Last updated 2026-07-09
TL;DR
The FTC finalized major Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) updates in 2024. Prerecorded sales calls now need express written consent, the established-business-relationship loophole is closed for those calls, and new recordkeeping rules apply. The civil penalty ceiling is $51,744 per violation. Every outbound team using calls, texts, or automated dialers is affected. The EBR exemption is narrower than most teams assume.
What is the Telemarketing Sales Rule and who does it cover?
The Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) is the FTC's main regulation for outbound sales calls. It was first issued in 1995 under the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. § 6101 to 6108, and has been amended several times since. [1] The rule covers any "plan, program, or campaign" to sell goods or services through interstate telephone calls. In practice that means nearly every outbound B2C sales team in the country.
The TSR and the TCPA (47 U.S.C. § 227) are two different laws, enforced by two different agencies. The TCPA is an FCC rule enforced through private lawsuits and FCC actions. The TSR is an FTC rule enforced by the FTC, state attorneys general, and private parties in limited cases. You can break one without breaking the other. The most dangerous calls break both. [2]
Plenty of teams think they're exempt and aren't. Outbound teams that start from an inbound lead (the follow-up call you place is still outbound). Companies selling B2B that also reach some consumers. SaaS teams that upsell by phone. The TSR does carve out a few categories: calls to businesses (though the FTC keeps tightening this), calls where the consumer called first and the call isn't part of a sales plan, and charitable solicitations (which have their own separate rules). [1]
Before you get into TSR specifics, the plain-language overview of cold calling and the full compliance picture sets the table.
What are the most recent updates to the Telemarketing Sales Rule?
The FTC finalized its biggest TSR update in decades in early 2024. The amended rule was published in the Federal Register in March 2024, took effect April 16, 2024, and set a phased compliance period for some provisions that ran into January 2025. [3]
Here is what actually changed.
Prerecorded calls and texts now require express written consent. Under the old rule, a prerecorded telemarketing call to a consumer with an established business relationship (EBR) was sometimes allowed. The 2024 amendment closes that gap. Any outbound prerecorded sales message to a consumer needs prior express written consent, full stop. The FTC's reasoning is blunt: prerecorded calls are among the most complained-about telemarketing practices, and companies were treating a years-old customer relationship as a permanent license to robocall. [3]
The EBR exemption is narrowed, not eliminated. Live-agent calls can still lean on the EBR to sidestep the do-not-call requirement in certain cases. But the FTC's 2024 rulemaking record sharpened what "established business relationship" means: a transaction within 18 months, or an inquiry within 3 months, and no do-not-call request from that consumer. The rule text on this point didn't change much. The enforcement posture around it did. [3]
New recordkeeping requirements for consent. Companies now have to keep records proving a consumer gave express written consent for prerecorded calls. The FTC didn't dictate a format, but the rulemaking makes the expectation clear: preserve a timestamp, the medium consent was captured through, and the exact disclosure language the consumer agreed to. Keep these at least two years, the TSR's baseline retention period. [1]
Extended coverage for certain upsell calls. The update clarified that an internal upsell, where an inbound service call turns into a sales pitch, falls under the TSR if the upsell is for a different good or service than the one that prompted the call. That hits insurance, home services, and SaaS companies whose reps pivot from support to selling all day long. [3]
Prohibited misrepresentations expanded. The rule now explicitly lists misrepresenting a seller's identity and misrepresenting a consumer's consent to receive calls as banned practices. The general fraud prohibition arguably covered this already. Spelling it out makes enforcement easier and puts companies on clear notice. [1]
How does the 2024 TSR update affect text message marketing?
The TSR doesn't regulate texts exactly the way the TCPA does, but the 2024 update pulled SMS closer into frame. The FTC confirmed in its rulemaking that "telemarketing" under the TSR includes text messages sent as part of a sales campaign. So the ban on deceptive and abusive practices, the consent standards for prerecorded content, and the do-not-call obligations all reach outbound texts that are part of a telemarketing plan. [3]
Here's where it gets tangled. The TSR's prerecorded consent requirement now maps closely onto the TCPA's prior express written consent standard for autodialed texts. If you have compliant TCPA consent for a text campaign, you probably clear the TSR's consent bar too, because both want a signed (electronic signatures count) written agreement with a clear disclosure. The reverse isn't always true. Consent language that scrapes past TCPA's floor can still trip the TSR's separate ban on deceptive disclosures if you buried the sales purpose. [4]
For AI cold calling teams running automated SMS sequences, this is the most disruptive change in years. Every sequence that blasts prerecorded or templated messages to a list needs documented prior express written consent for each recipient. And you need to prove it on demand.
