South Carolina Telemarketing and Robocall Laws: Statutes, Rules, and How They Differ from the TCPA

Overview

South Carolina's principal telemarketing statute is the South Carolina Telephone Privacy Protection Act (SCTPPA), S.C. Code Ann. §§ 37-21-10 to 37-21-100, enacted by 2018 Act No. 218 (H. 4628) and effective May 18, 2018. The SCTPPA covers calls and text or media messages to South Carolina residences and to wireless numbers with South Carolina area codes. It sets an 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. calling window, requires detailed disclosures at the outset of each solicitation, requires accurate caller ID and prohibits spoofing, requires an identification and opt-out message when no live agent is available within two seconds, bars solicitations to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry and to persons who have asked not to be called, and requires that stop-calling requests be honored for five years.

The SCTPPA is enforced by private plaintiffs, by the Administrator of the Department of Consumer Affairs, and by the Attorney General. It provides a private right of action for $1,000 per violation plus actual losses, increased to up to $5,000 per violation for willful violations, with attorneys' fees. The older automatically dialed announcing device (ADAD) statute, S.C. Code Ann. § 16-17-446, remains in the Code, but the Fourth Circuit held it unconstitutional in 2015, and the section it cross-references was deleted in 2018.

The headline difference from federal law is the remedy: a statutory minimum of $1,000 per violation (twice the $500 available under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)), up to $5,000 if willful, available for violations of disclosure, caller ID and opt-out-message requirements that have no clearly established private remedy under federal law, together with a national registry prohibition that, on its face, lacks the federal consent and established business relationship exceptions.

Key statutes and regulations

Detailed provisions

1. Scope and definitions

Telephone solicitation. Section 37-21-20(6) defines "Telephone solicitation" as "the initiation of a telephone call, or a text or media message sent, to a natural person's residence in the State, or to a wireless telephone with a South Carolina area code, for the purpose of offering or advertising a property, good, or service for sale, lease, license, or investment, including offering or advertising an extension of credit, prize promotion, or for the purposes of obtaining information that will or may be used for the direct solicitation thereof."

The definition excludes:

• "(a) a political campaign-related call made, or a text or media message sent, in compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. Section 227";
• "(b) except for the purposes of Section 37-21-70, and unless the consumer previously stated a desire not to be contacted by or on behalf of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made," a solicitation made to a consumer with "(i) that consumer's prior express invitation or permission as evidenced by a signed or electronically signed, written agreement stating that the person agrees to be contacted by or on behalf of a specific party and including the telephone number to which they may be placed; (ii) whom the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is made has an established business relationship; or (iii) whom the telephone solicitor making the telephone call or sending a text message has a personal relationship"; and
• "(c) calls by institutions licensed and regulated under Title 38" (the Insurance Code).

Established business relationship. The SCTPPA adopts the federal time limits: a relationship based on the consumer's "(a) purchase from, or transaction with, the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made within the eighteen months immediately preceding the solicitation date; or (b) inquiry or application regarding a property, good, or service offered by the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made within the three months immediately preceding the solicitation date" (§ 37-21-20(2)).

Consumer; telephone solicitor. A "Consumer" is "a natural person who is the object of a telephone solicitation" (§ 37-21-20(1)). A "Telephone solicitor" is "a person who makes, or causes another person to make, a telephone solicitation" (§ 37-21-20(7)), which reaches sellers that use vendors.

Text message. "'Text Message' means a communication consisting of text, images, sounds, or other information that is transmitted to or from a device that is identified as the receiving or transmitting device by means of a ten-digit telephone number or N11 service code," including SMS and MMS messages but not real-time two-way voice or video, or messages within the same IP-enabled messaging service (§ 37-21-20(8)).

2. Registration

South Carolina does not require telemarketers to register or post a bond under the SCTPPA.

3. Calling hours

"A telephone solicitor may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation at any time other than between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time at the consumer's location, unless the telephone solicitor has obtained the prior written consent of the consumer." (§ 37-21-30.) The window matches federal law, but the exception requires prior written consent, and a violation carries the SCTPPA's statutory damages.

4. Disclosures at the outset of the call, and ending the call

Section 37-21-40(A) provides: "At the outset of a telephone solicitation, a telephone solicitor shall provide, in a clear and conspicuous manner, a first and last name to identify himself and provide the name of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made and promptly disclose to the consumer the following information: (1) a telephone number and address at which the telephone solicitor may be contacted; (2) the purpose of the telephone solicitation; (3) that no purchase or payment is necessary to be able to win a prize or participate in a prize promotion if a prize promotion is offered." Paragraph (4) requires disclosure of "the option to be added to the telephone solicitor's in-house 'do not call' list if the consumer requests being added to such list, confirmation that the consumer's name and telephone number will be placed on such list."

