The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a law that regulates telemarketing and the use of automatic dialing systems and prerecorded messages. Marketers must be aware of the TCPA’s rules in order to avoid potential legal issues. Some of the main pitfalls for marketers to be aware of include:
- Prior express consent: The TCPA requires that marketers obtain prior express written consent from consumers before sending them marketing calls or texts. This means that marketers must have a clear and conspicuous disclosure that the consumer will receive calls and texts, and the consumer must take affirmative action to agree to receive such messages.
- Do Not Call Registry: The TCPA includes a National Do Not Call Registry, which allows consumers to opt out of receiving telemarketing calls. Marketers are prohibited from making telemarketing calls to phone numbers on the registry, and they must periodically scrub their call lists against the registry to ensure compliance.
- Time of calls: The TCPA has restrictions on when telemarketing calls can be made, with the restrictions vary whether is a residential or business phone number. For residential numbers, calls are only allowed to be made between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.
- Robocalls: The TCPA requires marketers to obtain prior express written consent before sending prerecorded messages or robocalls to consumers, unless the call is for an emergency purpose or made solely for the purpose of collecting a debt owed to the United States.
- TCPA Litigation is usually on class action basis, this mean one person can sue on behalf of thousands and thus the potential exposure for damages in large, which can be devastating for some companies.
It is advisable to have legal guidance to navigate TCPA compliance to avoid any legal issues. Companies can mitigate lawsuit risk by using a scrub list of TCPA repeat litigators. Visit TCPALitigatorList.com for more information on risk mitigation.