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Aug 25, 2008 1:21 pm US/Central
New Rule Helps W/Prerecorded Telemarketing Calls
(CBS 11 News)
Telephone customers can now avoid prerecorded messages thanks to a new Federal Trade Commission rule governing telemarketing calls.
Starting September 1, 2009, call recipients' written permission must be obtained before telemarketing companies can contact them with prerecorded messages.
To help customers until the 2009 rule goes into effect, starting December 1, 2008 prerecorded telemarketing calls must have an opt-out option so callers can elect not to receive unsolicited calls from the company in the future.
The FTC's new rule will not prohibit customers from receiving certain prerecorded informational calls, such as those which announce flight delay notifications, upcoming appointments, or similarly helpful information. Healthcare-related phone calls also are exempt from the new regulations.
Under the new rule, the prerecorded telemarketing calls must:
• allow the telephone to ring for at least 15 seconds or four rings before an unanswered call is disconnected;
• begin the prerecorded message within two seconds of a completed greeting by the recipient;
• disclose at the outset of the call that the recipient may ask to be placed on the company's do-not-call list at any time during the message;
• in cases where the call is answered by a person, make an automated interactive voice and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism available during the message that adds the recipient's telephone number to the company's do-not-call list and then immediately ends the call; and
• in cases where the call is answered by an answering machine or voicemail, provide a toll-free number that allows the recipient to be connected to an automated interactive voice and/or keypress-activated opt-out mechanism anytime after the message is received.
For one year, after the new rule goes into effect, charitable organizations will be allowed to continue contacting their members or previous donors, but will need to offer an opt-out mechanism.
Telemarketers with pre-existing customer relationships will be allowed to continue using prerecorded messages to contact those customers only for one year after the rule is published in the Federal Register.
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