FTC Adopts Recommendation by EPIC & NCLC-Led Coalition to Ensure Sellers Don’t Evade Recordkeeping Responsibilities

On March 7, the Federal Trade Commission issued a Final Rule on the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The TSR is responsible for such core protections as restricting the hours during which a telemarketer can call (e.g. not after 9 p..m local time). Identifying TSR violations after the fact requires adequate recordkeeping, and so the Rule imposes recordkeeping requirements on sellers and telemarketers to ensure proper enforcement.

In its order, the FTC agreed with EPIC that sellers who delegate recordkeeping responsibilities to their telemarketers must retain access to their telemarketer’s records in the event the telemarketer is an overseas operation and beyond the jurisdiction of American law enforcement. This ensures that the seller can still produce relevant records. The FTC also codified the application of the TSR to business-to-business calls (not merely business-to-consumer calls), added a new definition for “previous donor” that limits that telemarketing robocalls made on behalf of charities, and added additional recordkeeping requirements.

EPIC has long advocated for the FTC to use its legal authorities to combat harmful data practices and routinely files comments with the agency. EPIC and NCLC have jointly filed numerous comments to the Federal Communications Commission on matters involving illegal and unwanted robocalls and other phone-based scams.