Telemarketers Required to Scrub Their Call Lists Every 31 Days Beginning January 1, 2005

Beginning January 1, 2005, the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) will require telemarketers to access the National Do Not Call Registry and purge newly-registered numbers from their call lists every 31 days. The TSR currently requires telemarketers to “scrub” their lists quarterly; the FTC amended the Rule to reflect this change in March 2004.

Monthly updates for telemarketers will be available at https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov at no cost. Telemarketers are required annually to renew their subscriptions to the National Do Not Call Registry at a fee of $40 per area code, with a maximum fee of $11,000 for any entity accessing 280 area codes or more. Entities may access the first five area codes of data for free. The Do Not Call Web site for telemarketers will inform them when their subscription account numbers (SANs) expire and give them renewal instructions.

To date, consumers have registered approximately 81 million telephone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Consumers may register home and cell phone numbers by visiting

www.donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the telephone number they wish to register.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish (bilingual counselors are available to take complaints), or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.