Federal Trade Commission October 4, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this document, the Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') announces decisions on four issues involving the Telemarketing Sales Rule (``TSR''): the denial of a petition submitted by Voice Mail Broadcasting Corporation (``VMBC'') requesting creation of a new safe harbor for the TSR that would permit the use of prerecorded messages in calls to established customers; a new proposal to amend the TSR by expressly prohibiting unsolicited prerecorded telemarketing calls without the consumer's prior written agreement; revocation of the Commission's previously announced policy of forbearance from bringing enforcement actions against sellers and telemarketers who make prerecorded telemarketing calls to established customers effective January 2, 2007; and a new proposal to amend the prescribed method for measuring the maximum allowable call abandonment rate in the TSR's existing safe harbor provision, in response to a petition from the Direct Marketing Association, Inc. (``DMA''). The Commission is requesting public comment on the proposed amendments during a comment period ending November 6, 2006.