Telemarketing sales rule 16 CFR part 310: the complete guide

Last updated 2026-07-09

What is 16 CFR Part 310, the Telemarketing Sales Rule?

The Telemarketing Sales Rule, published at Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 310, is the Federal Trade Commission's main rulebook for outbound telemarketing in the United States. The FTC first issued it in 1995 under authority from the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 6101 et seq. ^[1] It has been amended several times, most notably in 2003 (when the National Do Not Call Registry launched), in 2010 (adding rules for debt relief and upselling), and in 2023 (tightening recordkeeping and consent).

The rule reaches two parties. A "seller" is any person who provides goods or services to a customer in exchange for payment. A "telemarketer" is any person who initiates or receives phone calls as part of a plan to sell those goods or services. Both can be held liable. Hire an outside call center and you are still the seller, and you still carry the legal exposure when that call center breaks the rule.

Geographically, the TSR covers any telemarketing call from or into the United States. Purely intrastate calls sometimes fall outside TSR jurisdiction and get handled by state law instead, but in practice any call touching a state line is covered. ^[1]

The rule does not cover every phone call. Business-to-business calls are largely exempt unless the seller is pushing non-durable office or cleaning supplies. Calls to prior customers with existing relationships, certain non-profit solicitations, and calls from licensed securities dealers or brokers get partial or full exemptions. Knowing exactly which exemptions apply to your operation is not optional. Getting it wrong is expensive.

What does 16 CFR 310.3 require? Deceptive and abusive practices defined

Section 310.3 is the heart of the rule. It defines what the FTC calls "deceptive telemarketing acts or practices" and "abusive telemarketing acts or practices." Sellers and telemarketers who violate it face civil penalties and FTC enforcement actions.

On the deception side, 16 CFR 310.3(a) bans misrepresenting any material aspect of a good or service, including performance, efficacy, nature, price, or any material restriction or condition. It also bans claiming a false government affiliation or calling goods "free" when they carry strings. The FTC reads "material" broadly. If the information would change a consumer's decision, it is material.

The disclosure duties under 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1) require telemarketers to disclose, promptly and clearly, before a consumer pays: the total cost of the goods or services, all material restrictions or conditions on obtaining them, and any no-refund or limited-refund policy. Prize promotions carry extra disclosures about odds and what the consumer must do to win. ^[2]

On the abusive side, 310.3(a)(2) bans initiating an outbound call to anyone who has asked not to be called. This is separate from the Do Not Call Registry. It covers company-specific do-not-call requests. If a consumer tells your rep "don't call me again" and you call back, that alone violates 310.3.

Section 310.3(a)(3) bans obtaining payment through misrepresentation. Sounds obvious. The FTC applies it broadly. Billing a customer for a product they didn't clearly agree to buy is a violation even if they said "yes" to something else on the call.

Watch 310.3(b), which covers deceptive or abusive upselling. On a call started for one purpose, pitching a second product while misrepresenting facts about that second offer is a separate TSR violation, even if the first offer was clean.

What are the TSR's required disclosures before a sale closes?

Before a consumer agrees to pay, 16 CFR 310.3(a)(1) requires the telemarketer to clearly and conspicuously disclose four things ^[2]:

1. The total cost to purchase, receive, or use the goods or services being offered. 2. All material restrictions, limitations, or conditions on the purchase or receipt of the goods or services. 3. If the seller has a policy of no refunds, cancellations, exchanges, or repurchases, a statement of that policy. If the policy has conditions, those conditions must be disclosed too. 4. In prize promotion calls, the odds of winning, that no purchase is necessary to win, and how to participate without buying.

These disclosures come before any payment or billing authorization. You cannot bury them at the end after the customer has emotionally committed. The FTC's position is that a rapid, low-volume mumble at the tail of a long pitch does not meet the "clearly and conspicuously" standard.

Negative option offers charge the customer when they stay silent or do nothing. Section 310.3(a)(1)(vii) requires disclosure that the account will be charged, the amount, and the date of the charge. This provision grew teeth as subscription commerce spread. An outbound call pitching a free trial that flips to automatic billing has to spell out the billing terms before the customer agrees. Full stop.

There is also a call-opening disclosure in Section 310.4(d). Within the first few seconds of an outbound call, the telemarketer must state the identity of the seller and that the purpose of the call is to sell goods or services. The FTC sets no word count. The practical standard: a consumer should immediately know who is calling and why.

How does the TSR connect to the National Do Not Call Registry?

