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Compliance
National Do Not Call Registry Safe Harbor Policy
The Purpose:
Now that the fate of the National Do Not Call Registry (Registry) lies in the hands of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and Registry enforcement efforts have been undertaken by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state Attorneys General, practical questions of compliance have arisen as telemarketers begin scrambling to keep up with the fast pace of developments in this area. As direct marketers of goods and services consider their options in moving forward with telephone solicitations, there are several key factors that are critical from a do not call compliance perspective under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the FCC’s rules under the telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules. Generally, in order to ensure compliance, it is imperative you’re your company:
Develop, implement, and follow a written Do Not Call Policy
Train personnel in personnel in procedures established as past of the Do Not Call Policy
Scrub calling list against the registry as well as any state lists that remain
Become knowledgeable about the parameters for relying on the existing business relationship exemption, in general, and more specifically, for affiliates
Ensure compliance with compliance with company-specific internal do not call obligations
Keep accurate and detailed records of compliance
Appoint a specific person to be a “Chief Telemarketing Officer”
Do Not Call Policy is key to qualifying for a SAFE HARBOR:
Under both TSR and TCPA Rules, there is a SAFE HARBOR pursuant to which telemarketers will not be liable for calling a number listed on the Registry. In order to be protected as a SAFE HARBOR, the call that was made to the number on the Registry must be the result of an error and the telemarketer must be able to demonstrate that, as part of its routine business practice:
It has established and implemented a written policy setting forth procedures for compliance
It has trained its personnel, and any other entities assisting in compliance, in the procedures established as part of such written policy
It has maintained and recorded a company-specific list of telephone numbers that must not be called
It uses a process to prevent calling any numbers on the Registry
It monitors and enforces compliance with the written policy on an on-going basis
It is necessary first step to establish compliance and without it, telemarketers will never be able to meet the remaining prongs of the of the safe harbor test. The written policy must at least set forth the relevant aspects of how the telemarketer will implement procedures for, and abide by, the requirements of the Registry.The Policy should at a minimum, address the following:
- Subscribing to and paying for the use of the Registry.
- Downloading telephone numbers on a timely and 31 day basis from FTC’s website at: https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/
- Procedures for accepting and recording company-specific do not call requests, and maintaining a company-specific
do not call list (Company Specific List) - Time frame for responding to requests to be placed on the Company Specific List
- Scrubbing calling lists against the Registry and Company Specific List
- Procedures for dealing with a person who claims his or her number is on Registry or the Company Specific List.
- Procedures for dealing with an inadvertent call to a person whose number are on the Registry or the Company
Specific List. - Training personnel and telemarketers to comply with requirements of the Registry and Company Specific List.
- Use of the Registry list and the Company Specific List for other purposes (the Registry list must not be used for any
purpose other than preventing telemarketing calls to the telephone numbers on the Registry). - Ensuring that calls are not made to numbers on the Registry and the Company Specific List and those procedures
exist for monitoring compliance.
Do Not Call Policy is a guide and road map:
It can be used as a road map for working out the specific technical details of how to comply.It should be used as a general guidance for all internal and external operations that are implicated in telemarketing activities so that specific measures and actions of the telemarketer will match the general principles of their policy; i.e. use of software programs to alert sales or customer service representatives that a particular individual should not be solicited – a change normally handled by the Information Technology department.
