United StatesTelemarketing Sales Rule
16 CFR Part 310; 15 U.S.C. 6101-6108
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What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding private bodies.
As of .
What it requires
- Before an outbound telemarketing call to a residential number, screen it against the National Do Not Call Registry and your own do-not-call list, and do not call a number on either.
- Do not abandon more than 3% of answered outbound calls in a calling campaign measured over 30 days, where a call is abandoned if not connected to a sales representative within two seconds of the called person's completed greeting.
- Do not deliver a prerecorded telemarketing message to induce a purchase or a charitable contribution without the recipient's prior signed written agreement to receive prerecorded calls from that seller, obtained separately from any purchase requirement.
- Keep telemarketing records, including scripts, prerecorded messages, and call logs, for five years.
- A person adversely affected by a pattern or practice that violates this Rule may sue you for actual damages once the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000, in addition to Federal Trade Commission enforcement.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
A Telemarketing Sales Rule violation is treated as a violation of an FTC Act rule on unfair or deceptive acts or practices (15 U.S.C. 6102(c)), which currently carries a civil penalty of up to $53,088 per violation under 15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A), inflation-adjusted.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 53,088
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Federal Trade Commission; State attorneys general and private persons meeting the $50,000 amount-in-controversy threshold may also sue
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition, Consent, Retention
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
The Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule requires a seller or telemarketer to screen outbound calls against the National Do Not Call Registry (for which access carries an annual per-area-code fee) and its own do-not-call list, caps abandoned calls, and conditions a prerecorded telemarketing message on the recipient's prior signed written agreement to receive it.
The Federal Trade Commission enforces the Rule as an unfair or deceptive act or practice, with the Federal Trade Commission Act's civil penalty. Separately, 15 U.S.C. 6104 lets a person adversely affected by a pattern or practice of telemarketing that violates the Rule sue for an injunction or damages, but only where the amount in controversy exceeds $50,000 in actual damages for each person affected; the statute gives no fixed per-violation amount, unlike the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)'s private right.
When LexLint raises it
automated_outreach
Read the law
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
16 CFR Part 310, adopted under the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 6101-6108
Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.