Telemarketing Sales Rule

Résumé

The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC" or "Commission") seeks public comment on proposed amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule ("TSR"). The proposed amendments would require telemarketers and sellers to maintain additional records of their telemarketing transactions, prohibit material misrepresentations and false or misleading statements in business to business ("B2B") telemarketing transactions, and add a new definition for the term "previous donor." The modified recordkeeping requirements are necessary to protect consumers from deceptive or abusive telemarketing practices and support the Commission's law enforcement mandate to enforce the TSR. The prohibition on material misrepresentations and false or misleading statements is necessary to protect businesses from deceptive telemarketing practices. The new definition of "previous donor" will clarify that a telemarketer may not use prerecorded messages to solicit charitable donations on behalf of a charitable organization unless the recipient of the call made a donation to that particular charitable organization within the prior two years.