At the time of the offer, the solicitor must also disclose "(1) a reasonable and good-faith estimate of the total costs to purchase, receive, or use, and the quantity of, any goods or services that are the subject of the solicitation or offer; and (2) if the telephone solicitor, or the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made, has a policy of not making refunds, cancellations, exchanges, or repurchases, a statement informing the consumer of that policy" (§ 37-21-40(B)). "If the consumer indicates that he does not want to hear the offer, the telephone solicitor must immediately end the contact." (§ 37-21-40(C).)

Because "telephone solicitation" includes texts, the § 37-21-40 disclosures (including a first and last name, and a contact telephone number and address) apply on their face to marketing texts as well. How a text satisfies the "outset" requirement has not been addressed in a decision we located.

5. Caller ID and spoofing

Anti-spoofing. Section 37-21-50(A) provides that "a person may not, with the intent to defraud, harass, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value, including, but not limited to, financial resources or personal identifying information as defined by Section 16-13-510, make, place, or initiate a call or text message or engage in conduct that results in the display of misleading, false or inaccurate caller identification information on the receiving party's telephone or otherwise circumvent caller identification technology." With the same intent, a person may not "(1) display a South Carolina area code on the recipient's caller identification system unless the person making, placing, or initiating the call or text message maintains a physical presence in the State; or (2) display the receiving party's telephone number on the contacted party's caller identification system."

Carrier safe harbor and exceptions. Subsection (A) does not apply to a voice or wireless provider "merely by virtue of its involvement in delivering a call or text message initiated by or on behalf of a third party, unless the provider provides substantial assistance or support to the telephone solicitor initiating the call when the provider knows or consciously avoids knowing such telephone solicitor is engaged in any act or practice that violates this chapter" (§ 37-21-50(B)). Law enforcement activity and court-authorized caller ID manipulation are excluded (§ 37-21-50(D)).

Caller ID transmission. "A telephone solicitor who makes a telephone solicitation shall transmit the telephone number, and, when available by the telephone solicitor's carrier, the name of the telephone solicitor; provided, however, that it is not a violation of this subsection to substitute the name of the person on behalf of whom the telephone solicitation is initiated and the customer service telephone number of that person. The number provided must permit, during regular business hours, a consumer to make a request not to receive telephone solicitations." (§ 37-21-50(C).)

Validity. The official Code annotation to § 37-21-50 states: "For the validity of this section, see United Resource Systems, Inc. v. Wilson, 614 F.Supp.3d 243 (2022)." That decision of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina addressed a federal challenge to § 37-21-50. We were unable to retrieve the opinion from an official court source or CourtListener, so its holding is not summarized here; anyone relying on § 37-21-50, particularly the area code and intent provisions in subsection (A), should review that decision and its subsequent history.

6. Prerecorded identification and opt-out messages

"When a live telephone solicitor is not available to speak with the consumer answering a telephone solicitation call within two seconds of the completed greeting, the telephone solicitor shall: (1) play a prerecorded identification and opt-out message that is limited to disclosing that the call was for telephone solicitation purposes and states the name and telephone number of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation call is being made, and a telephone number for such person that permits the consumer to make a do-not-call request during regular business hours; provided that, such telephone number may not be a 900 number or any other number for which charges exceed local or long distance transmission charges; and (2) an automated, interactive voice- and/or key press-activated opt-out mechanism that enables the consumer to make a do-not-call request prior to terminating the call, including brief explanatory instructions on how to use such mechanism." (§ 37-21-60.) When the consumer opts out, "the mechanism must automatically record the consumer's number to the telephone solicitor's in-house do-not-call list and immediately terminate the call." (Id.)

This tracks the federal abandoned-call safe harbor message, but in South Carolina it is a freestanding obligation enforceable by statutory damages.

7. Autodialers and prerecorded calls; Facebook v. Duguid

The SCTPPA does not regulate autodialers or prerecorded telemarketing messages as such, and contains no autodialer definition, so the Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 592 U.S. 395 (2021), question does not arise under it. Its rules apply to every "telephone solicitation" regardless of the equipment used.

The older ADAD statute, § 16-17-446, defines "Adad" as "an automatically dialed announcing device which delivers a recorded message without assistance by a live operator for the purpose of making an unsolicited consumer telephone call as defined in Section 16-17-445(A)(3)," and provides that "Adad calls include automatically announced calls of a political nature including, but not limited to, calls relating to political campaigns." It provides that "Adad calls are prohibited except: (1) in response to an express request of the person called; (2) when primarily connected with an existing debt or contract, payment or performance of which has not been completed at the time of the call; (3) in response to a person with whom the telephone solicitor has an existing business relationship or has had a previous business relationship," and that permitted ADAD calls "are prohibited after seven p.m. or before eight a.m." Two points limit this section's force. First, the Fourth Circuit held the statute content based and unconstitutional in Cahaly v. Larosa (below), and the Code annotation notes that decision. Second, § 16-17-445, on which § 16-17-446 relies for its definition, its disclosure requirements and its penalty, was "Deleted by 2018 Act No. 218, SECTION 2, eff May 18, 2018," and the Editor's Note directs readers to Chapter 21 of Title 37.