What is the civil penalty for violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule?
The maximum civil penalty per TSR violation is $51,744, adjusted for inflation by the FTC under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. [5] The number climbs most years. It was $46,517 in 2020.
That per-violation figure is not a ceiling on a single lawsuit. Each call or text to a consumer on the National Do Not Call Registry, each prerecorded call without consent, each prohibited misrepresentation counts as its own violation. A campaign that made 50,000 illegal calls carries a theoretical exposure near $2.6 billion. The FTC almost always settles far below the arithmetic maximum, but the arithmetic is why these cases end in the millions.
Real settlements give a truer sense of the risk. In 2023, the FTC settled with a student loan debt relief operation for $27.5 million. In 2022, a health insurance lead generator paid $5.1 million. Neither figure counts what the TCPA private plaintiff bar can pull on top: TCPA statutory damages run $500 to $1,500 per call, and plaintiff attorneys stack them into class actions. [6]
State attorneys general can bring their own TSR actions and pile state consumer-protection penalties on top. Florida in particular has its own telemarketing statute with penalties that run parallel to the federal exposure.
How does the TSR interact with the National Do Not Call Registry?
The TSR built the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry framework in its 2003 amendment, and the registry is jointly run by the FTC and FCC. [7] Sellers have to scrub their lists against the registry before dialing. The rule requires a scrub no more than 31 days before a call, so a list you cleaned 45 days ago is not compliant for calls you make today.
The 2024 update didn't rewrite the scrubbing requirement, but it tightened how DNC compliance and the prerecorded consent rule interact. A seller used to be able to argue an EBR excused them from the DNC restriction for a prerecorded call. That argument is dead now. The prerecorded rule demands affirmative consent regardless of EBR status. Even a valid EBR that lets a live agent call a DNC-listed consumer does nothing for a prerecorded message. You still need explicit written consent first. [3]
If you keep an internal do-not-call list (the TSR requires this separately from the national registry), the 2024 guidance reinforced that internal requests must be honored right away and kept on file at least five years. [1]
List management is where most small teams get caught on cold call compliance. The operational failure, someone dialing a number that was scrubbed weeks ago, is usually the first thing a plaintiff's attorney turns up in discovery.
What is the difference between TSR rules and TCPA rules?
This one comes up constantly. The honest answer: the two laws overlap a lot but aren't identical. Here's a direct comparison.
| Feature | TSR (FTC) | TCPA (FCC) |
|---|---|---|
| Governing agency | FTC | FCC |
| Private right of action | Limited (state AG, FTC) | Yes, broad |
| Penalty per violation | Up to $51,744 | $500, $1,500 (treble for willful) |
| Covers texts? | Yes, as part of telemarketing plan | Yes, independently |
| DNC Registry | Created by TSR, co-administered | Enforced via FCC too |
| Consent standard | Express written for prerecorded | Express written for autodialed/prerecorded |
| EBR exemption | Yes, for live calls, limited | No equivalent in TCPA |
| B2B exemption | Partial | Partial |
The TCPA is where most litigation risk sits for small teams. Any consumer, or their attorney, can sue you directly without waiting for the FTC. A TCPA class action is how one bad campaign becomes a company-ending event. The TSR is where the FTC brings its own action, usually after a pattern of complaints, and asks for injunctions plus penalties.
Some conduct breaks both. A prerecorded call to a DNC-listed consumer without consent is a TSR violation and a TCPA violation at the same instant. The two agencies sometimes coordinate, and a plaintiff's attorney will cite both statutes in the same complaint. [2] [4]
For a closer look at the TCPA side and its private-lawsuit risk, what is cold calling in sales covers the definitions and requirements that apply before a single call goes out.
Does the TSR apply to B2B telemarketing?
The TSR's do-not-call provisions and many of its consent requirements apply to calls "to a residential telephone subscriber." [1] That phrasing has traditionally meant purely B2B calls, where you dial a business number to sell a business product, sit outside the DNC and consent rules.