Section 310.4(b)(1)(iii) of the TSR bars a telemarketer from calling any number on the National Do Not Call Registry, which the FTC maintains. ^[3] The registry opened in 2003. It now holds more than 249 million phone numbers registered by consumers who want the calls to stop. ^[4]

Under the TSR, sellers and telemarketers must access the registry before calling, scrub their lists against it, and skip registered numbers. Sellers subscribe and download data for the area codes they plan to call. The FTC charges an annual fee per area code, and the first five area codes are free. Recent fee schedules put access to all area codes at roughly $20,000 per year, but verify the current fee at ftc.gov before you budget. ^[4]

The safe harbor in Section 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B) protects sellers who accessed the registry within the prior 31 days, scrubbed their lists, and can show a registered number got called by mistake rather than on purpose. Documenting your scrubs is the only way to use this defense. No documentation, no defense.

The DNC rules bind sellers and their agents. Buy a list from a lead vendor and you still have to scrub it before you call. The FTC has sued sellers who blamed vendors. It has not gone well for the sellers.

The TCPA (47 U.S.C. 227) and FCC rules also enforce the National DNC Registry, running in parallel with the TSR. ^[5] The two schemes are not identical. TCPA gives consumers a private right to sue for $500 to $1,500 per call. The TSR is enforced by the FTC and state attorneys general, not by private plaintiffs. Both can hit you at once for the same call.

What calling time restrictions and other prohibited conduct does the TSR impose?

Section 310.4(c) bans outbound telemarketing calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time at the called party's location. ^[2] The clock runs at the consumer's end, not yours. Call center in Arizona dialing New York? You work Eastern time for those calls.

Section 310.4(a) bans a set of abusive conduct no matter what you are selling ^[2]:

• Threats, intimidation, or profane or obscene language.
• Causing the phone to ring more than fifteen times, or keeping a consumer on the line longer than necessary.
• Abandoning an outbound call. A call is "abandoned" if the telemarketer does not connect it to a live sales rep within two seconds of the consumer's completed greeting. When a predictive dialer drops more than three percent of answered calls over a thirty-day period, those abandoned calls are TSR violations. ^[2]
• Denying or misrepresenting the right to be placed on a company-specific do-not-call list.
• Placing a call without transmitting the caller's phone number and name to a caller ID service. Spoofed calls with no valid callback number are flatly prohibited.

The three-percent abandoned call rule surprises most small teams running predictive dialers. Every connected call where a live rep is not available within two seconds counts as abandoned. Cross three percent in any rolling thirty-day window and each of those calls becomes a TSR violation. The math gets ugly fast.

Anyone running cold calling operations with auto-dialers has to know the abandoned call threshold cold. See also our overview of what cold calling means in practice for where TSR rules sit inside broader outbound strategy.

What are the TSR's payment method restrictions?

Section 310.4(a)(4) through (a)(9) bans certain payment methods outright in telemarketing transactions. ^[2] These bans exist because fraudsters historically exploited payment types that were hard to reverse.

Prohibited payment methods include:

• Remotely created checks (also called demand drafts). These are checks created by the seller without the consumer's signature. Banned in telemarketing.
• Cash-to-cash money transfers (such as Western Union wire transfers) for any goods or services sold through telemarketing, with narrow exceptions.
• Cash reload mechanisms, such as MoneyPak, used to pay for goods or services obtained through telemarketing.

The ban on remotely created checks has been in place since 2015. If your billing system creates checks for a customer using only account numbers, get a legal review of your setup. The FTC has fined companies for this long after the practice became common.

For online payment in a telemarketing context, the rule requires express verifiable authorization before charging a consumer's account. "Express verifiable" means the authorization is in writing (including electronically), or obtained by phone and confirmed in a voicemail or written confirmation sent to the consumer before the charge. The FTC reads this strictly. A recording of a verbal "yes" helps, but it has to come with either the written confirmation or the recorded verification call.

What recordkeeping does 16 CFR 310.5 require?

Section 310.5 requires sellers and telemarketers to keep certain records for 24 months from the date the record is created. ^[2] The required records include:

• Advertising and promotional materials used in the campaign.
• Sales records with each customer's name and address, the goods or services bought, and the date and amount of each purchase.
• Employee records showing who worked as a telemarketer and for what period.
• All verifiable authorizations required by Section 310.3(a)(3).
• All consumer complaints received, direct or forwarded through a third party.
• DNC scrub records showing when lists were pulled and against which database versions.

