On June 27, 2003, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened the National Do Not Call Registry in order to facilitate compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. The Registry is intended to give U.S. consumers an opportunity to limit the telemarketing calls they receive.
Cell phone numbers need not be included on the registry to avoid unsolicited calls. FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from calling a cellular phone number with an automatic dialer. If a person does not want to register a number on the national registry, he or she can still prohibit individual telemarketers from calling by asking the caller to put the called number on the company’s do-not-call list.
Telemarketers covered by the registry have up to 31 days from the date a number is registered to cease calling that number. This puts the onus on telemarketers to obtain and maintain up-to-date feeds from the registry, as fines for non-compliance can be costly. Enforcement agencies at the state level now routinely levy fines against companies for DNC violations. Depending on the state, penalties can reach $25,000 per infraction. The federal rules in the United States (promulgated by both the FTC and the FCC) pose even more serious challenges, with fines ranging up to $11,000 per violation, and vigorous enforcement a certainty.
In addition, consumers continue to have the authority to bring a civil action against the violating party and potentially recover civil penalties inclusive of court costs, attorney fees and monetary fines. In Canada, CRTC can levy penalties of up to $1,500 for an individual and up to $15,000 for a corporation, for each violation. Over and above these fines, any entity violating these rules faces substantial negative repercussions from a public relations viewpoint, as the agencies that enforce these laws promulgate press releases, which include the names of the entities fined, and the fine amount. Generally speaking, the consequences of non-compliance are more severe than ever.
