New Hampshire Telemarketing and Robocall Laws: Statutes, Rules, and How They Differ from the TCPA

Overview

New Hampshire regulates telemarketing mainly through RSA chapter 359-E, "Telemarketing," which has two subdivisions. The first, "Use of Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems and Caller Identification Services" (RSA 359-E:1 to 359-E:6), requires anyone who plans to use an automatic telephone dialing system for solicitation to register with the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau of the Department of Justice (DOJ), sets disconnect and identification rules for those systems, and bars blocking of caller identification on solicitation calls. The second, "Telemarketing Sales Calls" (RSA 359-E:7 to 359-E:11), adopts the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) National Do Not Call Registry as the state do-not-call list and makes the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), 16 C.F.R. Part 310, binding on in-state calls as a matter of state law.

The second subdivision has its own private right of action. A person injured by a violation recovers actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater, and the court must award two to three times that amount for a willful or knowing violation, plus costs and attorney fees. The Department of Justice must impose a $5,000 civil penalty for each violation it finds. Violations of the first subdivision are unfair or deceptive acts under the Consumer Protection Act, RSA chapter 358-A, which carries its own $1,000 minimum private recovery and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation in Attorney General actions.

Political robocalls are covered separately in the election code. RSA 664:14-a requires sponsor disclosures in prerecorded political messages and bars delivering them to numbers on any federal do-not-call list. RSA 664:14-b bars misrepresenting the origin of a campaign call, including through caller ID spoofing. RSA 664:14-c, enacted in 2024, regulates AI-generated deepfakes of candidates and election officials distributed within 90 days of an election. Each election-code robocall section has the same $1,000-minimum private remedy and a $5,000 civil penalty.

Compared with federal law, New Hampshire's most significant departures are (1) a private right of action with a $1,000 floor and mandatory doubling or trebling for willful or knowing violations of the do-not-call and TSR rules, which the federal TSR itself does not give consumers; (2) a pre-use registration requirement for automatic dialing systems; and (3) a narrow definition of "automatic telephone dialing system" that requires both random or sequential number generation and a prerecorded message.

Key statutes and regulations

Detailed provisions

Automatic telephone dialing systems (RSA 359-E:1 to 359-E:6)

Definitions. The ATDS definition is narrow. Under RSA 359-E:1, I:

"Automatic telephone dialing system" means any automatic terminal equipment which stores or produces numbers to be called randomly or sequentially and which delivers a prerecorded message to the number called without assistance of a live operator.

The definition is conjunctive. Equipment must both store or produce numbers "randomly or sequentially" and deliver "a prerecorded message." A live-agent predictive dialer that does not play a prerecorded message falls outside it.

"Solicitation" is broad and is not limited to sales. RSA 359-E:1, II:

"Solicitation" means the unrequested initiation of a telephone call to a residential telephone subscriber for the purposes of giving, selling, or leasing services or goods, whether real or personal, tangible or intangible; or to gain a pledge, promise or contribution in circumstances where there is no pre-existing relationship between the caller and the person called; or to obtain information, data or opinions.

Calls to "obtain information, data or opinions" are therefore solicitations for the first subdivision, which reaches automated survey calls to residential subscribers.

Registration. RSA 359-E:2, I provides:

Any person intending to use an automatic telephone dialing system for solicitation in this state shall, at least 10 business days prior to using the system, register with the consumer protection and antitrust bureau of the department of justice the information required by RSA 359-E:3, and, if the registrant is a solicitor, as that term is used in RSA 7:28-c, the information required by RSA 7:28-c. At the time of filing, the registrant shall also pay to the department an annual non-proratable administrative fee of $20 for the calendar year.

Under RSA 359-E:3, the registration lists the registrant's name and address, including any trade name, and "The complete street addresses of all locations from which the registrant will be conducting business." RSA 7:28-c, which RSA 359-E:2 cross-references, separately provides that a paid solicitor for a police, law enforcement or firefighters' association "shall register with the attorney general prior to engaging in any solicitation," pay a $500 fee, and post a bond "in the sum of $20,000."