The 24-month requirement is a floor, not a ceiling. If FTC litigation starts, litigation hold rules under federal discovery extend that indefinitely. Small teams underinvest in record storage until they are in trouble. By then, missing records look like destroyed evidence.

The 2023 TSR amendments added rules for retaining records that prove consumer consent for negative option offers. If your product has a free trial or continuity billing, you need records showing each customer was told what they were signing up for and agreed to it.

For teams building compliance infrastructure, LeadCompliant's free compliance kit includes a TSR recordkeeping checklist and a DNC scrub log template that match the 310.5 requirements.

What are the civil penalties for violating the TSR?

Each violation of the Telemarketing Sales Rule carries a civil penalty of up to $51,744 per violation, adjusted for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. ^[6] The FTC adjusts this figure periodically. It sat at $50,120 per violation as recently as 2023 and ticks up with inflation, so always check the current figure at ftc.gov.

The FTC does not charge per campaign. It charges per call, per misrepresentation, or per instance of prohibited conduct. In a campaign that made 10,000 illegal calls, the theoretical maximum is over $517 million. Courts do not always impose the maximum, but they have handed down nine-figure judgments. The FTC's 2022 action against Vonage ended in a $100 million settlement built partly on TSR and related claims, though that case bundled multiple overlapping counts. ^[7]

State attorneys general can also bring TSR enforcement actions under Section 6 of the Telemarketing Act. ^[1] Several states, including Florida, California, and Indiana, run active AG telemarketing units. A state AG action is not a substitute for FTC action. You can face both at once.

Private individuals cannot sue under the TSR directly, unlike the TCPA where any consumer can file in small claims court. Still, TSR violations often overlap with TCPA violations, and a consumer suing under TCPA can trigger a parallel FTC investigation. The practical risk is always both at once.

Violation type	Max penalty per violation
TSR deceptive practice	$51,744
TSR DNC call	$51,744
TSR abandoned call	$51,744
TSR prohibited payment method	$51,744
TCPA unsolicited call/text	$500 to $1,500 per call (private right of action)

Sources: FTC civil penalty schedule ^[6], 47 U.S.C. 227 ^[5]

How does the TSR interact with TCPA? Are they the same law?

No. They are different laws, enforced by different agencies, covering overlapping conduct.

The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. 227) is a federal statute enforced by the FCC, and it lets private plaintiffs sue. It focuses on the technology used to place calls: autodialed calls, prerecorded messages, and texts to mobile phones. Consent is the central question under TCPA. ^[5]

The TSR (16 CFR Part 310) is an FTC rule enforced by the FTC and state AGs. No private right of action. It focuses on conduct during the call: what you say, what you must disclose, what payment methods you can accept, and whether the number was on the DNC Registry.

One outbound robocall to a cell phone on the National DNC Registry can violate both at once. The TCPA violation comes from the autodialer used without consent. The TSR violation comes from calling a registered number. The consumer can sue you personally under TCPA while the FTC opens a file on the TSR issue. This is not hypothetical. It happens regularly.

For teams running AI cold calling campaigns with automated dialers, both statutes apply and neither can be ignored. State laws add a third layer in places like Florida (FTSA), Washington, and Oklahoma. For a deeper look at cold calling compliance foundations, see our guide on cold calling rules.

Which industries and call types are exempt from the TSR?

The TSR exemptions live in Section 310.6. They are narrower than most telemarketers expect, and some are only partial. Certain call types get a partial pass, not a full one.

Full exemptions include ^[2]:

• Calls from a consumer responding to a general media advertisement (not a direct mail piece). If a consumer saw your TV ad and called you, that inbound call is generally exempt.
• Calls from a consumer responding to a direct mail solicitation that clearly disclosed all the material information required by 310.3(a)(1), as long as the goods offered aren't in a high-risk category (prize promotions, investment opportunities, and the like).
• Calls between a telemarketer and any business, except calls to businesses selling non-durable office and cleaning supplies.
• Calls by or on behalf of most tax-exempt non-profit organizations.
• Calls to prior customers: a seller can call someone who bought from them within the past 18 months without that person's number sitting on a company-specific DNC list. This is the "existing business relationship" exemption, and it runs 18 months, not 12.

Banks, federal credit unions, common carriers, and entities regulated by the Surface Transportation Board have industry-specific exemptions.

Notice what is not exempt. Being B2B does not make every TSR rule disappear. The DNC Registry exemption for B2B calls is solid, but the general deception and abusive conduct bans in 310.3 still apply to business-to-business telemarketing. Lie to a business customer about your product and that is still a TSR violation.