The exemption is messier than most B2B teams assume. The FTC has said more than once that if your B2B call reaches an individual on a personal or cell phone, even when the pitch is ostensibly business, the consumer protections may still apply. And the TSR's ban on deceptive and abusive practices covers all telemarketing, B2B included. You can't lie about who you are on a B2B call and claim TSR immunity. [1]
The 2024 amendment didn't expand B2B coverage much. The FTC's appetite for these cases shifted, though. The agency has gone after outfits that slapped a "B2B" label on what was functionally consumer telemarketing, especially in lead generation, education, and healthcare-adjacent sectors.
The bottom line is simple. If your B2B list holds cell numbers that belong to individuals who might pick up in a personal capacity, run your risk analysis as if the TSR's consumer protections apply. Getting that wrong costs far more than treating the list conservatively.
What records do sellers need to keep under the updated TSR?
The TSR's baseline is two years from the date a record is created. [1] The 2024 update added specificity on top of the existing requirements, mostly around consent.
Records you have to keep include:
- Advertising and promotional materials used in campaigns
- Information about prize recipients if you offer prizes
- Sales records, including each customer's name and address
- Employee records for anyone involved in telemarketing
- All verifiable authorization records for free-to-pay conversions and preacquired account telemarketing
- Consent records for prerecorded calls, including the timestamp, the medium (web form, verbal, paper), and the exact disclosure language shown to the consumer [3]
The consent-record piece is the hardest to build. If you capture consent through a web form, you need to log the IP address, the timestamp, the form version (so you can reproduce exactly what the consumer saw), and a link tying that record to the phone number you called. If consent was verbal (generally not enough for prerecorded calls, though it can apply elsewhere), you need a recording or a written confirmation trail.
Two years sounds long. It's also close to the TCPA statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 1658, so a plaintiff who files on the last possible day is asking for records your two-year window barely covers. Keep consent records at least three years if you can swing it.
What calling hours does the TSR set, and did those change in 2024?
The TSR bans telemarketing calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time at the called party's location. [1] This did not change in 2024. The TCPA regulations mirror it, so off-hours calls break two rules at once.
"Local time at the called party's location" means you calculate by where the consumer is, not where your call center sits. A team in Arizona calling New York consumers has to track the recipient's time zone. Sounds obvious. It's a common failure anyway, especially with auto-dialers that batch through lists without any time-zone filter.
Some states go tighter. Florida's Telephone Solicitation Act bans calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. local time, an hour stricter than the federal floor on the evening end. [8] California adds its own restrictions. State law governs whenever it protects the consumer more than the federal standard, so you need the time-zone rules for every state on your list, more than the federal one.
For the cold calling scripts and cold call scripts your reps run, the simplest fix is a hard stop at 8:59 p.m. recipient-local built into the dialer. Manual discipline doesn't hold up at scale.
What is the "established business relationship" exemption and is it still valid after 2024?
The established business relationship (EBR) exemption lets sellers call consumers on the National DNC Registry when a prior relationship exists, based on a purchase or an inquiry. The windows are 18 months from a purchase, delivery, or payment, or 3 months from an inquiry or application. [1]
The EBR survived the 2024 update for live-agent calls. It does not survive in any form for prerecorded calls, which now require affirmative written consent no matter the relationship history. [3] The FTC's rulemaking record is explicit on this: the agency found that consumers do not treat a past purchase as ongoing consent to automated calls, and it declined to keep the EBR for that use.
This bites hardest for companies with big existing customer bases who had been robocalling those customers without ever capturing formal written consent. After April 2024, that's a TSR violation. The fix is to run a consent-capture campaign across your existing customer list, aimed specifically at prerecorded outreach, and document the results.
The EBR also can't override a consumer's individual do-not-call request to your company. If a customer told you to stop calling, the EBR is gone for that person no matter how recent their last purchase. [1]
How should outbound sales teams update their processes after the 2024 TSR changes?
Here's the practical checklist, in rough order of urgency.
1. Audit every prerecorded call and voicemail-drop campaign now. If you run ringless voicemail, prerecorded messages, or templated auto-voice campaigns to existing customers without documented written consent, stop until you have the consent records in place. The FTC has explicitly put ringless voicemail inside TSR scope.
