Law / United States / 
Virginia
Virginia Automatic Dialing-Announcing Devices Act
Va. Code 59.1-518.1 to 59.1-518.4
In force.
A telephone contact rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Consent, Disclosure, Prohibition
What it requires
- Before an automatic dialing-announcing device (equipment that selects and dials numbers and plays a prerecorded or synthesized voice message) delivers a commercial telephone solicitation to a subscriber in Virginia, either have the subscriber's knowing or voluntary request, consent, permission or authorization to receive it, or have a live operator disclose the sending entity's name, the message's purpose, the kinds of goods or services promoted and, if applicable, that the message seeks payment or a commitment of funds, and obtain the subscriber's consent before the message is delivered.NIST Privacy FrameworkCT.PO-P1
- Design and operate an automatic dialing-announcing device, or any other device playing a prerecorded or synthesized voice message, to disconnect, disengage or terminate the call within five seconds after the called party ends it.no control in the NIST Privacy Framework
- The consent rule does not reach a call to a subscriber with whom the caller has had a prior business or personal relationship, or a call the Commonwealth or a political subdivision places for exclusively public purposes, because neither is a commercial telephone solicitation.
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, 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 exposureNo
Private right of actionYes
Penalty structure
A civil penalty of not more than $2,500 for each violation the Attorney General, an attorney for the Commonwealth, or a local attorney may recover where the court finds a willful violation, since a violation of this chapter is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act; this is not a sum a private plaintiff collects.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 2,500
Statutory damages
Through the Virginia Consumer Protection Act's individual action, a person who suffers loss as the result of a violation recovers actual damages or $500, whichever is greater; on a finding of willfulness the trier of fact may increase damages to an amount not exceeding three times the actual damages sustained or $1,000, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs.
- As of
- Currency
- USD
- Per person minimum
- 500
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
A violation is deemed a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (Va. Code 59.1-200), subject to that Act's individual action under Va. Code 59.1-204 and to Attorney General, Commonwealth's attorney, or locality's attorney enforcement under Va. Code 59.1-206.
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a subscriber who once bought from a corporate affiliate of the caller have had "a prior business or personal relationship with the subscriber" under the definition of "commercial telephone solicitation" in Va. Code section 59.1-518.1?
What this law does
A caller, a person who contacts or tries to contact a subscriber in Virginia by telephone, must not use an automatic dialing-announcing device (one that selects and dials telephone numbers and plays a prerecorded or synthesized voice message) to make a commercial telephone solicitation unless the subscriber has knowingly or voluntarily requested, consented to, permitted or authorized receipt of the message, or a live operator first discloses the sending entity's name, the message's purpose, the kinds of goods or services promoted and, if applicable, that the message seeks payment or a commitment of funds, and obtains the subscriber's consent before the solicitation is delivered.
A commercial telephone solicitation is an unsolicited call to a subscriber by a person who has had no prior business or personal relationship with the subscriber, made to solicit the purchase or the consideration of the purchase of goods or services; calls the Commonwealth or a political subdivision initiates for exclusively public purposes are excluded.
A caller using such a device, or any other device playing a prerecorded or synthesized voice message, must design and operate it to disconnect within five seconds after the called party ends the call. A violation is a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act and subject to all of that Act's enforcement provisions.
Under that Act, a person who suffers loss as the result of a violation may recover actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, which the trier of fact may raise for a willful violation to not more than three times actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney fees and court costs. On a willful violation, the Attorney General, an attorney for the Commonwealth or a local attorney may recover a civil penalty of not more than $2,500 for each violation. The chapter states no criminal penalty. No day on which the chapter came into force has been located.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app places automated calls.
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