The nation’s largest telemarketing association Sunday said its members would voluntarily comply with the government’s do-not-call list as of Wednesday, even though a federal judge has ruled that the registry was unconstitutional.
Direct Marketing Association President H. Robert Wientzen said that after a conference call Saturday with more than 200 of the association’s largest members, there was unanimous agreement to stop calling the 50 million phone numbers on the national do-not-call list. The association, which has been fighting the restrictions, represents about 80 percent of the companies making sales calls, industry officials said.
"We will honor the list the best we can," Wientzen said.
"Although we believe this is an inappropriate role for the government, we don’t want to catch the American consumer in our crossfire," Wientzen said. "We believe we should honor their wishes."
The list, created by the Federal Trade Commission, was to go into effect this week. Telemarketers would have risked a fine of $11,000 any time they called a number on the registry.
U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham in Denver, however, blocked implementation of the list, ruling Thursday that it violated a telemarketer’s constitutional right to free speech.
Wientzen said his group, which has 4,700 members, planned to enforce the new policy through "peer pressure, from something as simple as one having one CEO calling another" to having actions taken by the organization’s ethical operating committee.
Tim Searcy, director of the American Teleservices Association, another major telemarketing group, did not make the same pledge Sunday as Wientzen, but said consumers can probably expect fewer calls starting Wednesday.
His prediction represented a change. On Friday, he said telemarketing calls would continue unabated because of the judge’s ruling. At that time, Searcy advised his members to continue calling the numbers on the do-not-call list. The association represents 650 firms, most of which make calls on behalf of banks, long-distance telephone companies and publishers
Searcy said Sunday, however, that it was now up to the companies and telemarketers to decide whom to call.
"It’s a business choice, but at least now they can make it voluntarily, instead of having to follow a federal mandate," Searcy said.
Searcy said he expected the nation’s large corporations, such as long-distance telephone firms, banks and publishing concerns, to stop calling any numbers on the registry.
Last week, several of the nation’s largest telemarketing firms, including AT&T Corp., MCI and Time Inc., said they had already prepared their sales lists, deleting numbers of the FTC’s anti-telemarketing list, and did not plan to call any of those starting as of the Wednesday deadline.
Searcy noted consumers will continue to receive calls from companies with whom they have an existing business relationship (such as their bank or long-distance firm), charitable organizations and politicians; the federal do-not-call rules have never applied to these groups.
It was that distinction that prompted Nottingham to declare the FTC’s registry unconstitutional. Nottingham said that by allowing charities to continue to call, the government had improperly determined what kind of content could, and could not, go into the nation’s homes.
The FTC has appealed Nottingham’s ruling and asked for a stay of the decision. Two other court cases are challenging the registry.
The Federal Trade Commission has appealed a U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham’s decision to block the do-not-call list, which was to go into effect Wednesday.
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