8. Text messages

Texts are expressly covered: the definition of telephone solicitation includes "a text or media message sent," and § 37-21-50 applies to any "call or text message." All SCTPPA rules (hours, disclosures, caller ID, do-not-call, and statutory damages) therefore apply to marketing texts sent to South Carolina residences or South Carolina area code wireless numbers.

9. Do-not-call: company-specific requests and the national registry

Company-specific requests. "A person may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation directed to a telephone number when a person at that telephone number previously stated a desire not to be contacted again by or on behalf of the person on whose behalf the telephone solicitation is being made." The request may be made to the solicitor or to the seller, and "Any request not to receive telephone solicitations must be honored for at least five years from the time the request is made." (§ 37-21-70(A).)

National registry. "A telephone solicitor may not initiate, or cause to be initiated, a telephone solicitation to a telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry maintained by the federal government pursuant to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 310, and 47 C.F.R. Section 64.1200." (§ 37-21-70(B).) South Carolina has no separate state list.

Interaction with the consent and EBR exclusions. The consent, established business relationship and personal relationship exclusions in § 37-21-20(6)(b) apply "except for the purposes of Section 37-21-70." Read literally, a call or text to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry is a "telephone solicitation" for purposes of § 37-21-70 even if the consumer gave written permission or has an established business relationship. Federal law, by contrast, exempts calls made with signed written permission or within an established business relationship from the national registry prohibition. The statute supplies a due-care defense (below), but sellers that rely on consent or relationship exceptions to call registered numbers should evaluate this text carefully.

Affirmative defense. "It is an affirmative defense in any action brought pursuant to Section 37-21-80 or 37-21-90 for a violation of this section that the defendant has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitation in violation of this section, including using in accordance with applicable federal regulations a version of the National Do Not Call Registry obtained from the administrator of the registry no more than thirty-one days prior to the date a telephone solicitation is made." (§ 37-21-70(C).)

10. Written contracts and cancellation

The SCTPPA has no written contract or cooling-off requirement for telephone sales. Section 37-21-40(B)(2) requires disclosure of any no-refund, no-cancellation or no-exchange policy.

11. Exemptions summary

The SCTPPA's exclusions appear in the definition of "telephone solicitation": political campaign calls and texts that comply with the TCPA; calls and texts with signed or electronically signed written permission identifying the seller and the number, within an established business relationship, or within a personal relationship (but not for the do-not-call section, and not after the consumer has asked not to be contacted); and calls by Title 38 insurance licensees. There is no business-to-business exclusion in the text, but the statute reaches only calls to "a natural person's residence in the State" or to "a wireless telephone with a South Carolina area code." Charitable solicitations are outside the definition because it is limited to offering or advertising property, goods, services, credit or prize promotions.

12. Private right of action

"A person who is aggrieved by a violation of this chapter is entitled to initiate an action to enjoin the violation and to recover actual losses in addition to damages in the amount of one thousand dollars for each violation." (§ 37-21-80(A).) "If the court finds a wilful violation, the court may, in its discretion, increase the amount of the award to an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars for each violation." (§ 37-21-80(B).) "Notwithstanding another provision of law, in addition to any damages awarded, the person initiating the action for a violation of this chapter may be awarded reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs." (§ 37-21-80(C).)

Damages actions may be filed in circuit, municipal or magistrates court within jurisdictional limits, but a request for an injunction must be filed in circuit court (§ 37-21-80(D)). "It must be a defense to any action brought under this section that the violation was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error." (§ 37-21-80(E).) The statute does not address class actions and does not state a limitations period. Remedies under other law are preserved (§ 37-21-100).

13. Government enforcement

"The administrator, upon finding a violation of this chapter, may issue an administrative order requiring the person to cease and desist, to return property or money received in violation of this chapter and imposing penalties of up to five thousand dollars for each violation." (§ 37-21-90(A).) The "administrator" under Title 37 is "the officer appointed by the Commission on Consumer Affairs to administer this title" (§ 37-6-103). "The Attorney General may investigate and enforce violations of this chapter. The Attorney General, may bring an action to enjoin a violation of this chapter by any person and to recover damages for an aggrieved person or persons in the amount of five thousand dollars for each violation." (§ 37-21-90(B)(1).) For willful violations, "the court, in its discretion, also may award a civil penalty of not more than five thousand dollars for each violation" (§ 37-21-90(B)(2)), and the Attorney General may recover investigative expenses and attorneys' fees (§ 37-21-90(B)(3)).

How South Carolina law differs from federal law

The federal baseline is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C. § 227, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), 16 C.F.R. Part 310.

Where South Carolina is stricter. The per-violation damages floor and willful ceiling are higher than the TCPA's, and the SCTPPA makes nearly every procedural requirement privately actionable, including disclosures and caller ID transmission that carry no federal private remedy. On its face, its national registry prohibition is not subject to the federal consent and established business relationship exceptions.

Where South Carolina is looser or narrower. The SCTPPA has no autodialer or prerecorded-message consent rule, no registration, and no written contract requirement. It reaches only residences in the state and wireless numbers with South Carolina area codes, excludes insurance licensees, and offers both a due-care defense to do-not-call claims and a bona fide error defense to all private claims.

Where South Carolina follows federal law. Calling hours, the established business relationship time limits, the five-year duration for internal do-not-call requests, the 31-day registry scrub, and the content of the two-second identification and opt-out message all track federal rules.

Notable enforcement and case law

• Cahaly v. Larosa, 796 F.3d 399 (4th Cir. 2015), Nos. 14-1651 and 14-1680 (decided Aug. 6, 2015). A political consultant arrested under § 16-17-446 challenged the ADAD statute. Applying Reed v. Town of Gilbert, the Fourth Circuit concluded "that South Carolina's anti-robocall statute is content based because it makes content distinctions on its face," explaining that the statute "applies to calls with a consumer or political message but does not reach calls made for any other purpose." Assuming a compelling interest, the court held "that the government has failed to prove that the anti-robocall statute is narrowly tailored to serve it," noting that "Plausible less restrictive alternatives include time-of-day limitations, mandatory disclosure of the caller's identity, or do-not-call lists." The court affirmed the judgment that the statute violates the First Amendment, held that the plaintiff lacked standing for his compelled-speech and vagueness challenges, and held that the officers were entitled to qualified immunity. Its disposition was "AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS" to dismiss the compelled-speech claim. Cahaly v. Larosa (4th Cir. 2015) opinion
• United Resource Systems, Inc. v. Wilson, 614 F. Supp. 3d 243 (D.S.C. 2022). Cited in the official Code annotation as bearing on the validity of § 37-21-50. The opinion text could not be retrieved from an official source, so its holding is not summarized here.

Recent amendments

The SCTPPA has not been amended since its enactment: every section's history reads "2018 Act No. 218 (H.4628), SECTION 1, eff May 18, 2018." The same Act deleted former § 16-17-445 (regulation of unsolicited consumer telephone calls). We found no 2023 to 2026 amendments in the Code as published by the Legislative Services Agency.

Practical compliance checklist

1. Identify South Carolina numbers by both residence and area code; the SCTPPA reaches any wireless number with a South Carolina area code wherever the subscriber lives.
2. Limit solicitations (calls and texts) to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the consumer's location unless the consumer has given prior written consent to other times.
3. Script and template disclosures: the caller's first and last name, the seller, a contact telephone number and address, the purpose, prize disclosures, the in-house do-not-call option, a good-faith cost estimate, and any no-refund policy; end the contact immediately if the consumer declines the offer.
4. Transmit a callback number (the seller's customer service number is acceptable) that accepts do-not-call requests during business hours; do not display South Carolina area codes without a physical presence in the state, and never display the recipient's own number.
5. When no live agent is available within two seconds, play the limited identification message with an automated opt-out that records the number and ends the call.
6. Honor stop requests for at least five years across the seller and all vendors.
7. Scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry every 31 days and document procedures to preserve the due-care defense; do not assume that federal consent or established business relationship exceptions protect calls to registered South Carolina numbers.
8. Obtain consent as a signed or electronically signed written agreement naming the specific seller and the telephone number.
9. Maintain records sufficient to support the bona fide error defense, including training and audit logs.

References

• S.C. Code Ann. Title 37, Chapter 21 (South Carolina Telephone Privacy Protection Act): https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t37c021.php
• S.C. Code Ann. Title 16, Chapter 17 (including §§ 16-17-445 and 16-17-446): https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t16c017.php
• S.C. Code Ann. Title 37, Chapter 1 (definitions, § 37-1-301): https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t37c001.php
• S.C. Code Ann. Title 37, Chapter 6 (§ 37-6-103): https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t37c006.php
• Cahaly v. Larosa, 796 F.3d 399 (4th Cir. 2015): https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/141651.P.pdf
• 47 U.S.C. § 227: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title47/html/USCODE-2023-title47-chap5-subchapII-partI-sec227.htm
• 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-64/subpart-L/section-64.1200
• 16 C.F.R. Part 310: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-310

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.