RSA 359-E:2, III adds operating limits: "All transmissions shall be randomly generated in unequal intervals, and shall not infiltrate any emergency lines, such as police, fire, or ambulance lines, which are either 911 circuits or 7-digit telephone numbers designated as emergency lines." Under RSA 359-E:2, II, calls about real estate interests must also meet the disclosure requirements of RSA 356-A and 356-B.

Disconnect and identification. RSA 359-E:4 requires that any ATDS "shall be operated so that the system will automatically disconnect or release within 30 seconds after the called party hangs up." RSA 359-E:5 requires that any solicitation message made through an ATDS "shall disclose immediately after telephone contact" the following:

I. The name of the person, company, or organization making the call.

II. The purpose of the call and the goods or services being offered, if any.

Caller ID. RSA 359-E:5-a reaches all solicitation calls, not only automated ones:

No person using an automated telephone dialing system or any other method for solicitation shall use any method, including per-call blocking or per-line blocking, to prevent caller identification information from being received by the called party station. The caller identification information shall contain a telephone number at which the telephone solicitor may receive telephone calls and shall not contain misleading, inaccurate, or deceptive information.

The second sentence was added by 2019 N.H. Laws ch. 176, effective January 1, 2020, according to the section's source note.

Enforcement of the first subdivision. Under RSA 359-E:6, "Any violation of the provisions of this subdivision shall constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice within the meaning of RSA 358-A:2," and "Any right, remedy, or power set forth in RSA 358-A, including those set forth in RSA 358-A:4, may be used to enforce the provisions of this chapter."

Telemarketing sales calls (RSA 359-E:7 to 359-E:11)

Who is covered. RSA 359-E:7, IX defines "Telemarketer" to include anyone who "makes telemarketing sales calls to a customer when the customer is in this state or any person who directly controls or supervises the conduct of a telemarketer or causes to be made a telemarketing call on such seller's own behalf or through a salesperson." The "causes to be made" language reaches sellers that use third-party callers.

"Customer" means "any natural person who is a resident of this state" (RSA 359-E:7, II). "Telemarketing" under RSA 359-E:7, X has a volume threshold: it "involves more than 5 telephone calls per month by a telemarketer in which the customer is located within the state at the time of the call," and "shall not include the solicitation of sales through media other than by telephone calls."

Exemptions. RSA 359-E:7, XI provides that a telemarketing sales call "shall not include a call made":

(a) In response to an express written or verbal request of the customer called.

(b) In connection with an established business relationship.

(c) On behalf of a nonprofit charity.

(d) [Repealed.]

(e) On behalf of a political campaign, except that a call made on behalf of a political campaign by a vendor using automatic dialing equipment shall be deemed a telemarketing sales call under this chapter.

"Established business relationship" is defined by reference to "the Federal Trade Commission Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. part 310, section 310.2(n), as amended" (RSA 359-E:7, V). The TSR definition now appears at 16 C.F.R. § 310.2(q). The statute's "as amended" language suggests the current federal definition controls.

Do-not-call. RSA 359-E:8, I:

Telemarketers are prohibited from conducting telemarketing sales calls to any customer who has registered his or her name or telephone number with the do-not-call registry maintained by the list administrator or Federal Trade Commission. In the case of telemarketers regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, this chapter shall apply in a manner consistent with rules concerning a national do-not-call list developed by that agency.

The "list administrator" is the FTC (RSA 359-E:7, VII). New Hampshire keeps no separate state list. Under RSA 359-E:9, telemarketers "shall obtain from the list administrator quarterly listings of customers in the state who have registered with the list administrator for inclusion in its do-not-call list."

TSR incorporation. RSA 359-E:8, II makes the entire TSR enforceable as state law for in-state calls:

In addition, any person who is required to comply with the Federal Trade Commission Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. part 310, as amended, shall also comply with the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Telemarketing Sales Rule for telemarketing sales calls made within the state of New Hampshire. This section shall also apply to any person who would be required to comply with the Federal Trade Commission Telemarketing Sales Rule, if such person were making interstate telemarketing sales calls.

Through this provision, the TSR's calling-hour limit applies. Under 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(c), it is abusive "for a telemarketer to engage in outbound telephone calls to a person's residence at any time other than between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00" p.m. local time without prior consent. The TSR's disclosure, misrepresentation, prerecorded-message, call-abandonment, caller ID and recordkeeping rules also apply through this provision. New Hampshire has no separate statutory calling-hour rule.

