One of the most important aspects of compliance for outbound call centers in order to protect themselves against litigation is to ensure they are not calling anyone whose phone number is in the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. While this sounds simple enough, the FTC recently released a new set of rules detailing how you must keep records of your company’s accessing the DNC Registry in order to stay compliant with the regulations surrounding it. Here, we’re breaking down the new requirements and what you have to record to make sure you’re protected.

In short, each time you access the National DNC Registry, you need to record the following four things: access date, subscription account number used, the name of the entity, and the telemarketing campaign.

Access Date 

This is a pretty easy one: Each time you access the DNC Registry to ensure that the most updated version aligns with your internal Do Not Call List, you need to record the date. In many cases, your dialer software should be able to track this for you. If it can’t, you’ll need to devise a system to track your access dates yourself.

 Subscription Account Number Used

This one should be relatively easy to follow as well. In order to access the National DNC Registry, you need to purchase a subscription account number, or SAN. An SAN gives you access to all the numbers in the DNC Registry within five area codes that you select, plus any additional area codes you choose to access for an additional fee. Accessing the DNC Registry without an SAN is illegal, so you should already have one if you are scrubbing your internal DNC list against the National DNC Registry on a regular basis. This rule requires that you record the SAN used to access the DNC Registry each time you use it—and ensure that it remains current and active.

The Name of the Entity

Just like many requirements issued by the FTC and under the TCPA, this one is a bit ambiguous and up for interpretation at this point. The rule simply states that the name of the entity accessing/using the DNC Registry must be recorded. But in many cases, there are multiple “entities” involved in a single use, such as the company running the outbound calling campaign, the company they hire to initiate the scrub of the DNC Registry, and anyone else involved in the process. Since it isn’t clear which of these is technically the entity, it’s important to record the names of all parties involved in accessing the DNC Registry each time you do so.

The Telemarketing Campaign

 The final new rule around DNC Registry record keeping is recording the telemarketing campaign you are working on at the time of access. The reason for this is that a single customer’s phone number can belong to more than one campaign being run by a company and depending on the nature of the campaign, DNC Registry rules may not apply. For example, if you are running a campaign only involving customers that have directly expressed interest, you have three months from the first contact to legally initiate the follow up communication, even if that person’s phone number is on the DNC Registry.

Unsure about any rules or regulations surrounding the DNC Registry or TCPA compliance? Shoot us a note and we are happy to chat about it!