Law / United States / 
Washington
Commercial Telephone Solicitation Act
In force since .
A telephone contact rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Licensing, Prohibition
What it requires
- Register with the Washington Department of Licensing before doing business in the state as a commercial telephone solicitor, whether you solicit from a location in Washington or solicit purchasers located in Washington, and before maintaining or defending a lawsuit here.
- Do not have a salesperson solicit purchasers on your behalf while your registration is not current.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: Washington State Department of Licensing (guidance, recorded ).
In the frameworks
- NIST Privacy Framework
- GV.PO-P5Legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements regarding privacy are understood and managed.
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 exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
A salesperson who solicits purchasers on behalf of a commercial telephone solicitor that is not currently registered with the Department of Licensing is guilty of a misdemeanor (RCW 19.158.150). Any person who knowingly violates the chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor, a gross misdemeanor or a class C felony according to the value of the transaction made in violation of RCW 19.158.040(1), a class C felony at two hundred fifty dollars or more (RCW 19.158.160).
Penalty structure
A court must impose a civil penalty for each violation of the chapter of not less than $500 nor more than $2,000 per violation; this is separate from a private plaintiff's action for actual damages, costs and fees under RCW 19.158.130.
- Rule
- Per violation only
- As of
- Minimum
- 500
- Currency
- USD
- Per violation unit
- Violation
- Per violation amount
- 2,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Department of Licensing (registration); private civil action for damages, costs and fees under RCW 19.158.130; a court-imposed civil penalty of $500 to $2,000 per violation under RCW 19.158.140; criminal prosecution of an unregistered solicitor's salesperson under RCW 19.158.150
Settledness
- As of
- Guidance link
- https://dol.wa.gov/professional-licenses/telephone-solicitors/get-your-license-telephone-solicitors
- Guidance body
- Washington State Department of Licensing
- Open questions
- When is a solicitation "an isolated transaction and not done in the course of a pattern of repeated transactions of like nature" under RCW 19.158.020(2)(b)(i), so that the caller is not a commercial telephone solicitor required to register?
- Does the exclusion in RCW 19.158.020(2)(b)(iii) for a person "soliciting business solely from purchasers who have previously purchased" from the business enterprise reach a call that offers a product the purchaser has not bought before?
What this law does
Chapter 19.158 RCW requires a commercial telephone solicitor, defined broadly to include a person who calls to encourage a purchase or investment or to wrongfully obtain anything of value, subject to exceptions including calls made in response to the called party's own inquiry, to register with the Department of Licensing before doing business in the state, whether soliciting from a Washington location or soliciting Washington purchasers from elsewhere; a solicitor must register even to maintain or defend a lawsuit here.
A violation is a per se unfair or deceptive act under the Consumer Protection Act, chapter 19.86 RCW. A person injured by a violation may sue for actual damages, court costs and attorney's fees; a court must impose a civil penalty of $500 to $2,000 per violation; and a salesperson who solicits purchasers on behalf of a commercial telephone solicitor that is not currently registered is guilty of a misdemeanor. The effective date of the act, as originally enacted, was .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app places automated calls.
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Page updated .