Telemarketing Compliance
Who is responsible for what on a calling campaign, the regulations that commonly apply, and an honest statement of the limits of what we can tell you.
Nothing on this page is legal advice, and we are not qualified to give it. Telemarketing requirements vary substantially by country, by state or province, by industry and by whether you are calling businesses or consumers — and they change. Professional legal advice may be necessary for your campaign, and for most outbound programmes it is money well spent.
B2B and B2C are not the same
This is the single most common misunderstanding we encounter. Business-to-business and business-to-consumer calling campaigns carry different legal requirements in most jurisdictions — often substantially different ones. Rules that permit a B2B call may prohibit the identical call to a consumer, and consumer calling frequently attracts do-not-call registry obligations, consent requirements and restrictions that simply do not apply to a call to a company switchboard.
Assuming that "we are B2B so the rules do not apply" is a common and expensive error. Some B2B obligations are lighter; that is not the same as absent.
How responsibility is divided
Both sides carry obligations. Being explicit about the split before a campaign starts protects everyone.
| Responsibility | Yours | Ours |
|---|---|---|
| Sourcing the calling data lawfully | Yes | No |
| Confirming you may contact these records by this method | Yes | No |
| Authorising the campaign and approving the script | Yes | No |
| The truthfulness of claims made in the script | Yes | No |
| Screening against do-not-call registries where required | Yes | We apply the suppression lists you supply |
| Setting lawful calling windows for the target regions | Yes | We call only within the windows you set |
| Following the approved script | — | Yes |
| Honouring opt-out requests immediately and recording them | — | Yes |
| Stopping contact on any record you suppress | — | Yes |
| Accurate reporting of activity and outcomes | — | Yes |
| Obtaining legal advice for the campaign | Yes | No |
Areas that commonly apply
Depending on where you are calling and who you are calling, a campaign may need to comply with some or all of the following. This list is illustrative, not exhaustive, and inclusion here is not a statement that any particular rule applies to your campaign.
TCPA
In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulates certain calls and messages, with particular restrictions around automated dialling technology, prerecorded messages and mobile numbers. Consent requirements and the definitions involved have been the subject of extensive litigation.
National Do Not Call Registry
The US registry restricts telemarketing calls to registered consumer numbers, with specific exemptions and obligations around scrubbing, record-keeping and internal do-not-call lists. Many other countries operate equivalent registers with their own rules.
FTC rules
The Telemarketing Sales Rule and related Federal Trade Commission requirements cover disclosure obligations, prohibited practices, record-keeping and abandoned-call limits.
State-specific telemarketing laws
Individual US states impose additional requirements — registration, bonding, calling-hour restrictions and disclosure rules — that go beyond federal obligations. These vary considerably and change regularly.
Consent rules
Many jurisdictions require a specific standard of consent before certain kinds of contact, and the standard differs by contact method and by whether the recipient is a consumer or a business. Where consent is the lawful basis, you should be able to evidence it for every record you supply.
Calling-hour restrictions
Permitted calling windows are set by the recipient's local time, not yours. On a multi-region campaign this needs configuring deliberately rather than assumed.
Caller ID requirements
Rules commonly require accurate, non-misleading caller identification, and in some jurisdictions a number the recipient can call back. Caller-ID spoofing to disguise origin is prohibited under our acceptable use policy regardless of what local law permits.
Call recording laws
Recording requirements differ significantly. Some jurisdictions require all parties to consent; others require only one. Where a campaign is recorded, the required notice must be in the approved script and you must confirm the position is lawful for every region being called.
What we will not do
- We will not supply calling data. You provide it, because you are the party who can evidence its lawful basis.
- We will not run a campaign whose script makes claims you have not approved in writing.
- We will not misrepresent who we are calling on behalf of, or the purpose of the call.
- We will not ignore an opt-out request, whatever the campaign instructions say.
- We will not provide legal guarantees about compliance. Any provider offering one is describing a risk they cannot actually carry.
- We will not run campaigns prohibited by our acceptable use policy, including fraudulent, deceptive or impersonating campaigns.
Before your campaign starts
- Confirm the lawful basis for contacting every record on your list, by the method you intend to use.
- Take legal advice on the jurisdictions you are calling into, especially for consumer campaigns.
- Provide any suppression or do-not-call lists you hold, and a process for keeping them current.
- Set the permitted calling window per region, in the recipient's local time.
- Approve the script in writing, including any legally required disclosures.
- Decide the recording policy and confirm it is lawful everywhere you are calling.
- Agree how opt-out requests reach your systems, so a suppression on our side is reflected on yours.
Compliance requirements vary, they change, and they are enforced. The cost of proper advice before a campaign is trivial next to the cost of getting it wrong at volume. We would rather delay a start date than launch a campaign neither of us is confident about.