Law / United States / 
Pennsylvania
Telemarketer Registration Act
73 P.S. §§ 2241-2249 (Act 147 of 1996)
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Licensing, Prohibition, Disclosure, Consent
What it requires
- The duties below are those of the Act as Act 47 of 2026 rewrote it, in force since , 90 days after its approval on .
- Register with the Office of Attorney General, with a $50,000 surety bond, at least 30 days before offering consumer goods or services for sale, and before you or your telemarketers initiate or receive a telemarketing call or message with a Pennsylvania subscriber, unless an exemption applies (among others, a business licensed by or registered with a federal or Commonwealth agency acting within that licence, a qualifying catalog seller, an established business-to-business seller, or a seller calling its own past purchasers after three years under one name).NIST Privacy FrameworkGV.PO-P5
- Do not make a telephone solicitation, including a text message or ringless voicemail, on a Sunday, on a legal holiday, or before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m., or to a subscriber who has told you they do not want solicitations from you or your seller (for a text message, a reply such as stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe), or to a number on the do-not-call list once 30 days have passed since the quarterly list that first contains it; obtain the list quarterly and use it only to remove numbers.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
- Do not initiate a robocall to a residential, business or wireless line without the called party's prior express written consent: a signed agreement (an electronic signature can qualify) naming the number, clearly and conspicuously disclosing consent to solicitations including a robocall or text message, and stating that consent is not a condition of purchase; do not use an unfair or deceptive practice to obtain it.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P1
- If you use robocalls, state at the start of each call how to opt out, offer an automated voice or key-press opt-out within two seconds of identifying the caller and the seller and throughout the call, remove an opting-out number immediately, never require written consent to opt out, and leave a toll-free number reaching that opt-out in any voicemail message.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
- During the initial contact, disclose promptly the purpose of the call, your name and what you are selling; give the caller's name, the name of the person on whose behalf you call and, on request, a contact number or address; end the solicitation when the called party indicates they want to end it.NIST Privacy FrameworkCM.AW-P1NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P3
- Do not act to block or falsify your name or number on the recipient's caller identification, or to circumvent, bypass or disable a call-screening product the subscriber uses, and do not use any technology or any synthetic or computer-generated messaging to defraud, deceive or mislead a subscriber.NIST Privacy FrameworkCM.AW-P1
- A call or message is not a telephone solicitation, so the calling-hours, do-not-call and robocall duties do not reach it, when made in response to the subscriber's prior express written consent, about an existing debt, contract, payment or performance, to a subscriber with whom you have had an established business relationship within the past 12 months, for an organization tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), (5) or (8) of the Internal Revenue Code or a congressionally chartered veterans organization, or for a political candidate or party.
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-P1Policies, processes, and procedures for authorizing data processing (e.g., organizational decisions, individual consent), revoking authorizations, and maintaining authorizations are established and in place.
- CT.PO-P3Policies, processes, and procedures for enabling individuals’ data processing preferences and requests are established and in place.
- 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
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Failing to register as required by the Act is a misdemeanor of the second degree.
Penalty structure
A violation of the Act is also a violation of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (Act section 6(a)), and the Attorney General may bring an action to impose a civil penalty under that Law (Act section 5(k)(1)). That Law's civil penalty for a wilful violation is not more than $1,000 per violation, and not more than $3,000 per violation where the victim is 60 or older. The $3,000 figure is the highest tier. Failing to register is separately a misdemeanor of the second degree.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 3,000
Statutory damages
Available under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law's private-action section, 73 P.S. section 201-9.2, only to a person who purchased or leased goods or services primarily for personal, family, or household purposes and suffered an ascertainable loss; actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, which the court may in its discretion increase up to three times the actual damages (but never below $100), plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 100
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Office of Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection, which may investigate and bring a civil enforcement action under the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law; a private civil action under 73 P.S. section 201-9.2.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a campaign that sends only one text message to each subscriber count as 'telemarketing' under the definition that requires a plan, program or campaign that 'involves more than one telephone solicitation'?
What this law does
Act 47 of 2026, approved , rewrote the Telemarketer Registration Act with effect 90 days after its approval, so the amended text has governed since , and this row describes the Act as that amendment leaves it.
A telemarketer, or the telemarketing business that employs it, must register with the Office of Attorney General at least 30 days before offering consumer goods or services for sale through any medium, with a $50,000 surety bond, and may not initiate or receive a telemarketing call or message with a Pennsylvania subscriber unless registered.
Registration does not apply to a person or business licensed by or registered with a federal or Commonwealth agency acting within that licence, a qualifying catalog seller, a business-to-business seller that has operated for three years under one name with at least half its sales volume in repeat sales, a seller calling its own past purchasers after three years under one name, and others the Act lists, while a business providing telemarketing services to others under the same ownership for less than five years must register regardless.
A telephone solicitation is a call, voicemail, ringless voicemail or text message to a residential, business or wireless subscriber to solicit the sale of consumer goods or services, or to obtain information for that purpose.
The term does not include a call or message made in response to the subscriber's prior express written consent, about an existing debt, contract, payment or performance, to a subscriber with whom the seller or telemarketer has had an established business relationship within the past 12 months, on behalf of an organization tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), (5) or (8) of the Internal Revenue Code or a congressionally chartered veterans organization, or on behalf of a political candidate or party.
The Act bars a telephone solicitation on a Sunday, on a legal holiday, or after 7 p.m. or before 9 a.m., and one to a subscriber who has said they do not wish to receive solicitations from the seller or telemarketer, which for a text message a reply such as stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe is enough to say.
A telemarketer may not call a number enrolled on the do-not-call list beginning 30 days after the quarterly list that first contains it, must obtain the list quarterly, and may use it only to remove numbers; written procedures, trained staff, a maintained list and a call made in error together are a defense.
It bars a robocall, an autodialed telephone solicitation delivering a prerecorded or artificial voice, to a residential, business or wireless line without the called party's prior express written consent, unless the call is for emergency purposes or otherwise exempt, and bars any unfair or deceptive practice used to obtain that consent.
Prior express written consent is a signed written agreement, which may use an electronic signature, that names the number, clearly and conspicuously discloses consent to solicitations including a robocall or text message, and states that consent is not a condition of purchase.
A telemarketer that uses robocalls must state at the start of the call how to opt out, offer an automated voice or key-press opt-out within two seconds of identifying the caller and the seller and throughout the call, remove an opting-out number immediately, never require written consent to opt out, and leave a toll-free number reaching that opt-out in any voicemail message.
A telemarketer must disclose promptly the purpose of the call, its name and what it is selling, give the caller's name and that of the person on whose behalf it calls and, on request, a contact number or address, end a solicitation when the called party indicates they want to end it, and may not take any action with the primary intent to prevent the transmission of its name or telephone number, to falsely identify them, or to circumvent, bypass or disable a product or service a subscriber uses to screen calls or messages.
The Act also bars using any technology or any synthetic or computer-generated messaging to defraud, deceive or mislead a subscriber, and makes a violation of the federal Telemarketing Sales Rule, of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act's bar on misleading caller identification, or of a Federal Communications Commission caller-identification rule a violation of the Act. Failing to register is a misdemeanor of the second degree.
A violation of the Act is also a violation of the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, and the Attorney General may separately investigate and bring its own enforcement action.
That Law's private action under section 201-9.2 is available to a person who purchases or leases goods or services primarily for personal, family, or household purposes and suffers an ascertainable loss, for actual damages or $100, whichever is greater, which the court may in its discretion treble, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app sends automated outreach, places automated calls or sends automated texts.
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