Vermont’s Telephone Solicitation and Telemarketing Law

Vermont’s telemarketing rules (Act 120) do not apply to:

• calls made in response to a request or inquiry from the consumer,
• calls made made by, or on behalf of, tax-exempt or nonprofit organizations incorporated in Vermont,
• or calls made toa person with whom the caller has an established business relationship.

But the rest of those annoying "dinner time calls" are subject to the new law. The solicitations affected include those made "for the purpose of encouraging the customer to contribute to an organization which is not a tax-exempt organization, or to purchase, lease, or otherwise agree to pay consideration for money, goods or services."

There is a distinction made between "telephone solicitors" and "telemarketers." A distinction lost on most of us, but it does help you determine what part of the law the caller is subject to. Basically, "solicitors" are those who have been licensed, registered, regulated, or chartered by a branch or department of the Vermont government, or who are financial institutions regulated by a Federal agency. Everyone else is a "telemarketer."

Telemarketers must register with the Vermont Secretary of State's Office and are prohibited from making telephone solicitations to Vermont telephone numbers appearing for at least 60 days on the telephone preference do-not-call list quarterly update maintained by the Direct Marketing Association or a comparable list maintained by a federal agency. Telemarketers are subject to criminal penalties for violations.

Telephone solicitors are prohibited from making a solicitation to a Vermont phone number "which the customer requested, at least 45 days previously, be on the telephone solicitors' do-not-call list maintained in accordance with the rules of the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission." Unwanted telephone solicitations received in violation of the new law subject the caller to the possibility of consumer action brought in superior court. Consumers may seek redress for damages, injunctive relief, punitive damages in willful violation cases, as well as reasonable costs and attorney's fees. The court can award the greater of actual damages or $500 for first violations, and $1000 for subsequent violations.

The Secretary of State's web site has a summary of the new law (www.sec.state.vt.us/tutor/dobiz/forms/teleinfo.htm), and the law in its entirety, as passed by the Legislature, is available at: www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2002/acts/ACT120.HTM

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