for the
  rules of the countries you call. RuleInside does not check that the lawful basis you record is true.
</Note>


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