Direct marketing companies will have to pull back on the use of telephone subscriber information following the Government's adoption of new EU regulations.

The new rules were among the last regulations to be adopted by the Government before the General Election yesterday.

They are intended to block the use of personal information in direct marketing campaigns - if that is the wish of individuals - and designed to prevent personal customer information held by telecoms being exploited by companies. In addition, they mean that the State must guarantee the confidentiality of all communications in national regulations.

Signed by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, the directive means that any "unauthorised" listening, tapping, storage and other surveillance of communications is illegal.

Subscriber rights and entitlements are also established by the European Communities Data Protection and Privacy in Telecommunications Regulation.

The implementation of the regulation will be monitored by the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, and the data protection commissioner, Mr Joe Meade.

Ms O'Rourke's Department said: "With regard to directory information, subscribers will also have the possibility to indicate that they do not wish to have their personal information used for the purposes of direct marketing and that, consequently, they do not wish to receive direct marketing telephone calls or faxes. "Subscribers will be able to request this facility from their relevant telecommunications provider."

In addition, the directive states that individuals are entitled to be omitted from printed or electronic directories free of charge.

The Department of Public Enterprise said: "\ are also entitled to indicate which of their personal data (such as name or gender information) may be included in a directory.

"It will also be possible for subscribers to have part of their address omitted from such directories. The regulations provide that no fees will be charged to subscribers who exercise their entitlements in this regard."

Telephone subscribers must be given the possibility of not subscribing to caller line identification services, which enable those receiving calls to identify who is on the line.

Conversely, subscribers must also have the option of rejecting incoming calls from individuals who block their calling line identification.