For teams working on cold call scripts, knowing which disclosures apply to your specific call type (inbound vs. outbound, consumer vs. business) changes what your script has to include.

How can a small outbound team actually comply with the TSR?

Compliance is not complicated. It is boring and procedural, and teams skip it because nothing bad happens for months, then something very bad happens all at once.

Here is the minimum a small team needs.

First, access the National DNC Registry. Register at ftc.gov, pay for the area codes you call, and download the data at least every 31 days. Scrub every list before calling. Log every scrub with the date, the registry data version, and who ran it. Store those logs for 24 months.

Second, write a company-specific do-not-call policy and train every rep on it. When a consumer says "don't call me," that number goes on your internal DNC list within seconds, not hours. Section 310.4(b)(1)(ii) requires that a request be honored within a "reasonable time" but no later than thirty days from the request. ^[2] Treat it as immediate.

Third, use a calling platform that transmits valid caller ID, keeps call abandonment below three percent on a rolling 30-day basis, and blocks calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time at the called party's location.

Fourth, build your required disclosures into the script as non-negotiable opening language. The rep identifies the company and states the purpose of the call in the first few seconds. The material terms of any offer come out before you ask for payment.

Fifth, record calls and keep the recordings at least 24 months. Store sales records, complaints, and authorization documents for the same period.

For teams that want a structured starting point, LeadCompliant offers a one-time compliance kit with TSR-aligned script templates, a DNC scrub log, and a recordkeeping checklist. It won't replace a lawyer. It will get your process infrastructure built correctly before you have to defend it.

For building call approaches that work and stay legal, our cold call script resource covers both what to say and what the rules require you to say.

Where can I find the full text of the TSR?

The authoritative current text of the Telemarketing Sales Rule lives on the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations at ecfr.gov under Title 16, Part 310. The eCFR version updates in real time as amendments take effect. ^[2] It is free and searchable.

The FTC also maintains a dedicated TSR compliance guide on its business guidance site at ftc.gov. That page explains each section in plain language and links to FTC enforcement actions, which help you see how the agency reads ambiguous provisions. ^[8]

The FTC's Business Guidance center at ftc.gov has telemarketing-specific compliance material worth bookmarking. It gets updated after major rule changes, sometimes with a lag after the effective date.

For citations in formal documents or legal proceedings, cite 16 CFR Part 310 with the eCFR URL and note the last-amended date. The 2023 amendments changed recordkeeping requirements and strengthened consent documentation. If a compliance guide predates 2023, check its specific sections against the current eCFR text before relying on it.

The underlying statutory authority, the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, appears at 15 U.S.C. 6101-6108 and is accessible via congress.gov. ^[1] Reading the statute alongside the rule shows why certain provisions exist and how courts might read the ambiguous language.

Frequently asked questions

Does 16 CFR Part 310 apply to text message marketing?

The TSR was written around phone calls, but the FTC has said outbound SMS can qualify as "telephone calls" for TSR purposes in some contexts, especially when used to induce a purchase. The clearer text rules come from the TCPA and FCC regulations. If your SMS campaign is promotional and commerce-oriented, treat it as subject to both TSR and TCPA rules and build compliance around the stricter of the two.

What is the difference between a seller and a telemarketer under the TSR?

A seller is the company that provides the goods or services and takes payment. A telemarketer is the person or company making the calls, often a hired call center. Both can be held liable under the TSR independently. The seller cannot escape by blaming the call center, and the call center cannot escape by claiming it just followed the seller's script. The FTC regularly names both in enforcement actions.

How often do I need to scrub my call list against the National Do Not Call Registry?

The TSR safe harbor requires sellers to access the registry and scrub their lists within 31 days before any call. In practice, most compliant operations scrub at least monthly, and many scrub before each campaign launch. You must subscribe to the registry for every area code you plan to call. Calling a registered number because your data was 32 days old gives you no protection.

Can I call someone on the National DNC Registry if they gave me their number directly?

Yes, with limits. If a consumer gave you express written consent to be contacted, or bought from you within the past 18 months (the existing business relationship exemption), you can call them even if their number sits on the National Registry. The consent or relationship has to be real and documented. The burden of proving the exemption applies is on you.

What counts as an abandoned call under the TSR?

A call is abandoned if a live sales rep is not connected within two seconds of the consumer completing their greeting. If your predictive dialer drops more than three percent of answered calls over any 30-day period, each abandoned call is a TSR violation. The three-percent threshold is calculated across all calls answered in that window, not only the dropped ones.

