Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act

The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 103–297) is a federal law in the United States aimed at protecting consumers from telemarketing deception and abuse. The act is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. The act expanded controls over telemarketing and gave more control to prescribe rules to the Federal Trade Commission.^[1] After the passage of the act, the Federal Trade Commission is required to (1) define and prohibit deceptive telemarketing practices; (2) keep telemarketers from practices a reasonable consumer would see as being coercive or invasions of privacy; (3) set restrictions on the time of day and night that unsolicited calls can be made to consumers; (4) to require the nature of the call to be disclosed at the start of any unsolicited call that is made with the purpose of trying to sell something.^[2]

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/3
Views:
51 452
1 142
3 533

Transcription

Background

The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act was deemed necessary in an advancing world. With the new waves of telemarketing and digital data Congress found that there are unique differences in telemarketing that deem new rules and regulations necessary.

Congressional Findings

It was determined that Telemarketing is different from other sales activities due to the fact that sales activities can be carried out by sellers across state lines without direct contact with the consumer. Telemarketers also can be very mobile, easily moving from state to state.^[3] With this being stated it is easy to see how there has been a rise in telemarketing fraud, which was found to be of such a magnitude that the Federal Trade Commission needed more resources to deal with it.^[3] There was found to be an estimated $40 billion a year lost to telemarketing fraud, and that consumers are victimized by non-monetary forms of telemarketing fraud as well.^[3] It was concluded that Congress should enact legislation to offer consumers protection from these telemarketing threats.^[3]

Enforcement and Challenges

As part of complying with the act the Federal Trade Commission put new provisions on telemarketing. These new regulations include the Do Not Call (DNC) provisions and the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).^[4] However, with the establishment of these provisions, companies objected to it and some filed suits arguing their rights as a business were being infringed upon. While the 10th circuit court ruled in favor of industry in regards to rules on customer proprietary network information earlier making it seem as though industry was going to win all consumer data cases; when industry objected to the DNC the court ruled in favor of the government stating that the Federal Trade Commission has a right to make and enforce the DNC provision.^[5]

In April 2018, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the FTC had not violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued a 2016 staff letter reversing the conclusion of a 2009 staff letter that had found use of soundboard technology did not violated the act.^[6]^[7]

References

^ "Summary of H.R. 868 (103rd): Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act".
^ "Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act". 19 July 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "15 U.S. Code § 6101 - Findings".
^ "Q&A for Telemarketers & Sellers About DNC Provisions in TSR". 23 August 2016.
^ "Privacy Law: Positive Theory and Normative Practice".
^ Note, Recent Case: D.C. Circuit Holds that Informal Staff Letters Are Not Eligible for Judicial Review Under the Administrative Procedure Act, 132 Harv. L. Rev. 1345 (2019).
^ Soundboard Ass’n v. FTC, 888 F.3d 1261 (D.C. Cir. 2018).

External links

Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act entry in FTC Legal Library
As codified in 15 U.S.C. chapter 87 of the United States Code from the LII
As codified in 15 U.S.C. chapter 87 of the United States Code from the US House of Representatives
Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (PDF/details) as amended in the GPO Statute Compilations collection
Summaries for the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, Library of Congress, (1994)
Privacy Law: Positive Theory and Normative Practice; Anita L. Allen; 2013
Q&A for Telemarketers & Sellers About DNC Provisions in TSR; Federal Trade Commission

v t e Patriot Act
Titles I · II · III · IV · V · VI · VII · VIII · IX · X · History
Acts modified	Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 Electronic Communications Privacy Act Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Money Laundering Control Act Bank Secrecy Act Right to Financial Privacy Act Fair Credit Reporting Act Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 Victims of Crime Act of 1984 Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act
People	George W. Bush John Ashcroft Alberto Gonzales Patrick Leahy Orrin Hatch Jon Kyl Dianne Feinstein Viet D. Dinh Joe Biden Michael Chertoff Barack Obama Eric Holder Chuck Schumer Lamar Smith Bob Graham Jay Rockefeller Arlen Specter Mike Oxley Dick Armey Paul Sarbanes Trent Lott Tom Daschle Russ Feingold Ellen Huvelle Ron Paul Lisa Murkowski Ron Wyden Dennis Kucinich Larry Craig John E. Sununu Richard Durbin Bernie Sanders Jerry Nadler John Conyers Jr. Butch Otter
Government organizations	Federal Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice Select Committee on Intelligence Department of the Treasury FinCEN Department of State National Institute of Standards and Technology Customs Service U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Non-government organizations	American Civil Liberties Union American Library Association Center for Democracy and Technology Center for Public Integrity Electronic Frontier Foundation Electronic Privacy Information Center Humanitarian Law Project

This page was last edited on 8 February 2024, at 09:11