Law / United States / 
Delaware
Delaware Telemarketing Fraud Act
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding private bodies.
- Criminal exposure
- No
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Obligation class
- Licensing, Disclosure, Prohibition
What it requires
- Unless exempted, obtain a certificate of registration from the Director of the Consumer Protection Unit, post a $50,000 surety bond or letter of credit, and pay the $100 administrative fee before transacting business with a Delaware customer as a telemarketing seller or telemarketing business; a corporation traded on a public exchange or its at least 60-percent-owned subsidiary, a 501(c)(3) or (6) nonprofit organized or qualified in Delaware, a telemarketing business under contract for such a corporation, and the other sellers 6 Del. C. § 2503A(g) lists need not register.NIST Privacy FrameworkGV.PO-P5
- Keep your advertising and scripts, prize-recipient records, customer and sales records, telemarketing employee records, and payment authorizations for 24 months.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.DM-P8
- At the beginning of a solicitation call and before any sales pitch, disclose that the call's purpose is to sell specific merchandise, the telemarketer's name and the name of the seller on whose behalf the call is made, and accurate information about the merchandise offered.NIST Privacy FrameworkCM.AW-P1
- Before the initial sales call ends and before requesting payment, disclose the total price, any restrictions or conditions on the purchase, material aspects of the merchandise's performance, and the refund, cancellation or exchange policy, plus the specific disclosures this chapter requires for a prize promotion or an investment offer.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- Treat a telemarketing sale as final only 7 business days after the customer receives a written cancellation notice, in at least 12-point bold type and in the language of the sales presentation, unless you give a full refund or satisfaction guarantee with at least 7 days to review the goods or services and disclose that policy and a return address.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- Do not submit a customer's check or draft for payment without the customer's express verifiable authorization (a signed writing, the customer's signature on the instrument, a tape-recorded oral authorization, or a prior written confirmation), represent registration as a government endorsement, take advance payment to recover losses from a prior telemarketing transaction, or send a courier for payment unless the customer can first inspect the merchandise.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- Do not wilfully call or contact a customer for a purpose connected with selling or advertising merchandise for 10 years after the customer has directed you, orally or in writing, to cease and desist.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
- These duties do not reach a sale completed only after a face-to-face presentation, a call the customer initiated that was not the result of a solicitation, a business-to-business call, telephone use by a charitable, religious, political, educational, labor or social organization for noncommercial fundraising, a licensed insurance or registered securities professional acting within the license's scope, a supervised financial institution, a qualifying catalog seller, or a sale governed by Public Service Commission or Federal Communications Commission tariffs.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST Privacy Framework
- GV.PO-P5Legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements regarding privacy are understood and managed.
- CT.PO-P3Policies, processes, and procedures for enabling individuals’ data processing preferences and requests are established and in place.
- CT.DM-P8Audit/log records are determined, documented, implemented, and reviewed in accordance with policy and incorporating the principle of data minimization.
- CM.AW-P1Mechanisms (e.g., notices, internal or public reports) for communicating data processing purposes, practices, associated privacy risks, and options for enabling individuals’ data processing preferences and requests are established and in place.
- FINOS AIGF
- AIR-PREV-005System Acceptance Testing
- AIR-DET-021Agent Decision Audit and Explainability
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework, and in the NIST Privacy Framework, line by line beside each duty above. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Attorney General enforces this chapter under 6 Del. C. § 2509A and Title 29, chapter 25; a customer may recover directly under 6 Del. C. § 2508A.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a seller that places calls through an automated or synthetic-voice system, with no natural person on the call, fall outside "telemarketer" as 6 Del. C. § 2502A(11) defines it as "a natural person", or does it cause the initiation of the calls and so remain within the chapter as a "seller" under § 2502A(9)?
What this law does
Telemarketing is an organized activity, program or campaign by one or more telemarketers to solicit a sale of merchandise by telephone, and a telemarketer is a natural person who, from any location, initiates or receives telephone calls to or from a customer located in Delaware in connection with it.
Delaware requires a seller or telemarketing business, unless exempted, to obtain a certificate of registration from the Director of the Consumer Protection Unit before transacting business with a Delaware customer through telemarketing. Every registrant must also file a $50,000 corporate surety bond, or an equivalent letter of credit, with the Director.
The registration and bond duty does not apply to a corporation whose shares trade on a public exchange or its at least 60-percent-owned subsidiary, or a 501(c)(3) or (6) nonprofit, if organized in Delaware or qualified to do business there, to a telemarketing business working under contract for such a corporation, or to listed sellers including repair-contract sellers, Public Service Commission-regulated sellers, established Delaware retailers, negative-option plans, small food sellers, real estate licensees, and cable, newspaper or magazine sellers.
A seller or telemarketing business must keep its advertising and scripts, prize-recipient records, customer and sales records, telemarketing employee records and payment authorizations for 24 months. At the beginning of a solicitation call and before any sales pitch, a telemarketer must disclose that the call's purpose is to sell specific merchandise, the telemarketer's name and the name of the seller on whose behalf the call is made, and accurate information about the merchandise offered.
Before the initial sales call ends and before payment is requested, the telemarketer must disclose the total price, any restrictions or conditions, material aspects of the merchandise and of the refund, cancellation, exchange or repurchase policy, and the material terms of any investment or prize promotion.
A telemarketing sale becomes final only 7 business days after the customer receives a written notice, in at least 12-point bold type, of the right to cancel, unless the seller offers a full refund or satisfaction guarantee with at least 7 days to review the goods or services.
It is a prohibited practice to submit a customer's check or draft for payment without the customer's express verifiable authorization, to represent registration as a government endorsement, to assist a seller or telemarketer one knew or should have known was violating the chapter, to take advance payment to recover losses from a prior telemarketing transaction, or to send a courier for payment unless the customer can inspect the merchandise first.
A telemarketer may not wilfully call or contact a customer for a purpose connected with selling or advertising merchandise for 10 years after the customer has directed the telemarketer, orally or in writing, to cease and desist, a call being wilful if the caller knows or should know of the instruction.
The chapter does not apply to a solicitation completed only after a face-to-face presentation to the customer, a business-to-business sale, telephone use by a charitable, religious, political, educational, labor or social organization for noncommercial fundraising, a licensed insurance or registered securities professional acting within the license's scope, a supervised financial institution, a qualifying catalog seller, or a sale governed by Public Service Commission or Federal Communications Commission tariffs.
It also exempts a communication by telephone or other media that the customer initiated and that was not the result of any solicitation by the telemarketer, seller or telemarketing business. The sale of merchandise by an unregistered, non-exempt seller or telemarketing business is voidable. A customer who suffers a loss or harm from a violation may recover actual and punitive damages, attorney's fees, court costs and any other remedies including equitable relief.
Violating Title 11's extortion or blackmail offenses in connection with telemarketing is separately a class F felony. The provisions this entry describes came into force on different days.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app places automated calls.
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