Law / United States / 
Montana
Unsolicited Advertisement Facsimile Transmissions
In force since .
A telephone contact rule binding public and private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
What it requires
- Do not use a telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement, material advertising the commercial availability or quality of property, goods, or a service, to a telephone facsimile machine without the recipient's prior express invitation or permission; this does not reach public safety information sent by a law enforcement or public safety entity.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
In the frameworks
- NIST Privacy Framework
- CT.PO-P1Policies, processes, and procedures for authorizing data processing (e.g., organizational decisions, individual consent), revoking authorizations, and maintaining authorizations are established and in place.
- FINOS AIGF
- AIR-PREV-005System Acceptance Testing
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
A violation of the fax section is a violation of Title 30, chapter 14, part 1, so the Department of Justice may petition for a civil fine of up to $10,000 for each violation where the court finds a willful use of a method declared unlawful by 30-14-103.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 10,000
Statutory damages
A violation is a violation of the Consumer Protection Act (Mont. Code Ann. § 30-14-103), so a consumer who suffers an ascertainable loss may bring an individual, not a class, action for that loss or $500, whichever is greater, with the court able to award up to three times the loss when it does not exceed $100,000, plus attorney fees capped at $250 an hour; punitive damages are not available.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 500
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Montana Department of Justice or a county attorney under the Consumer Protection Act; a private action under Mont. Code Ann. § 30-14-133.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a fax sent by computer to a recipient's fax-to-email service reach a 'telephone facsimile machine', which 30-14-1501(1)(a) defines as equipment that transcribes an electronic signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper?
What this law does
Montana bars using a telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement, material advertising the commercial availability or quality of property, goods, or a service, sent without the recipient's prior express invitation or permission, to a fax machine, except a public safety notice sent by a law enforcement or public safety entity. A violation is a violation of the Consumer Protection Act.
A consumer harmed by it may bring an individual, non-class action for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, with up to treble damages when actual loss is under $100,000, plus attorney fees, alongside the Department of Justice's own enforcement.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app sends faxes.
Back to the example · Lint your app
Page updated .