the new telemarketing landscape
After talking about it for months, the Federal Trade Commission finally came out with its amended Telemarketing Sales Rule in December. And as expected, it made few people happy.
The most important feature, the establishment of a national do-not-call registry, drew immediate fire from both trade groups and Congress. Rep. Billy Tauzin, chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, threatened to hold up $16 million in funding requested by the FTC to create the list until several questions were answered.
In general, congressional support is high for a national registry, but some legislators feel that the task properly resides with the Federal Communications Commission, which is expected to announce its own plan in the spring.
But even if the registry is held up (and at deadline, most observers did not expect it to be), Congress won’t be able to stop the other provisions in the FTC’s amended rule. Those measures, which include a 3% call abandonment rate for automatic dialers and tough requirements on billing authorization, were to become effective from 30 to 60 days after they are published in the Federal Register, which was expected soon, according to FTC spokeswoman Cathy MacFarlane.
Just what will companies face if the start-up costs are funded? Marketers would be required to
