Telemarketing sales rule . . . does it matter?

From time to time, the NAFCU Compliance team receives questions about how to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Many of these questions relate to the different kinds of consent (e.g., prior express consent versus prior express written consent) that might be required depending on whether the call is to a wireless number or to a residential landline or the call uses an artificial or prerecorded voice or an autodialer. This NAFCU Compliance Monitor article from July 2017 explains some of the operational challenges that arise in the context of the TCPA and obtaining the proper consent.

Over the past few years, NAFCU has blogged about the following issues related to the TCPA:

•  the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacating part of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) 2015 Omnibus Declaratory Ruling and Order,
• the split among some United States Courts of Appeals about what constitutes an autodialer,
• a TCPA status update at the beginning of 2019, and
• the FCC’s recent attempts to address robocalls.

There is, however, a federal rule that has not received the same fulsome coverage from the NAFCU Compliance team: the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The TSR implements the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (Act). See, 16 CFR § 310.1.

 

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