Are B2B telemarketing calls exempt from the National Do Not Call rules?

Business-to-business calls are generally exempt from the National DNC Registry provisions of the TSR. But calls to a business selling non-durable office or cleaning supplies are not exempt. And the general bans on deception, abusive conduct, and prohibited payment methods in 310.3 still apply to B2B telemarketing. Being B2B does not mean anything goes on the call itself.

What happens if a consumer asks not to be called and my rep doesn't note it?

If a consumer makes a company-specific do-not-call request and you call again, that is a standalone TSR violation under Section 310.4(b)(1)(ii), separate from any DNC Registry issue. Each repeat call is a separate violation, each subject to a penalty up to $51,744. The rep's failure to log the request does not shield the company. It is an operational process problem that turns into a legal one fast.

Does the TSR cover inbound calls where the consumer called me?

Inbound calls from consumers responding to general media advertising are generally exempt. Inbound calls responding to direct mail are often exempt too, provided the mail included all required disclosures. But if you upsell a second product during that inbound call, the upsell pitch is subject to TSR requirements. The exemption covers the reason for the call, not everything that happens on it.

What disclosures are required before I close a telemarketing sale?

Before asking for payment or billing authorization, you must disclose the total cost of the goods or services, all material restrictions or conditions, and your refund or cancellation policy. For prize promotions, you must also disclose odds, that no purchase is required, and how to participate for free. These disclosures have to be clear and conspicuous, not buried in a fast-talking disclaimer at the end of the pitch.

How long do I need to keep telemarketing records under the TSR?

Section 310.5 requires a minimum of 24 months from the date of creation for advertising materials, sales records, employee records, verifiable authorizations, consumer complaints, and DNC scrub logs. For negative option or subscription offers, the 2023 amendments added specific consent documentation requirements. Litigation holds under federal discovery rules can require longer retention once any legal proceeding begins.

Can consumers sue me directly for TSR violations?

No. The TSR creates no private right of action. Only the FTC and state attorneys general can bring TSR enforcement actions. But the same call that violates the TSR almost always also violates the TCPA, which does allow private lawsuits for $500 to $1,500 per call. The practical risk is that one consumer complaint about a TSR violation triggers both an FTC review and TCPA litigation at once.

What are the TSR rules for robocalls and prerecorded messages?

The TSR generally bans outbound calls delivering prerecorded messages unless the seller has the consumer's express written agreement to receive them and the number is not on the National DNC Registry. The prerecorded message must also include an automated opt-out mechanism that records a DNC request honored within 30 days. The TCPA adds more restrictions on top of these TSR requirements.

Does the FTC's TSR cover online ads that lead to a phone call?

The TSR covers transactions where a phone call is a material part of the sales process. If an online ad prompts a consumer to call you, and you take payment on that call, TSR rules apply to the call itself even though first contact was online. If everything happens online with no phone call, the TSR generally does not apply, though FTC Act Section 5 unfair and deceptive practices rules still do.

Sources

1. Congress.gov, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 6101: The TSR was issued under authority granted by the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 6101 et seq.
2. eCFR, Title 16 Part 310, Telemarketing Sales Rule: Full text of 16 CFR Part 310 including Sections 310.3, 310.4, 310.5, and 310.6 covering deceptive practices, calling restrictions, recordkeeping, and exemptions.
3. FTC.gov, National Do Not Call Registry: Section 310.4(b)(1)(iii) prohibits outbound calls to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.
4. FTC.gov, National Do Not Call Registry Data Book (annual FTC report on registered numbers and subscription fees): The National Do Not Call Registry holds more than 249 million registered phone numbers, and access to all area codes costs roughly $20,000 per year.
5. FTC.gov, Civil penalty adjustments under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act: Each TSR violation is subject to a civil penalty of up to $51,744 per violation as adjusted for inflation.
6. FTC.gov, FTC news and press releases on the 2022 Vonage settlement: The FTC's 2022 action against Vonage resulted in a $100 million settlement based on TSR and related violations.
7. FTC.gov, Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule (FTC business guidance): The FTC maintains a dedicated TSR compliance guide explaining each section in plain language and linking to enforcement actions.
8. FTC.gov, Telemarketing Sales Rule rulemaking record (2023 amendments): The 2023 TSR amendments added requirements around retaining records demonstrating consumer consent for negative option offers.
9. Congress.gov, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, Section 6 state AG authority: State attorneys general can bring TSR enforcement actions under Section 6 of the Telemarketing Act, in addition to FTC enforcement.