If a telemarketer or service provider is accessing the National Registry directly – that is, if a telemarketer or service provider decides to obtain the information on its own behalf – it will have to pay a separate fee and comply with all requirements placed on sellers accessing the Registry. Such a telemarketer or service provider will be provided a subscription account number (SAN) that can be used only by that company.
The TSR does NOT preempt state law, so sellers, telemarketers, and others who do telemarketing will have to check with various states to determine what is required for compliance at the state level
What if a seller uses one telemarketer at the beginning of the year and switches to another later in the year? Will the seller have to pay twice? No. Each seller will have a unique subscription account number (SAN) that it can share with the telemarketers and service providers who may access the National Registry on the seller’s behalf.
Compliance
What happens to companies that don’t pay for access to the National Registry? A company that is a seller or telemarketer could be liable for placing any telemarketing calls (even to numbers NOT on the National Registry) unless the seller has paid the required fee for access to the Registry. Violators may be subject to fines of up to $43,792 per violation. Each call may be considered a separate violation. However, sellers and telemarketers should also be aware that the FCC regulates telemarketing calls. See .
What if I call a number that’s not on the National Registry without checking the Registry first? It’s against the law to call (or cause a telemarketer to call) any number on the National Registry (unless the seller has an established business relationship with the consumer whose number is being called, or the consumer agreed in writing to receive calls placed by or on behalf of the seller). But it’s also against the law for a seller to call (or cause a telemarketer to call) any person whose number is within a given area code unless the seller first has paid the annual fee for access to the portion of the National Registry that includes numbers within that area code.
In addition, it’s against the law for a telemarketer, calling on behalf of a seller, to call any person whose number is within a given area code unless the seller has first paid the annual fee for access to the portion of the National Registry that includes numbers within that area code. Telemarketers must make sure that their seller-clients have paid for access to the National Registry before placing any telemarketing calls on their behalf. However, sellers and telemarketers should also be aware that the FCC regulates telemarketing calls. See .
What’s my liability if my company inadvertently calls a number on the National Registry? The TSR has a safe harbor for inadvertent mistakes. If a seller or telemarketer can show that, as part of its routine business practice, it meets all the requirements of the safe harbor, it will not be subject to civil penalties or sanctions for mistakenly calling a consumer who has asked for no more calls, or for calling a person on the National Registry. However, sellers and telemarketers should also be aware that the FCC regulates telemarketing calls. See .
How do the registries operated by the FTC, the, FCC, and the various states fit together? Since , the FTC and the FCC jointly and cooperatively have enforced a single National Do Not Call Registry. Together, the FTC and the FCC have jurisdiction over nearly all sales calls placed to U.S. consumers.
Some thirteen payday loan in Acres Green Colorado states still administer their own do not call registries. See . A full copy of the FCC’s regulations can be found at: