II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1661

To require the Federal Trade Commission to establish a list of consumers 

who request not to receive telephone sales calls. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2003

Mr. DODD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL

To require the Federal Trade Commission to establish a 

list of consumers who request not to receive telephone 

sales calls.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telemarketing Intru5 sive Practices Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) CALLER IDENTIFICATION SERVICE OR DE9 VICE.—The term ‘‘caller identification service or de10 vice’’ means a telephone service or device that per-
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1 mits a consumer to see the telephone number of an 

2 incoming call. 

3 (2) CHAIRMAN.—The term ‘‘Chairman’’ means 

4 the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. 

5 (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

6 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

7 (4) CONSUMER.—The term ‘‘consumer’’ means 

8 an individual who is an actual or prospective pur9 chaser, lessee, or recipient of consumer goods or 

10 services. 

11 (5) CONSUMER GOODS OR SERVICES.—The 

12 term ‘‘consumer good or service’’ means an article or 

13 service that is purchased, leased, exchanged, or re14 ceived primarily for personal, family, or household 

15 purposes, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, an16 nuities, credit cards, and other financial products. 

17 (6) MARKETING OR SALES SOLICITATION.—

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘marketing 

19 or sales solicitation’’ means the initiation of a 

20 telephone call or message to encourage the pur21 chase of, rental of, or investment in, property, 

22 goods, or services, that is transmitted to a per23 son. 

24 (B) EXCEPTION.—The term does not in25 clude a call or message—
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1 (i) to a person with the prior express 

2 invitation or permission of that person; 

3 (ii) by a tax-exempt nonprofit organi4 zation; 

5 (iii) on behalf of a political candidate 

6 or political party; or 

7 (iv) to promote the success or defeat 

8 of a referendum question. 

9 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

10 the several States of the United States and the Dis11 trict of Columbia. 

12 (8) TELEPHONE SALES CALL.—

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘telephone 

14 sales call’’ means a call made by a telephone so15 licitor to a consumer for the purpose of—

16 (i) engaging in a marketing or sales 

17 solicitation, including a solicitation for a 

18 new consumer good or service where the 

19 consumer and the telephone solicitor had a 

20 prior relationship; 

21 (ii) soliciting an extension of credit for 

22 consumer goods or services; or 

23 (iii) obtaining information that will or 

24 may be used for the direct marketing or 

25 sales solicitation or exchange of or exten-
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1 sion of credit for consumer goods or serv2 ices. 

3 (B) EXCEPTION.—The term does not in4 clude a call made—

5 (i) in response to an express request 

6 of the person called; or 

7 (ii) primarily in connection with an 

8 existing debt or contract, payment, or per9 formance that has not been completed at 

10 the time of the call. 

11 (9) TELEPHONE SOLICITOR.—The term ‘‘tele12 phone solicitor’’ means an individual, association, 

13 corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited 

14 liability company or other business entity, or a sub15 sidiary or affiliate thereof, that does business in the 

16 United States and makes or causes to be made a 

17 telephone sales call. 

18 SEC. 3. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION NO CALL LIST. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall—

20 (1) establish and maintain a list for each State, 

21 of consumers who request not to receive telephone 

22 sales calls; and 

23 (2) provide notice to consumers of the establish24 ment of the lists. 
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1 (b) STATE CONTRACT.—The Commission may con2 tract with a State to establish and maintain the lists. 

3 (c) PRIVATE CONTRACT.—The Commission may con4 tract with a private vendor to establish and maintain the 

5 lists if the private vendor has maintained a national listing 

6 of consumers who request not to receive telephone sales 

7 calls, for not less than 2 years, or is otherwise determined 

8 by the Commission to be qualified. 

9 (d) CONSUMER RESPONSIBILITY.—

10 (1) INCLUSION ON LIST.—Except as provided in 

11 subsection (d)(2), a consumer who wishes to be in12 cluded on a list established under subsection (a) 

13 shall notify the Commission in such manner as the 

14 Chairman may prescribe to maximize the consumer’s 

15 opportunity to be included on that list. 

16 (2) DELETION FROM LIST.—Information about 

17 a consumer shall be deleted from a list upon the 

18 written request of the consumer. 

19 (e) UPDATE.—The Commission shall—

20 (1) update the lists maintained by the Commis21 sion not less than quarterly with information the 

22 Commission receives from consumers; and 

23 (2) annually request a no call list from each 

24 State that maintains a no call list and update the 

25 lists maintained by the Commission at that time to
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1 ensure that the lists maintained by the Commission 

2 contain the same information contained in the no 

3 call lists maintained by individual States.

4 (f) FEES.—The Commission may charge a reasonable 

5 fee for providing a list. 

6 (g) AVAILABILITY.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall make 

8 a list available only to a telephone solicitor. 

9 (2) FORMAT.—The list shall be made available 

10 in printed or electronic format, or both, at the dis11 cretion of the Chairman. 

12 SEC. 4. TELEPHONE SOLICITOR NO CALL LIST. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—A telephone solicitor shall main14 tain a list of consumers who request not to receive tele15 phone sales calls from that particular telephone solicitor. 

16 (b) PROCEDURE.—If a consumer receives a telephone 

17 sales call and requests to be placed on the do not call list 

18 of that telephone solicitor, the solicitor shall—

19 (1) place the consumer on the no call list of the 

20 solicitor; and 

21 (2) provide the consumer with a confirmation 

22 number which shall provide confirmation of the re23 quest of the consumer to be placed on the no call list 

24 of that telephone solicitor. 
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1 SEC. 5. TELEPHONE SOLICITATIONS. 

2 (a) TELEPHONE SALES CALL.—A telephone solicitor 

3 may not make or cause to be made a telephone sales call 

4 to a consumer—

5 (1) if the name and telephone number of the 

6 consumer appear in the then current quarterly lists 

7 made available by the Commission under section 3; 

8 (2) if the consumer previously requested to be 

9 placed on the do not call list of the telephone solic10 itor pursuant to section 4; 

11 (3) to be received between the hours of nine 

12 o’clock p.m. and nine o’clock a.m. and between five 

13 o’clock p.m. and seven o’clock p.m., local time, at 

14 the location of the consumer; 

15 (4) in the form of an electronically transmitted 

16 facsimile; or 

17 (5) by use of an automated dialing or recorded 

18 message device. 

19 (b) CALLER IDENTIFICATION DEVICE.—A telephone 

20 solicitor shall not knowingly use any method to block or 

21 otherwise circumvent the use of a caller identification serv22 ice or device by a consumer. 

23 (c) SALE OF CONSUMER INFORMATION TO TELE24 PHONE SOLICITORS.—

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—A person who obtains the 

26 name, residential address, or telephone number of a 
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1 consumer from a published telephone directory or 

2 from any other source and republishes or compiles 

3 that information, electronically or otherwise, and 

4 sells or offers to sell that publication or compilation 

5 to a telephone solicitor for marketing or sales solici6 tation purposes, shall exclude from that publication 

7 or compilation, and from the database used to pre8 pare that publication or compilation, the name, ad9 dress, and telephone number of a consumer if the 

10 name and telephone number of the consumer appear 

11 in the then current quarterly list made available by 

12 the Commission under section 3. 

13 (2) EXCEPTION.—This subsection does not 

14 apply to a publisher of a telephone directory when 

15 a consumer is called for the sole purpose of com16 piling, publishing, or distributing a telephone direc17 tory intended for use by the general public. 

18 SEC. 6. REGULATIONS. 

19 The Chairman may adopt regulations to carry out 

20 this Act that shall include—

21 (1) provisions governing the availability and 

22 distribution of the lists established under section 3; 

23 (2) notice requirements for a consumer who re24 quests to be included on the lists established under 

25 section 3; and 
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1 (3) a schedule for the payment of fees to be 

2 paid by a person who requests a list made available 

3 under section 3. 

4 SEC. 7. CIVIL CAUSE OF ACTION. 

5 (a) ACTION BY COMMISSION.—

6 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICE.—

7 A violation of section 4 or 5 is an unfair or deceptive 

8 trade practice under section 5 of the Federal Trade 

9 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). 

10 (2) CUMULATIVE DAMAGES.—In a civil action 

11 brought by the Commission under section 5 of the 

12 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to 

13 recover damages arising from more than one alleged 

14 violation, the damages shall be cumulative. 

15 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—A person or entity may, if 

17 otherwise permitted by the laws or the rules of court 

18 of a State, bring in an appropriate court of that 

19 State—

20 (A) an action based on a violation of sec21 tion 4, 5, or 6 to enjoin the violation; 

22 (B) an action to recover for actual mone23 tary loss from a violation of section 4, 5, or 6, 

24 or to receive $500 in damages for each viola25 tion, whichever is greater; or 
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1 (C) an action under paragraphs (1) and 

2 (2). 

3 (2) WILLFUL VIOLATION.—If the court finds 

4 that the defendant willfully or knowingly violated 

5 section 4, 5, or 6, the court may, in the discretion 

6 of the court, increase the amount of the award to an 

7 amount equal to not more than 3 times the amount 

8 available under paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection 

9 and to include reasonable attorney’s fees. 

10 SEC. 8. EFFECT ON STATE LAW. 

11 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit a 

12 State from enacting or enforcing more stringent legisla13 tion in the regulation of telephone solicitors. 

14 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

16 as necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

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