Issue
Will federal legislation be enacted to further restrict the hours telemarketers are permitted to make sales calls?

Importance
The hours during which telephone solicitations may be made is crucial to the success of each telemarketing business. Any restriction during prime business hours, such as blocking out 5 - 7 p.m., the so-called "dinnertime hours," would severely impact the ability of marketers to conduct legitimate business.

ATA Position
The ATA believes that the current calling hours restrictions outlined in the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) and Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) represent a fair balance between the concerns of the consumer and the interests of business.

ATA strenuously opposes any attempt to further restrict the hours of operation mandated in federal legislation. As legal precedent has shown in attempts to restrict the hours of business operation in other industries, such proposals are constitutionally suspect.

Background
Both the TSR and TCPA forbid calls to private residences before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. (local time at the consumer's location.) An attempt to impose a further restriction between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the 106th Congress failed.

The evening hours are the prime marketing opportunity for this industry for several reasons. Most consumers are not at home during daytime hours; they are available to take calls primarily during the evening or the weekend. Any attempt to restrict evening hours would be subject to the same multitude of exemptions we have seen in Do-Not-Call legislation; i.e., politicians, non-profit and charitable organizations, and existing customer relationships. This will still result in evening calls to consumers. The consumer already has a number of viable options to minimize or eliminate unwanted calls. These include declining the sales pitch; requesting placement on the company's do-not-call list; requesting placement on the state do-not-call list where one exists; requesting placement on the Direct Marketing Association's Telephone Preference Service, a voluntary national list; or securing one of the various Caller ID services to screen calls.

Imposing a so-called "dinnertime" restriction on business requires a number of unwarranted and unsubstantiated assumptions. It assumes all Americans have a standardized dinnertime. It overlooks the probability that many Americans may prefer this time to conduct business due to a lack of availability during other parts of the day. It fails to recognize that billions of dollars in goods and services are purchased by consumers during this timeframe because the system works for the benefit of the consumer; the industry could not survive unless it offers something of value to the consumer. Further, any restriction on evening hours would simple move those calls to other times of the marketing window, creating a "traffic jam" on the telephone network. A similar attempt to restrict the prime marketing hours in other sectors of the economy, such as the restaurant or movie theater industries, would be unthinkable and constitutionally suspect.

States with different calling times:

• Alabama - 8am to 8pm; No Holidays; No Sundays
  
• Connecticut - 9am to 9pm.
  
• Illinois - 9am to 9pm (if an autodialer is used)
  
• Kentucky - 10am to 9pm
  
• Louisiana - 8am to 8pm; No Holidays; No Sundays
  
• Massachusetts - 8am to 8pm
  
• Michigan - 9am to 9pm
  
• Minnesota - 9am to 9pm
  
• Mississippi - 8am to 8pm; No Sundays
  
• New Mexico - 9am to 9pm
  
• Oklahoma - 9am to 9pm
  
• Pennsylvania - 9am to 9pm (if an autodialer is used); 1:30pm to 9pm on Sundays (if auto-dialer is used)
  
• Rhode Island - 9am to 6pm; 10am to 5pm on Saturdays; No Sundays
  
• South Dakota - 9am to 9pm; No Sundays
  Texas - 9am to 9pm; 12 noon to 9pm on Sundays
  
• Wyoming - 8am to 8pm (Starts July 1, 2003)

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