The Federal Trade Commission last week approved an increase in the fee telemarketers pay for no-call list access to $40 per area code annually, an amount slightly less than it had originally proposed.
The FTC also raised the maximum fee to $11,000 per year. Its original proposal called for an increase from the current fee of $25 per area code to $45, and an increase in the maximum fee from the current $7,375 to $12,375.
The maximum fee applies to telemarketers that access 280 area codes or more. Telemarketers accessing five area codes or fewer will continue to receive free access, as will entities exempt from the no-call list that use it voluntarily.
When the FTC proposed an increase in the access fee in April, it said fewer telemarketers had paid for access to the list than had been expected. The agency originally predicted 10,000 fee-paying telemarketers, but only 6,000 of the 52,000 telemarketers that accessed the list qualified to pay the fee.
The American Teleservices Association and the Direct Marketing Association opposed the fee increase.
