Compliance Guide: Calls and Texts

This guide walks through each control. This guide cites the statute (47 U.S.C. § 227), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR, 16 C.F.R. part 310).

Step 1: Classify every message

Begin by sorting each campaign along two lines.

1. Content. Is it telemarketing (encouraging a purchase) or informational (a reminder, alert, or account notice)?
2. Technology. Is it a live, manually dialed call, or does it use an autodialer, an artificial or prerecorded voice, or an automated texting platform?

The answers set the consent you need. Autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing to cell phones needs prior express written consent under § 64.1200(a)(2). Informational autodialed or prerecorded calls to cell phones need at least prior express consent. Live telemarketing calls do not require consent under § 227(b), but are subject to do-not-call considerations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) voices count. In FCC 24-17 (February 2024), the FCC ruled that calls using AI-generated voices are calls using an "artificial or prerecorded voice." Treat a voice bot like a prerecorded message.

Step 2: Get and keep the right consent

Use a written consent form for marketing that meets the definition in § 64.1200(f)(9). It needs a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the consumer authorizes autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing, a statement that consent is not a condition of purchase, the phone number, and a signature (electronic is fine).

Keep proof. Save the exact form language, the timestamp, the phone number, and the signature record. In litigation, the burden of proving consent usually rests on the caller.

Step 3: Scrub against do-not-call lists

National registry. The FCC rules explicitly prohibit telephone solicitations to residential numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. The FCC applies that rule to wireless numbers too, and to marketing texts, under § 64.1200(e). Both the FCC and FTC safe harbors require you to use a version of the registry obtained no more than 31 days before the call.

Internal list. Under § 64.1200(d), anyone making telemarketing calls must have a written do-not-call policy, train staff on it, record requests, honor them within a reasonable time not to exceed 10 business days, and honor each request for five years.

Exceptions. An established business relationship (EBR) lets you call a registered number. Under the FCC rule, an EBR lasts 18 months after a purchase or transaction and three months after an inquiry. The TSR uses 540 days and 90 days. A do-not-call request to the seller ends the EBR for calling purposes. Written permission to call also works.

Step 4: Honor opt-outs fast

Consumers can revoke consent by any reasonable means. Under the rules in effect today, callers may not designate an exclusive revocation method. A reply of "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel," or "unsubscribe" is a per se valid revocation. You must honor it within 10 business days. You may send one confirmation text that does not market anything.

The FCC adopted FCC 26-67 on September 30, 2026. Once it takes effect (30 days after Federal Register publication, which had not occurred as of October 14, 2026), you may designate an exclusive opt-out method if you disclose it clearly and conspicuously. An opt-out from a marketing message will revoke consent to all of your marketing messages. Set up your systems to apply opt-outs across channels now.

Step 5: Respect calling hours and call mechanics

1. Hours. No telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., the called party's local time (§ 64.1200(c)(1); TSR § 310.4(c)). Several states have tightened this window, often to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
2. Ring time. Let calls ring at least 15 seconds or four rings before disconnecting (§ 64.1200(a)(6)).
3. Abandonment. Keep abandoned calls at or below 3 percent of live-answered telemarketing calls per 30-day campaign period. A call is abandoned if no live agent connects within two seconds of the greeting. When that happens, play a short message with the seller's name, a do-not-call number, and an opt-out mechanism (§ 64.1200(a)(7); TSR § 310.4(b)(4)).
4. Prerecorded identification. Every prerecorded message must state the caller's identity at the start and a phone number during or after the message. Telemarketing messages must provide an automated opt-out (§ 64.1200(b)).
5. Caller ID. The TSR requires telemarketers to transmit caller ID (§ 310.4(a)(8)). Never spoof. Section 227(e) bars misleading caller ID used to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value.

Step 6: Manage reassigned numbers

Consent belongs to the person who gave it, not to the phone number. When a number changes hands, the new subscriber has not consented.

The FCC's Reassigned Numbers Database (RND) lets callers check whether a number has been permanently disconnected since the time of consent. A caller that checks the database and receives an erroneous "no" response is covered by the safe harbor in § 64.1200(m). The database itself has been available to callers since November 1, 2021.

Step 7: Control your vendors

Hiring a vendor does not hand off your risk. In its 2013 Dish Network ruling (FCC 13-54), the FCC held that a seller can be vicariously liable for a telemarketer's calls under federal common-law agency principles, including actual authority, apparent authority, and ratification. The TSR separately bars giving substantial assistance to a seller or telemarketer you know, or consciously avoid knowing, is violating the rule.

1. Vet lead sources and dialing vendors.
2. Require compliance terms and audit rights in contracts.
3. Demand consent records on request.
4. End relationships with sources that cannot produce them.

Step 8: Keep records

The TSR requires sellers and telemarketers to keep key records for five years, including call details and consent records (§ 310.5). The FCC rules require you to keep a record of each do-not-call request and honor it for five years. Good records are also your best defense in litigation.

Step 9: Check state law

State laws add their own rules on hours, call frequency, consent, and registration. Florida, Oklahoma, Maryland, Texas, Virginia, Oregon, and Pennsylvania are among the states that have recently changed their telemarketing laws. Check out our guide to state telemarketing laws.

The bottom line

A defensible program has written policies, trained people, scrubbing, fast opt-out handling, vendor controls, and records you can produce. The do-not-call safe harbors in both the FCC rules and the TSR depend on exactly those steps.