Fines of up to £500,000 are going to made easier to give to the companies behind nusiance text messages and cold calls under changes to the law made by the British government.
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Following tens of thousands of complaints about cold calling, the move comes after it was revealed firms could only be punished if "substantial damage or substantial distress" was proved by the Information Commissioner.
However, from April 6 that legal requirement will be removed, after over 175,000 complaints were made to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) last year.
Earlier this month in a speech, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said that current laws were "a licence for spammers and scammers" in an appeal for new powers.
Companies that openly disregarded and ignored rules on direct marketing were issued penalties totalling £815,000 by the ICO since January 2012, but it has been powerless to target firms behind unsolicited calls or texts.
After a six-week public consultation, digital economy minister Ed Vaizey has confirmed the removal of the legal threshold in a chat to BBC Breakfast.
He explained: "At the moment if the Information Commissioner goes after a company, he's got to show the company has caused you - the consumer at home - serious distress, serious harm.
"It's a very high test to pass which is why there have only been nine prosecutions, which is why we want to lower that test."
Vaizey continued that it was "important to recognise" the country had a "legitimate direct marketing industry... where businesses calling consumer can sometimes bring some benefit".
"We want to go after the cowboys. Frankly the Information commissioner knows who a lot of these companies are but it's very, very difficult to pass that threshold, now it will be a lot easier," he added.
It'll now be up to the ICO to decide when a serious contravention has taken place.
Meanwhile, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said it was "committed" in dealing with the problem of nuisance calls, and claimed it was looking to introduce mandatory caller line identification so all marketing callers would have to display their own telephone numbers.
It's confirmed that they'll also look at introducing measures to hold board level executives responsible for nuisance texts and calls.
This follows a report in December from a task force looking at the problem which called for the rules to be reviewed in order to act as a stronger deterrent to rogue companies.
Richard Lloyd, the executive director of consumer organisation Which? chaired the task force and welcomed the new announcement, saying the government was "making good on its promise".
He went on to add: "These calls are an everyday menace blighting the lives of millions. We want the regulator to send a clear message by using their new powers to full effect without delay."
The move has been described as just a "tiny step in the right direction" by the Fair Telecoms Campaign however.
David Hickson from that campaign said: "using the limited capacities of the ICO and Ofcom can never succeed now that the problem has been allowed to grow to its present scale".