2. Update your consent forms. Any web form, landing page, or point-of-sale disclosure that captures consent for prerecorded or automated calls has to meet the "clear and conspicuous" standard. Name the seller, describe the type of calls or texts the consumer agrees to receive, and keep that language out of a terms-of-service wall. [3]
3. Build a consent-record database. Spreadsheets break. You need a system that logs the timestamp, form version, IP address, and phone number for every consent record and pulls a specific record within minutes when a regulator or plaintiff asks.
4. Review your upsell workflows. If your team moves from inbound support into pitching a different product, document whether the original consent covers that upsell. Under the 2024 clarification, it usually doesn't when the upsell product is materially different from what prompted the inbound call. [3]
5. Train reps on the new misrepresentation categories. The expanded list now explicitly covers identity and consent. A rep who tells a consumer "you requested this call" when they didn't is creating a TSR violation, more than an awkward moment.
6. Check your DNC scrubbing cadence. The 31-day rule is a maximum, not a grace period. Scrub before every campaign batch.
LeadCompliant's free TCPA tools include a consent-language checker and a DNC scrubbing walkthrough. Both are worth running if you're rebuilding forms or list workflows. They won't replace a legal review, but they catch the common language failures before a form goes in front of consumers.
None of this is legal advice. TSR compliance layered on top of state laws and the TCPA is complicated enough that you want a telecommunications attorney who handles FTC enforcement in the room.
What enforcement actions has the FTC brought under the TSR recently?
The FTC has run somewhere between 10 and 20 TSR enforcement actions a year lately, though the public case list lags behind the investigations. A few recent ones stand out.
In 2023, the FTC and the State of Florida jointly sued a student loan debt relief company, alleging TSR violations that included calling consumers on the DNC Registry and making false representations. The proposed settlement was $27.5 million. [6]
In 2022, the FTC went after a health insurance lead generation network, alleging its calls broke the TSR's ban on abusive telemarketing and its call abandonment rules. The settlement carried a $5.1 million civil penalty and a permanent injunction. [6]
The FTC's data reporting shows the agency has fielded millions of consumer complaints about unwanted calls each year, with prerecorded calls consistently the largest complaint category. [9] That volume is a big part of what drove the 2024 rulemaking.
The FTC also publishes DNC complaint data by type and geography, worth reviewing if you want to see where the enforcement pressure runs highest. Sectors with dense complaint volume, including insurance, home security, and debt relief, tend to draw enforcement first when the FTC picks its cases.
Frequently asked questions
When did the 2024 Telemarketing Sales Rule update take effect?
The FTC's amended TSR was published in the Federal Register in March 2024 and took effect April 16, 2024. Some provisions, particularly the consent documentation for prerecorded calls, had a phased compliance window running into early 2025. If you haven't updated your consent-capture processes yet, you're operating under the amended rule right now.
Does the Telemarketing Sales Rule cover ringless voicemail drops?
Yes. The FTC's position, clarified in the 2024 rulemaking, is that ringless voicemail delivered as part of a telemarketing campaign is a prerecorded message covered by the TSR. It requires prior express written consent from the consumer. The fact that the call doesn't technically ring does not take it outside the rule's prerecorded message provisions.
What is the difference between a TSR violation and a TCPA violation?
The TSR is an FTC rule; violations are enforced by the FTC and state AGs, with civil penalties up to $51,744 per violation. The TCPA is an FCC rule with a private right of action, meaning any consumer can sue you directly for $500 to $1,500 per call. Both can apply to the same call. TCPA class actions are the more common litigation threat for small teams; TSR enforcement tends to follow patterns of abuse.
How long do I need to keep consent records under the TSR?
The TSR baseline requires records to be kept two years from the date they were created. For consent records supporting prerecorded calls, three years is safer, because the TCPA statute of limitations can run to four years under some theories. You need to be able to prove more than that consent was given, and the exact disclosure language the consumer agreed to.
Can I still call existing customers who are on the Do Not Call Registry?
Yes, via live agent, using the established business relationship (EBR) exemption, if the customer made a purchase within the past 18 months (or an inquiry within 3 months) and hasn't asked you to stop. But you cannot use the EBR to justify a prerecorded call to a DNC-listed customer after the 2024 update. Prerecorded calls to any consumer now require affirmative written consent.
What calling hours are required under the TSR?
The TSR bans telemarketing calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time at the called party's location. This did not change in 2024. Several states run tighter windows: Florida, for one, cuts off at 8 p.m. Always apply the stricter of federal or state law for each consumer's state.