Penalties and private action. RSA 359-E:11, I directs the Department of Justice to investigate complaints and provides that, if it finds a violation of the subdivision or of RSA 664:14-a, "the department shall impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for each violation." RSA 359-E:11, II creates the private remedy:

Any person injured by another's violation of this subdivision may bring an action for damages and for such equitable relief, including an injunction, as the court deems necessary and proper. If the court finds for the plaintiff, recovery shall be in the amount of actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater. If the court finds that the act or practice was a willful or knowing violation of this subdivision, it shall award as much as 3 times, but not less than 2 times, such amount. In addition, a prevailing plaintiff shall be awarded the costs of the suit and reasonable attorney's fees, as determined by the court.

The section also provides that "Any attempted waiver of the right to the damages set forth in this paragraph shall be void and unenforceable," and that injunctive relief "shall be available to private individuals under this subdivision without bond." The court clerk must send the complaint and any judgment to the Attorney General.

Safe harbor. RSA 359-E:11, III provides that, "Notwithstanding paragraph I, a telemarketer shall not be held liable for violating this subdivision if the telemarketer can demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence" that, as part of its routine business practice, it established and implemented written procedures, trained its personnel, used a process to prevent calls to listed numbers, monitored and enforced compliance, used a version of the list "obtained no more than 3 months prior to the date that any call is made," and that any violating call "is not part of a pattern of calls made in violation of this subdivision and is the result of a good faith error." The statute requires clear and convincing evidence. The federal safe harbors require the caller to "demonstrate" comparable practices but state no heightened evidentiary standard (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(2)(i); 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(3)).

Consumer Protection Act remedies (RSA 358-A)

RSA 358-A:10, I gives a private action to "Any person injured by another's use of any method, act or practice declared unlawful under this chapter," with the same structure as RSA 359-E:11: "recovery shall be in the amount of actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater," and two to three times that amount for a "willful or knowing violation," plus costs and attorney fees. In Attorney General actions under RSA 358-A:4, III(b), the court "may award to the state civil penalties up to $10,000 for each violation of this chapter," and "It shall be an affirmative defense to the assessment of civil penalties that the defendant acted pursuant to a good faith misunderstanding concerning the requirements of this chapter."

RSA 358-A:3 exempts, among other things, trade or commerce subject to the jurisdiction of listed state and federal regulators that have authority over unfair or deceptive practices. It also bars claims based on transactions "entered into more than 3 years prior to the time the plaintiff knew, or reasonably should have known, of the conduct alleged to be in violation of this chapter." Chapter 359-E states no limitations period of its own. RSA 508:4, I provides generally that "all personal actions, except actions for slander or libel, may be brought only within 3 years of the act or omission complained of," subject to a discovery rule.

Political robocalls (RSA 664:14-a, 664:14-b, 664:14-c)

Prerecorded political messages. RSA 664:14-a, I defines a "prerecorded political message" as "a prerecorded audio message delivered" by a candidate, political committee, "or any other person," when the content "expressly advocates or is the functional equivalent of express advocacy promoting the success or defeat of any party, candidate, measure, or person at any election, or contains information about any candidate, measure, or party." Under RSA 664:14-a, II, no person shall deliver such a message "unless the message contains, or a live operator provides, within the first 30 seconds of the message," the name of the candidate, measure or organization on whose behalf the call is made, and "The name of the person or organization paying for the delivery of the message and the name of the treasurer, if applicable." RSA 664:14-a, III:

No person shall deliver or knowingly cause to be delivered a prerecorded political message to any telephone number on any federal do not call list.

This is a significant departure from federal law, because the national registry does not apply to political calls. A violation results in "a civil penalty of $5,000 per violation" (RSA 664:14-a, IV(a)), and RSA 664:14-a, IV(b) carries the same $1,000-minimum private remedy, with mandatory doubling or trebling for willful or knowing violations, as RSA 359-E:11. The section's source note shows an amendment by 2024 N.H. Laws ch. 365, § 13, effective January 1, 2025.

