By Peter Feltman, CCH Washington Staff Writer

Disruptions from unsolicited telephone calls may someday soon be considered an outdated relic of the past, thanks to recent efforts by the federal government.

Both the House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation on February 13, 2003, to fund the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call telemarketer database. In addition, the House approved a separate bill to allow the FTC to combat fraudulent national emergency fundraising.

The fraud measure goes to the Senate, and the President is expected to sign the Do Not Call legislation, which the White House praised in a written statement. Once enacted, the FTC believes that it can begin enforcing the telemarketing database in about seven months.

Last December, under authority granted by the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 1994, the FTC approved the creation of the Do Not Call database. Under the rules, telemarketers would need to check the FTC's list every three months. Moreover, calling someone on the list would be a violation of the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule, which can involve fines of up to $11,000 for each violation. The database will be funded by FTC fees on telemarketers, per Congressional mandate. The Do Not Call Implementation Act gives the FTC authority to assess these fees for five years.

Unfortunately, at this time, not all telemarketing calls will be covered by the new regulations, but this may soon change. The FTC's national Do Not Call database restricts only national telemarketing campaigns, so intrastate calls, which are beyond the FTC's authority, are exempt (although over half of all states have their own lists of those who do not wish to be contacted by telemarketers). In addition, other industries congressionally exempted from the database include banks (although many bank subsidiaries are covered by the FTC), telephone companies, airlines, insurance companies, and credit unions.

Finally, the Do Not Call measure also requires the Federal Communications Commission to work with the FTC on building another similar database, addressing all calls not currently covered by the FTC's authority.

The Direct Marketing Association, which maintains its own Do Not Call list that its members must use, filed suit in January in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City against the FTC's effort. The case is still pending.

In a related development, the House of Representatives also passed a measure to crack down on scam artists who commit fraud by falsely claiming to be raising money for disasters. Under the measure, H.R. 346, the American Spirit Fraud Prevention Act, the normal fines for fraud under the FTC Act would be doubled in cases where the fraud involves a situation that has been declared a disaster by the President within the last year. Specifically, the legislation would double the fines under Section 5(m) of the FTC Act from $11,000 to $22,000, and also raise to $22,000 fines under Section 13 of the FTC Act.

A similar measure passed the House last year but did not become law.

Related items:

FTC Approves Creation Of Do Not Call Database

FTC Database Would Prevent Telemarketing Calls