Dear Reader,
Welcome to Issue 18 of Outbound Focus, an
email publication of Sytel Limited.
This issue, we look at the changing face of outbound dialing
in the US, in the light of recently announced federal legislation.
See the end of this email for subscription information.
Jamie Stewart
editor@outboundfocus.com
US Feds Regulate Outbound Dialing
1) The
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
In December, the FTC announced the changes to its Telemarketing
Sales Rule (TSR) for interstate calls in the US. These
are wide-ranging and will have a major impact on outbound
markets in the US, and elsewhere. Click
here for a PDF version (652 Kb) of the full text of
the changes.
In this issue, we are going to summarise the changes on
the dialing front and look briefly at some of the other
main provisions.
What to Expect in 2003
In the US:
We expect that the lead of the FTC is likely to be followed
by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) and also individual
states (for intrastate calling). The extent of non-agent
calls will fall but, particularly because of exemptions,
it won't fall either as far or as fast as consumers would
like. So a key reason why people join 'do-not-call' lists
will be outside of the control of responsible telemarketers
(see also our comments about 'dead air', above).
Consider this. A call center, whose campaign is being run
outside the telemarketing rules (collections, fund raising,
market research, political, etc.) calls a consumer. The
call center gets through but in the process the consumer
gets abandoned calls, 'dead air', etc, which are clearly
well outside the rules. What can the consumer do to reduce
this class of call? Well, he may just join the proposed
national 'do-not-call' list. And the telemarketer who was
going to call the same consumer, working within the new
rules, can no longer do so, although the other call center
is free to do so again - and again.
It might be reasonable for non sales-related activities
to be excluded from 'do-not-call' compliance but it is unreasonable
that they should be allowed to continue with their old dialing
habits. Expect the US telemarketing community, rightly,
to be pretty vociferous on this in 2003.
Some outbound business may be tempted offshore from the
US, as a way of avoiding the new rule(s). At the first sign
of this, we expect some member of congress to win himself
some votes by seeking amendment to FTC/FCC rules to allow
US-owners of calling lists, and/or carriers responsible
for such calls into the US to be regulated.
Elsewhere:
The actions of the FTC/FCC will prompt other countries
to look more closely at the way in which they monitor their
outbound dialing markets. With the exception of Canada,
no other country has anything like the scale of outbound
activity and consumer concerns that the US has had, and
in most cases any actions will be measured rather than rushed.
We will be commenting further on other countries in subsequent
issues.
2) The
California Public Utility Commission (CPUC)
In California, the CPUC has published a working
paper (Word format, 112 Kb) for comment on its new dialing
rules, with recommendations in line with those of the FTC.
Because of the failure of the original bill (AB870) to encompass
it, the CPUC is still powerless to rule on the issue of
early hang-ups (see the 15 second minimum ring time in the
FTC rule, above). We believe that it
would be unwise to expect this "loophole" to remain
open for too long and we will keep you posted on any developments
in this area.
Disclaimer
We have used our best efforts in interpreting the new FTC
rule for you but cannot be held responsible for any errors
or omissions. All readers for whom the new rule is relevant
are advised to consult this
PDF file (652 Kb) at the FTC web site.
We have touched on some parts only of the new FTC rule
and would welcome contributions from anyone wanting to comment
on other aspects of it.