Caller ID spoofing on campaign calls. RSA 664:14-b, I provides that "No person shall knowingly misrepresent the origin of a telephone call which expressly or implicitly advocates the success or defeat of any party, measure, or person at any election, or contains any information about any candidate or party." The prohibited conduct includes causing displayed caller ID "to indicate that a telephone call originates from a number, person, or organization other than the number, person, or organization originating the call," unless the number displayed is one "at which the person or organization responsible for sponsoring or making the call may directly receive a return call." Remedies mirror RSA 664:14-a.

Deepfakes. RSA 664:14-c, II, enacted by 2024 N.H. Laws ch. 345, § 1, effective August 1, 2024, provides that a person or entity "shall not, within 90 days of an election at which a candidate for elective office will appear on the ballot, distribute a message created using artificial intelligence or generative AI that the person, corporation, committee or other entity knows or should have known is a deepfake" of a candidate, election official, or party on the ballot. The prohibition does not apply if the media carries the disclosure "This __________ has been manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence technology and depicts speech or conduct that did not occur." For audio-only media, the disclosure must be read "at the beginning of the audio, at the end of the audio, and, if the audio is greater than 2 minutes in length, interspersed within the audio at intervals of not greater than 2 minutes each." The private remedy belongs only to the depicted candidate or election official, who may seek injunctive relief and "general or special damages against the sponsor."

Text messages

Chapter 359-E speaks of telephone calls and does not mention text messages. The definitions of "solicitation" and "telemarketing sales call" refer to a "telephone call," and RSA 359-E:7, X excludes "the solicitation of sales through media other than by telephone calls." No New Hampshire appellate decision was located that applies chapter 359-E to text messages.

How New Hampshire differs from federal law

New Hampshire is stricter than federal law in several respects. It gives consumers a private remedy, with a $1,000 floor and mandatory multiplied damages and fees, for violations of the TSR and the do-not-call rule. It requires pre-use registration for automated dialing, requires a returnable, non-misleading caller ID number on every solicitation call, conditions its safe harbor on clear and convincing evidence, and extends do-not-call protection to prerecorded political messages. It is looser or narrower in that its ATDS definition requires a prerecorded message, its telemarketing provisions require more than five calls per month to New Hampshire customers, it exempts nonprofit-charity calls, and it does not address text messages. The TCPA and FCC rules apply concurrently.

Notable case law

O'Brien v. New Hampshire Democratic Party, 166 N.H. 138, 89 A.3d 1202 (2014), No. 2013-043 (Mar. 7, 2014) O'Brien v. New Hampshire Democratic Party (N.H. 2014) opinion. A legislative candidate who was the subject of a prerecorded political message sued under RSA 664:14-a, alleging that the message omitted required disclosures. The New Hampshire Supreme Court held that the private-action clause "requires a plaintiff to allege each of the following three elements in order to have standing: (1) a violation of the statute; (2) an injury; and (3) that the violation of the statute caused the injury." It explained that the $1,000 statutory minimum "does not absolve the plaintiff from satisfying the requirement that he allege injury and causation; rather, it relieves him only of the requirement to plead the amount of his damages." Because the candidate alleged no injury caused by the missing disclosures, the court affirmed judgment for the defendants. RSA 359-E:11, II and RSA 358-A:10 use the same "Any person injured" wording, so this reasoning is relevant to those remedies as well.

League of Women Voters of New Hampshire v. Kramer, No. 24-cv-73-SM-TSM, 2025 DNH 042 (D.N.H. Mar. 26, 2025) League of Women Voters of New Hampshire v. Kramer (D.N.H. 2025) opinion. Voters and voter organizations sued over AI-generated robocalls placed before the January 2024 presidential primary, asserting claims under the TCPA, RSA 664:14-a and RSA 664:14-b, among others. The court denied the motion to dismiss filed by Life Corporation and Voice Broadcasting Corporation, two of the companies alleged to have distributed the calls. It distinguished O'Brien because each individual plaintiff alleged that they "actually received the Deepfake Robocall at home, on a landline, around dinner time; that it intruded upon their private time; that they did not give prior consent to receive that call; that due to the spoofed caller ID number, they were unable to determine the party who had made or was responsible for the call." The court concluded that "the individual plaintiffs plainly have standing to bring those claims," and it left open whether the organizational plaintiffs had standing under the state statutes.