Calling Time Restrictions:
Unless a telemarketer has a person’s prior consent to do otherwise, it is violation of the rule to make outbound telemarketing calls to the person’s home outside the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Call Abandonment:
Abandoned calls often resul
The Purpose:
Now that the fate of the National Do Not Call Registry (Registry) lies in the hands of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and Registry enforcement efforts have been undertaken by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state Attorneys General, practical questions of compliance have arisen as telemarketers begin scrambling to keep up with the fast pace of developments in this area. As direct marketers of goods and services consider their options in moving forward with telephone solicitations, there are several key factors that are critical from a do not call compliance perspective under the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and the FCC’s rules under the telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules. Generally, in order to ensure compliance, it is imperative you’re your company:
Develop, implement, and follow a written Do Not Call Policy
Train personnel in personnel in procedures established as past of the Do Not Call Policy
Scrub calling list against the registry as well as any state lists that remain
Become knowledgeable about the parameters for relying on the existing business relationship exemption, in general, and more specifically, for affiliates
Ensure compliance with compliance with company-specific internal do not call obligations
Keep accurate and detailed records of compliance
Appoint a specific person to be a “Chief Telemarketing Officer”
Do Not Call Policy is key to qualifying for a SAFE HARBOR:
Under both TSR and TCPA Rules, there is a SAFE HARBOR pursuant to which telemarketers will not be liable for calling a number listed on the Registry. In order to be protected as a SAFE HARBOR, the call that was made to the number on the Registry must be the result of an error and the telemarketer must be able to demonstrate that, as part of its routine business practice:
It has established and implemented a written policy setting forth procedures for compliance
It has trained its personnel, and any other entities assisting in compliance, in the procedures established as part of such written policy
It has maintained and recorded a company-specific list of telephone numbers that must not be called
It uses a process to prevent calling any numbers on the Registry
It monitors and enforces compliance with the written policy on an on-going basis
It is necessary first step to establish compliance and without it, telemarketers will never be able to meet the remaining prongs of the of the safe harbor test. The written policy must at least set forth the relevant aspects of how the telemarketer will implement procedures for, and abide by, the requirements of the Registry.The Policy should at a minimum, address the following:
- Subscribing to and paying for the use of the Registry.
- Downloading telephone numbers on a timely and 31 day basis from FTC’s website at
https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/. - Procedures for accepting and recording company-specific do not call requests, and maintaining a company-specific
do not call list (Company Specific List) - Time frame for responding to requests to be placed on the Company Specific List
- Scrubbing calling lists against the Registry and Company Specific List
- Procedures for dealing with a person who claims his or her number is on Registry or the Company Specific List.
- Procedures for dealing with an inadvertent call to a person whose number are on the Registry or the Company
Specific List. - Training personnel and telemarketers to comply with requirements of the Registry and Company Specific List.
- Use of the Registry list and the Company Specific List for other purposes (the Registry list must not be used for any
purpose other than preventing telemarketing calls to the telephone numbers on the Registry). - Ensuring that calls are not made to numbers on the Registry and the Company Specific List and those procedures
exist for monitoring compliance.
Do Not Call Policy is a guide and road map:
It can be used as a road map for working out the specific technical details of how to comply.It should be used as a general guidance for all internal and external operations that are implicated in telemarketing activities so that specific measures and actions of the telemarketer will match the general principles of their policy; i.e. use of software programs to alert sales or customer service representatives that a particular individual should not be solicited – a change normally handled by the Information Technology department.
Calling Time Restrictions:
Unless a telemarketer has a person’s prior consent to do otherwise, it is violation of the rule to make outbound telemarketing calls to the person’s home outside the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Call Abandonment:
Abandt from telemarketer’s use of predictive and new technology natural voice dialers to call consumers. Predictive dialers promote telemarketer’s efficiency by simultaneously calling multiple consumers for every available sales representative. This maximizes the amount of time telemarketing sales representatives’ spend talking to consumers and minimizes representatives’ downtime. But it also means some calls are abandon: consumers are either hung up on or kept waiting for long periods until a representative is available. Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule restricts “call abandonment” marketing calls. An Outbound call is “abandon” if a existing customer or prospect individual answers the predictive call and the call is not connected to an telemarketing agent within two (2) seconds. Genesis Predictive dialer is automatically programmed to set the abandon rate at three (3%) percent for full compliance. Predictive dialing feature allows four rings or 15 seconds before disconnecting an unanswered call. The intent is to avoid nuisance calls; If you exceed the abandon rule then you could use the Predictive dialer to play a customized pre-recorded message only stating name of telemarketing agent name, organization name, and telephone number when ever a live telemarketing agent is not available, within the two (2) seconds of a live individual answers the call. You can not play an unsolicited pre-recorded message selling any service and or product.