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What is the National do Not Call Registry?

By Adam Hill
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 17,936
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A National Do Not Call Registry has been implemented in the United States and other countries, as a tool for consumers to be able to reduce the number of phone calls they receive from salesmen and telemarketers. In the U.S., the registry was established by a national law, named the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003. Adding one's phone number to the list should prevent all telemarketing calls, but even if a person's number is not registered, he can still limit the sales calls he receives by requesting each company to put his number on their particular do-not-call list.

Originally, telemarketing companies had 90 days to stop calling a phone number, once it was placed in the National Do Not Call Registry. This was later reduced to just 30 days. In the U.S., only landlines are allowed to be called by telemarketers. Beginning in 2005, a rumor began to circulate via email that this was not the case, that telemarketers could in fact call cellular phones, or that they would be able to beginning at some future point. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has since debunked this rumor in an official statement. In addition to cell phone numbers, fax numbers do not need to be included in the registry, due to laws already on the books that prohibit the sending of faxes that are unsolicited.

Not all unsolicited telephone calls are prohibited by the U.S. government. The law does not stop those callers who, for instance, are conducting surveys. Calls from charitable and political organizations are also still allowed. Calls from bill collectors are also unaffected, but these are governed by a different set of laws, established prior to the do-not-call legislation. Business telephone lines are also unaffected, in the sense that they may still be called by telemarketers, because most laws restricting these calls apply only to residential lines.

Despite the laws in place, there is a likelihood that most consumers will still receive the occasional unsolicited telemarketing call, whether by mistake or not. Some companies have made attempts to find loopholes or take advantage of technicalities to get around the laws. As honest companies update their do-not-call lists, unsolicited sales calls will likely happen less and less. This is because the law states that a person only needs to register his number once, and it will remain in the National Do Not Call Registry permanently.

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Discussion Comments
By Alchemy — On Aug 27, 2010

@ Georgesplane- The national do not call registry phone number is 1-888-382-1222. You can also register your phone number at www.donotcall.gov. It takes about a month for most of the telemarketers to stop calling, but if they keep calling after the first 31 days, you can file a formal complaint with the registry.

If people file enough complaints, the government will fine the company. This happened with the company that was robocalling people telling them "your vehicle's warranty is about to expire...". Now this company has resorted to marketing through the mail. The company sends out junk mail to households across the country, trying to sell automobile warranties.

By Georgesplane — On Aug 26, 2010

Does anyone know how to get on the national do not call registry list? I am constantly getting phone calls from telemarketers, both on my cell phone and my home phone.

It is the most annoying thing when I am in the middle of dinner and I get someone calling me to tell me I have won, and all I need to do is sit through a one-hour presentation for a new vacation property in Vegas. I actually cursed out my banker because he called after the telemarketers had called me three times in a row (they were both calling from 866 exchanges and I didn't wait for an introduction...I apologized of course).

I would love to get on this list so that telemarketers quit running up my cell phone minutes, and wasting precious real estate in my voicemail box.

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