Does the TSR apply to text messages?
Yes. The FTC has confirmed that text messages sent as part of a telemarketing plan fall under the TSR, including its bans on deceptive practices and its consent requirements for prerecorded content. Outbound SMS campaigns are not exempt. They carry TSR requirements alongside TCPA requirements, though the specific obligations differ slightly between the two frameworks.
What is the TSR's call abandonment rule?
The TSR prohibits abandoning more than 3% of answered telemarketing calls in a 30-day period per campaign. An abandoned call is one a live person answers, then gets disconnected before a rep connects. When a call is abandoned, an automated message must play within 2 seconds identifying the seller and offering an opt-out. This rule didn't change in 2024 but stays an active enforcement area.
Does the TSR cover B2B cold calling?
Partly. The TSR's do-not-call provisions and express consent requirements apply to calls to residential subscribers. Purely B2B calls to business numbers are largely exempt from those specific rules. But the TSR's bans on deceptive and abusive practices apply to all telemarketing, B2B included. And if your B2B calls reach individuals on personal or cell numbers, consumer protections may apply regardless of the business framing.
What disclosures does the TSR require at the start of a telemarketing call?
Under the TSR, a telemarketer must disclose promptly (in the first 30 seconds, per FTC guidance) the seller's identity, that the purpose of the call is to sell goods or services, and the nature of those goods or services. Withholding or misrepresenting any of these is an explicit TSR violation. This applies to live-agent calls and is separate from the prerecorded consent requirement.
How does the TSR define "express written consent" for prerecorded calls?
After the 2024 update, the TSR requires consent for prerecorded calls to be in writing (electronic writing counts), signed by the consumer (electronic signature counts), and to carry a clear disclosure that the consumer agrees to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls or texts from the named seller. Pre-checked boxes do not satisfy this standard. Oral consent alone does not satisfy it for prerecorded calls.
What is the TSR's penalty for calling someone on the Do Not Call Registry?
Each call to a consumer on the National DNC Registry without a valid exemption or consent is a separate TSR violation, subject to a civil penalty of up to $51,744 per call. The FTC has pursued multi-million-dollar settlements against companies running large-scale DNC violations. State AGs can stack state-law penalties on top of federal enforcement.
Is there a "telemarketing sales rule wiki" or official reference I can point my team to?
The FTC maintains the authoritative TSR reference at ftc.gov, including the full rule text, business compliance guides, and a summary of recent amendments. The FTC's "Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule" guide is the closest thing to an official wiki and gets updated after major rulemakings. The Code of Federal Regulations (16 CFR Part 310) is the actual legal text.
Sources
- FTC, Telemarketing Sales Rule (16 CFR Part 310): TSR requirements for calling hours (8am–9pm local), DNC internal list retention (5 years), EBR timeframes, and the baseline two-year record-retention period
- FTC, Telemarketing Sales Rule Final Amendments (Federal Register, March 2024): 2024 TSR amendments closing EBR exemption for prerecorded calls, new consent recordkeeping requirements, upsell call coverage clarification, expanded prohibited misrepresentations, effective April 16 2024
- FTC, Civil Penalty Amounts (adjusted for inflation): Maximum civil penalty per TSR violation is $51,744 as adjusted under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act
- FTC, Enforcement Actions database: 2023 student loan debt relief settlement of $27.5 million and 2022 health insurance lead generator settlement of $5.1 million cited as recent TSR enforcement examples
- FTC, National Do Not Call Registry: National DNC Registry created by 2003 TSR amendment, jointly administered by FTC and FCC; 31-day scrubbing rule
- Florida Statutes § 501.616, Florida Telephone Solicitation Act: Florida prohibits telemarketing calls before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. local time, one hour stricter than the federal TSR evening cutoff
- FTC, Data and Visualizations (consumer complaint reporting): FTC has received millions of consumer complaints about unwanted calls annually, with prerecorded calls as the largest complaint category
- U.S. Code, 15 U.S.C. § 6101–6108, Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act: Statutory authority under which the FTC issued the TSR, first promulgated in 1995
- U.S. Code, 47 U.S.C. § 227, Telephone Consumer Protection Act: TCPA statutory text authorizing FCC rulemaking and private right of action for $500–$1,500 per violation