FTC submits report on Do Not Call registry

The Federal Trade Commission has submitted its report to Congress on steps it is taking to improve the accuracy of the national Do Not Call registry.

The report was mandated under the Do Not Call Improvement Act of 2007, which was signed into law earlier this year. The law requires that the agency periodically check registered telephone numbers against national or other appropriate databases and remove those that have been disconnected and reassigned.

According to the report, some numbers had previously been incorrectly removed. For example, changes in billing plans or long distance carriers could result in a number being coded as reassigned, even through the customer had not changed numbers, the report said.

The report outlines new procedures to remove reassigned numbers with the use of a subcontractor and National Directory Assistance. Telephone numbers will be purged from the registry when there is a “high degree of confidence” that the number has been disconnected and reassigned, according to the agency.