Summary of Federal Laws
Miscellaneous Laws
The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act 15 U.S.C. § 6101 et. seq., 16 CFR Part 310
Congress enacted this legislation to offer consumers necessary protection from telemarketing deception and abuse. The law directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe rules prohibiting deceptive telemarketing acts or practices.
While not-for-profit organizations are generally not covered by this law*, universities that contract with third party firms to conduct phone solicitations must follow some of the provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. Third party firms calling on behalf of charitable organizations must honor individual requests to not receive future calls, and must have a written process in place (including training of personnel) to ensure compliance.
See 68 Fed. Reg. 4579 (Jan. 29, 2003) for the final Telemarketing Sales Rule.
The Telemarketing Act was amended by § 1011 of the USA PATRIOT Act so that for-profit entities that solicit charitable donations now must comply with the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The Rule's applicability to charitable organizations themselves is unaffected. The USA PATRIOT Act brings the Telemarketing Act's jurisdiction over charitable solicitations in line with the jurisdiction of the Commission under the FTC Act by expanding the Rule's coverage to include not only the sale of goods or services, but also charitable solicitations by for-profit entities on behalf of nonprofit organizations.
Students living in campus housing may list their campus telephone numbers on the Do Not Call Registry, but colleges and universities may not list numbers on behalf of students.
*§ 6105(a) of the Telemarketing Act-incorporates the jurisdictional limitations of the FTC Act into the Telemarketing Act, which means that not for profits are not explicitly covered by this law.
updated 6/23/09 pth Last Revised 23-Jun-09 03:04 PM.
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