The Federal Communications Commission has asked the Direct Marketing Association to reconsider its position that it would face prosecution if it complied with the FCC's request for a copy of the national no-call list.
In a letter dated Oct. 3 and released yesterday, FCC chairman Michael Powell said the agency regretted the DMA's decision, and he said that the Federal Trade Commission would not punish it or its members for sharing the list for compliance purposes. Due to court rulings declaring the no-call list unconstitutional, the FCC is prohibited from obtaining the list from the FTC directly.
In addition, the DMA would not be violating the court rulings if it shared the list, Powell said. Those court rulings affect only the FTC, he said.
“Accordingly, I request that you reconsider your decision not to provide the FCC with the database,” Powell wrote. “As I said in my previous letter, providing this list will allow us to join together in achieving our common goal of ensuring respect for consumer preferences.”
The DMA has urged its members who already have obtained the no-call list to honor consumer wishes and avoid calling consumers who registered. Due to the court rulings, the FTC shut down the Web site that telemarketers used to download the list, so some telemarketers may not have obtained it yet.
The FCC said it began enforcing the list Oct. 1. From Oct. 1-3, the FCC received 1,315 complaints from consumers about telemarketing violations, mostly from consumers who signed up for the list but received one or more calls, the agency said.