Recent amendments

• 2024 N.H. Laws ch. 345, § 1 (effective August 1, 2024) enacted RSA 664:14-c, regulating AI-generated election deepfakes, including audio distributed by telephone.
• 2024 N.H. Laws ch. 365, § 13 (effective January 1, 2025) amended RSA 664:14-a. The current text reaches a "prerecorded audio message delivered" by "any other person" and uses an "expressly advocates or is the functional equivalent of express advocacy" standard.
• No amendment to chapter 359-E since 2019 appears in the official source notes. HB 1208 (2026), which would have required valid, returnable caller ID numbers and barred displaying numbers listed as disconnected or reassigned in the federal Reassigned Numbers Database, was reported inexpedient to legislate by the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee (15 to 0) and killed by the House on a voice vote on March 11, 2026, according to the House docket entries (the General Court's bill status site could not be retrieved for this review).

Practical compliance checklist

• Register with the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau at least 10 business days before using an automatic dialing system for solicitation in New Hampshire, pay the $20 calendar-year fee, and list every calling location (RSA 359-E:2, 359-E:3). Charitable fundraisers for police and fire associations must also meet RSA 7:28-c.
• Configure automated messages to identify the caller and the purpose of the call immediately, release the line within 30 seconds of hang-up, randomize transmission intervals, and suppress emergency numbers (RSA 359-E:2, III; 359-E:4; 359-E:5).
• Transmit unblocked caller ID showing a number that can receive calls, with no misleading information, on every solicitation call, whether manual or automated (RSA 359-E:5-a).
• Scrub New Hampshire numbers against the National Do Not Call Registry using a download no more than three months old, and preferably within the federal 31-day window. Keep written procedures, training records, and monitoring records that can meet a clear-and-convincing standard (RSA 359-E:9, 359-E:11, III).
• Treat every TSR requirement as enforceable by New Hampshire residents through a private action with a $1,000 floor, including calling hours, disclosures, abandonment, and recordkeeping (RSA 359-E:8, II; 359-E:11, II).
• Do not rely on the political exemption for vendor-dialed automated calls (RSA 359-E:7, XI(e)). For any prerecorded political message, give sponsor and payer disclosures within 30 seconds and scrub against the federal do-not-call list (RSA 664:14-a).
• Never spoof caller ID on election-related calls, and add the statutory AI disclosure to any synthetic audio of a candidate or election official distributed within 90 days of an election (RSA 664:14-b, 664:14-c).
• Document consent, established business relationships under the current TSR definition, and the customer's residency and location, because coverage turns on New Hampshire residents and more than five calls per month (RSA 359-E:7).
• Comply with the TCPA and FCC consent rules for autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts regardless of the narrower state ATDS definition.

References

• RSA chapter 359-E, Telemarketing (merged chapter): https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXXI/359-E/359-E-mrg.htm
• RSA 358-A:3: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXXI/358-A/358-A-3.htm
• RSA 358-A:4: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXXI/358-A/358-A-4.htm
• RSA 358-A:10: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXXI/358-A/358-A-10.htm
• RSA 664:14-a: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LXIII/664/664-14-a.htm
• RSA 664:14-b: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LXIII/664/664-14-b.htm
• RSA 664:14-c: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LXIII/664/664-14-c.htm
• RSA 7:28-c: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/I/7/7-28-c.htm
• RSA 508:4: https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LII/508/508-4.htm
• HB 1208 (2026) bill status, New Hampshire General Court bill status system (search HB 1208, 2026 session): https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/
• 16 C.F.R. Part 310 (Telemarketing Sales Rule), eCFR: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-310
• 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200, eCFR: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-64/subpart-L/section-64.1200
• 47 U.S.C. § 227, govinfo: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2023-title47/USCODE-2023-title47-chap5-subchapII-partI-sec227
• O'Brien v. New Hampshire Democratic Party, 166 N.H. 138 (2014), opinion PDF: https://storage.courtlistener.com/pdf/2014/03/07/william_l._obrien_v._new_hampshire_democratic_party__a..pdf
• League of Women Voters of New Hampshire v. Kramer, 2025 DNH 042: https://www.nhd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/Opinions/2024/25NH042.pdf

This page summarizes state law for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Statutes change; confirm current text with the official source before relying on it.