 | Do Not Call Compliance Reporting
Compliance Reporting helps third-party customer service organizations meet the COPC-2000 standard by providing the necessary documentation to record all compliance activities, including list scrubbing, agent training, DNC policy creation, and internal DNC list maintenance. |
| COPC-2000 Standard
This regulation monitors the performance of third-party customer service organizations through an annual evaluation and certification in 32 areas dictated in the COPC-2000 Standard. |
| CSV File Format
Comma Separated Value file format is an industry standard used to exchange electronic data (or files) between different database applications. The term, "comma separated", means that existing commas in your data will be used as delimiters to mark the beginning of each new field. Since most database applications have the ability to adapt to CSV format, scrubbed lists will be returned to the customer in Comma Separated Value file format. |
| Do Not Call Compliance (DNC)
Do Not Call is a list of home and cell telephone numbers that most telemarketers are prohibited from using and must remove from their existing call lists within 31 days of registration. Failure to comply with Do Not Call regulations can result in heavy fines against the telemarketer. The US Federal Trade Commission established Do-Not-Call to give US consumers the opportunity to reduce the number of unsolicited telephone calls they receive. |
| The FTC
The Federal Trade Commission. Established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC is an independent agency of the United States government with the purpose of enforcing consumer protection. Headed by five commissioners nominated by the United States President, the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection aims at protecting consumers against fraudulent, deceptive, or unfair business practices. |
| Interstate Calls
Involving, existing, or relating to more than one state; crossing state lines or boundaries. |
| Intrastate Calls
Involving, existing, or relating to the boundaries of one state; not crossing state lines. |
| National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR)
The National Do-Not-Call Registry supports the FTC's Do-Not-Call Implementation Act. Consumers may register their home phone and cell phone numbers free of charge. Once the number is on the registry, it will remain there until the consumer requests for it to be removed or the number is reassigned to another consumer. Consumers also have the option of registering through their State Do-Not-Call Registry; however, requirements may differ as the SDNCR is not regulated by the FTC. |
| State & National Do Not Call Registries
The National and/or State Do-Not-Call registries are lists of telephone numbers that telemarketers are prohibited from calling. Consumers "register" their telephone numbers with the federal government and/or their state for the purpose of reducing the number of unsolicited telemarketing calls they will receive. |
| Do Not Call List Scrubbing
A program that electronically “cleanses” your existing telemarketer call list to remove any telephone numbers that shouldn't be called. The scrubbing process includes comparing an existing telemarketer call list to the most recent National and/or State Do-Not-Call Registries to produce a clean call list for telemarketers to use. The process of scrubbing may take as little as one hour for a list containing up to one million records and must be repeated every 31 days to remain valid. |
| Scrubbed List
The result of the "scrubbing" process, a scrubbed list is a clean telemarketer call list where all registered Do-Not-Call numbers have been removed. A scrubbed list is valid for up to 31 days after scrubbing. |
| SDNCR
State Do-Not-Call Registry. Unregulated by the Federal Trade Commission, each state has its own requirements for telephone number registration. This includes length of time, quantity of registered telephone numbers per household, and other state-dictated factors. |
| The Established Business Relationship Exemption
Sellers and telemarketers may call a consumer with whom a seller has an established business relationship, provided the consumer has not asked to be on the seller’s entity-specific Do Not Call list. The Rule states that there are two kinds of established business relationships.
One is based on the consumer’s purchase, rental, or lease of the seller’s goods or services, or a financial transaction between the consumer and seller, within 18 months preceding a telemarketing call. The 18-month period runs from the date of the last payment, transaction, or shipment between the consumer and the seller.
The other is based on a consumer’s inquiry or application regarding a seller’s goods or services, and exists for three months starting from the date the consumer makes the inquiry or application. This enables sellers to return calls to interested prospects even if their telephone numbers are on the National Registry. |
| Calling Time Restrictions
Per the Telemarketing Sales Rule, unless a telemarketer has a person’s prior consent to do otherwise, it is a 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. |
| The Telemarketing Sales Rule
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued the amended Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) on January 29, 2003. Like the original TSR issued in 1995, the amended Rule gives effect to the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act. This legislation gives the FTC and state attorneys general law enforcement tools to combat telemarketing fraud, give consumers added privacy protections and defenses against unscrupulous telemarketers, and help consumers tell the difference between fraudulent and legitimate telemarketing. One significant amendment to the TSR prohibits calling consumers who have put their phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Another change covers the solicitation of charitable contributions by for-profit telemarketers. Other key provisions: • require disclosures of specific information • prohibit misrepresentations • limit when telemarketers may call consumers • require transmission of Caller ID information • prohibit abandoned outbound calls, subject to a safe harbor • prohibit unauthorized billing • set payment restrictions for the sale of certain goods and services • require that specific business records be kept for two years |
| Call Abandonment (and Safe Harbor)
The Telemarketing Sales Rule expressly prohibits telemarketers from abandoning any outbound telephone call, but has an alternative that allows some flexibility while enabling them to avoid liability under this provision. The call abandonment provision and safe harbor take effect October 1, 2003.
Abandoned calls often result from the telemarketers’ use of predictive dialers to call consumers. Predictive dialers promote telemarketers’ 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 abandoned: consumers are either hung up on or kept waiting for long periods until a representative is available.
Under the Rule’s definition, an outbound telephone call is “abandoned” if a person answers it and the telemarketer does not connect the call to a sales representative within two seconds of the person’s completed greeting. The use of prerecorded message telemarketing, where a sales pitch begins with or is made entirely by a prerecorded message, violates the TSR because the telemarketer is not connecting the call to a sales representative within two seconds of the person’s completed greeting. |
| Telemarketing
The term “telemarketing” means a plan, program, or campaign which is conducted to induce purchases of goods or services, or a charitable contribution, donation, or gift of money or any other thing of value, by use of one or more telephones and which involves more than one interstate telephone call. The term does not include the solicitation of sales through the mailing of a catalog which — (A) contains a written description, or illustration of the goods or services offered for sale, (B) includes the business address of the seller, (C) includes multiple pages of written material or illustrations, and (D) has been issued not less frequently than once a year, where the person making the solicitation does not solicit customers by telephone but only receives calls initiated by customers in response to the catalog and during those calls takes orders only without further solicitation. |
| The Entity-Specific Do Not Call Provision of the TSR
It is a Rule violation to call any consumer who has asked not to be called again (the “entity-specific Do Not Call” provision). A telemarketer may not call a consumer who previously has asked not to receive any more calls from or on behalf of a particular seller or charitable organization. It also is a Rule violation for a seller who has been asked by a consumer not to call again to cause a telemarketer to call that consumer. Sellers and telemarketers are responsible for maintaining their individual Do Not Call lists of consumers who have asked not to receive calls placed by, or on behalf of, a particular seller. Calling a consumer who has asked not to be called potentially exposes a seller and telemarketer to a civil penalty of $16,000 ($40,000 beginning 08/01/16) per violation. |
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