Law / United States / 
Illinois
Illinois Automatic Telephone Dialers Act
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Consent, Disclosure, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Do not play a prerecorded sales message placed by an autodialer without the called party's consent.
- Do not operate an autodialer, a device that stores telephone numbers and dials them sequentially or randomly to connect a call with a recorded sales message, to place a call between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m., or to call an emergency telephone number.
- Disconnect within 30 seconds after the call ends; if that is not technically feasible, have a live operator state their name, the name, address, and telephone number of the business or organization represented, and the purpose of the call, and ask at the outset whether the called person consents to hear the prerecorded message.
- Do not use an autodialer to dial numbers by successively increasing or decreasing digits, and do not operate it in a way that impedes a called party's caller ID display when your equipment can display your number.
- None of these duties except the caller-ID rule applies to a call made at the called person's express request, to a person you have a prior or existing business relationship with, or for a political, charitable, public-opinion-polling, research-survey, or broadcast-rating organization.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Statutory damages
In addition to trebled actual damages, a consumer injured by a violation may elect statutory damages of $500 per violation; the Attorney General may likewise obtain $500 per violation in statutory damages for each person who received a call in violation of the Act, on top of any actual damages awarded.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 500
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
A private civil action under 815 ILCS 305/30(c) and (c-5); the Illinois Attorney General, treating a violation as an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.
What this law does
The Act's operative rules reach an autodialer, a device that stores telephone numbers and dials them sequentially or randomly to connect a call with a recorded message, which the Act defines as a taped communication soliciting the sale of goods or services without live voice interaction; a burglar alarm, fire alarm or voice message system is excluded. It is a violation to play a prerecorded message placed by an autodialer without the consent of the called party.
The Act bars operating an autodialer between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m., and requires it to disconnect within 30 seconds after the call ends. Where 30-second disconnection is not technically feasible, a live operator must state their name, the name, address, and telephone number of the business or organization being represented, and the purpose of the call, and ask at the outset whether the called person consents to hear the prerecorded message.
An autodialer may not dial numbers by successively increasing or decreasing digits, may not be operated in a way that impedes a called party's caller ID display, and may not be used to call an emergency telephone number.
The Act does not apply to a call made in response to the called person's express request, to a person with whom the caller has a prior or existing business relationship, or on behalf of a political, charitable, polling, research, or broadcast-rating organization, except that every autodialed call must still comply with the caller-ID rule.
Section 30, as last amended by Public Act 98-546 effective , lets an injured customer sue for three times actual damages plus costs and attorney's fees and lets a consumer separately recover $500 in statutory damages per violation. The Attorney General may also enforce the Act as an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and the court may award each person who received a violating call $500 per violation.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app sends automated outreach.