What telemarketing practices are considered abusive, including call time limits? Answer in under 100 words. Cite only eCFR (www.ecfr.gov) sources.
Details / How it works
Section 310.4(a) of the Telemarketing Sales Rule catalogs prohibited abusive telemarketing conduct. It bars threats, intimidation, or profane language; advance fees for credit-repair, debt-recovery, guaranteed-loan, or debt-relief services; disclosing unencrypted consumer account numbers; submitting billing information without the customer's express informed consent; failing to transmit caller identification; and creating or accepting remotely created payment orders or cash-to-cash money transfers in telemarketing.
Section 310.4(b) addresses patterns of calls, including abandoning outbound calls, contacting numbers on the do-not-call registry, and failing to use an entity-specific do-not-call list. It also includes prerecorded-message rules and safe-harbor requirements for abandonment rates, ring time, and recorded disclosures.
Section 310.4(c) establishes calling time restrictions, and Section 310.4(d) and (e) set required oral disclosures for sales of goods/services and for charitable solicitations.
Numbers & thresholds
| Provision | Threshold / Limit |
|---|---|
| Outbound calling hours to a residence (§ 310.4(c)) | 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person's location, without prior consent |
| Call abandonment safe harbor (§ 310.4(b)(4)) | No more than 3% of answered calls abandoned per campaign (or per successive 30-day period) |
| Minimum ring time before disconnect (§ 310.4(b)(4)(ii)) | 15 seconds or 4 rings |
| Live-representative connection window (§ 310.4(b)(4)(iii)) | Within 2 seconds of the person's completed greeting |
| Refund window for money-recovery advance fees (§ 310.4(a)(3)) | 7 business days after delivery to the person |
| Account-number digits captured (free-to-pay conversion, § 310.4(a)(7)(i)) | At least the last 4 digits of the account number |
| Do-not-call registry refresh (§ 310.4(b)(3)(iv)) | Version obtained no more than 31 days before any call |
Exceptions & edge cases
A seller or telemarketer will not be liable for certain do-not-call and abandonment violations if it demonstrates a routine business practice of written procedures, personnel training, maintained internal do-not-call lists, use of a registry version obtained within 31 days, monitoring/enforcement, and that any violation was the result of error rather than failure to obtain necessary information. The prerecorded-message prohibition does not apply to certain healthcare messages covered by the HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 160.103). The prohibition on unencrypted account numbers does not apply to disclosure or receipt of a customer's or donor's billing information used to process a payment. The advance-fee prohibition for debt-recovery services does not apply to goods or services provided by a licensed attorney.
Sources
- [1]U.S. Government Publishing Office / Federal Trade Commission — 16 CFR 310.4 — Telemarketing Sales Rule — abusive telemarketing acts or practices · as of 2026-08-27
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