Compliance News
Telemarketing laws are constantly changing and we want our clients to know that they can rely on us to be up-to-date with restrictions and regulations. The purpose of the compliance news section is to keep our clients knowledgeable and informed about all compliance changes and updates.
FEDERAL:
FTC
Senator Barack Obama has requested increased efforts by the Federal Trade Commission to ensure protection for the elderly against fraudulent telemarketers.
The FTC has settled a case involving do-not-call violations in the state of Washington. The settlement required compliance with the TSR, State Laws, the federal do-not-call list, and a monetary judgment of more than $20,000,000.
DMA
The Direct Marketing Association has strengthened its guidelines to ensure customer information is used ethically. The DMA has set expectations that all members entering into agreements to share, sell, or rent consumer information with third parties must, among other things, obtain the purpose for which the data will be used, and include in the contract that the end-user will follow all applicable compliance regulations and DMA guidelines.
STATE:
Illinois
A proposed bill in the Illinois Senate (SB 34) would require that calls made by an autodialer, must immediately release the line once the call is disconnected. The bill also requires that the name, address and return telephone number be provided during the prerecorded message. Caller ID will also be required for prerecorded messages and the consumer must be provided with a zero-out option, which will allow them to reach a live operator at any time during the message.
Kentucky
Beginning June 26, 2007, Kentucky will no longer maintain a state do-not-call list. Instead they have opted to adopt the federal do-not-call list as their state list.
Maryland
A new Consumer Protection of Personal Information Act has been signed and will become effective on January 1, 2008. This act specifies what actions of communications a business must take if their customer’s records have been stolen or accessed by an unauthorized person.
Minnesota
Minnesota resident Ryan Swanberg, who maintains eight telephone numbers, stated in a local newspaper interview that he does not use the national do-not-call list in hopes of obtaining as many phone calls as possible. Swanberg has won several claims against telemarketing businesses in recent years. After stating that he has spent his winnings in ways such as gambling, a federal judge has entered an injunction prohibiting him from making claims against companies who have not called him.
Missouri
Senate Bill 49 is still being debated. This Senate bill would add all prerecorded calls to be scrubbed against the state do-not-call list. Political calls would not be exempt.
New Jersey
Proposed bill AB3765, by the General Assembly, would require all prerecorded calls, including political calls, to be scrubbed against the state’s do-not-call list.
New York
Senate Bill 3543 was signed into law on June 4, 2007. Through this new law, NY has aligned its DNC laws to comply with the FTC's "31 day" rule for national DNC registry downloads (FTC rule at 16 CFR 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B)).
Oregon
Oregon, which suspended its state do-not-call list with the inception of the federal do-not-call list in 2003, has approved a bill to be sent to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, to reinstate the state do-not-call list. This action was prompted by growing complaints by Oregon residents stating that they are still receiving unwanted solicitations. Gov. Kulongoski is expected to sign the bill at the end of June.
South Dakota
Currently using the federal definition of an established business relationship, South Dakota has revised its established business relationship time limitations to 18 months for calls to a person who has made a purchase, and three months to those who have made an inquiry.
Texas
Texas House Bill 143, which takes effect as of Sept. 1, 2007, was signed into law recently. This bill applies the Texas no-call list to “other transmissions, including a transmission of a text or graphic message or of an image, to a mobile telephone number."
Back to Issue 2 / June 2007