The FTC has filed a complaint and obtained a preliminary injunction against a telemarketer alleging that the business promised valuable incentives such as gift cards, shopping sprees, and movie passes in an effort to obtain consumers' bank account information. They then made unauthorized debits on consumer accounts and harassed consumers regarding payments to purported buying clubs.

The FTC has sought comment on the information collection requirements set forth in the Telemarketing Sales Rule. This is a formality required by federal law. In the document, for example, the FTC estimates that the record keeping requirements found in the rule require only one hour "per year to file and store records required by the TSR". The FTC estimates that it takes "seven seconds for telemarketers to disclose the required outbound call information orally plus three additional seconds to disclose the information required in the case of an upsell".

FCC
The final rule implementing the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 was published in the Federal Register. It will be effective August 1, 2006.. The new rules should protect business from some of the most abusive suits under the TCPA for unsolicited faxes by setting clear compliance standards.

IRS
The Internal Revenue Service released a report on tax exempt credit counseling agencies as well as the result of 63 audits of nonprofit credit counselors. To date, 41 organizations' audits have been completed with all audits resulting in revocation, proposed revocation, or other termination of tax exempt status.

If you provide services to a tax exempt credit counselor, you should be absolutely sure of the legality and tax exempt status of that organization as this is an area of high scrutiny both from the IRS, FTC, and state regulators.

United States Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear appeals to lower court decisions upholding the North Dakota "do-not-call" list law and the FTC's application of the Telemarketing Sales Rule to for-profit entities hired by nonprofits.

Delaware
A Bill has been introduced in the Delaware Senate, SB 325, which would prohibit any person who prepares a tax return from selling or renting any information obtained in conjunction with that tax return to any other person for telemarketing purposes.

Georgia
On May 16, 2006 , Georgia added a new area code (762) which is currently served by area code 706. You should implement procedures necessary to ensure that "do-not-call" numbers which previously used area code 706 now are updated for the new area code.

Illinois
A class action under the TCPA for unsolicited faxes has been remanded to state court. The defendants attempted to remove the case to federal court but the federal court held that the TCPA allows these claims only in state court.

Michigan
A Bill has been adopted in Michigan, HB 4423, which bars misrepresentations in home solicitation and prohibits charges to a consumer's bank account without express verifiable authorization. Verifiable authorization is defined either as a written authorization, an oral authorization recorded by the telephone solicitor or confirmation through an independent third party. The Bill provides that individuals may sue for violations of its terms for actual damages or $250.00, whichever is greater, along with reasonable attorney's fees.

Michigan has also amended its home solicitation sales law, HB 5811, to require sellers to provide buyers written notice of a three day cancellation. Unless the seller has complied with the notice requirement, the buyer may cancel the home solicitation at any time.

New York
A regulation has been adopted in New York which would amend the state's "do-not-call" rules based on the recent removal of the face to face exemption to the state's "do-not-call" list law. Calls attempting to set a face to face meeting are no longer exempt from New York's "do-not-call" rules.

A Bill has been proposed in the New York Senate, SB 7887, which would change the state "do-not-call" law to be consistent with updating records every 31 days. The old federal standard was quarterly, and state law has not yet been changed to meet the new federal standard.

A New York court has ruled that the TCPA may not be used for class actions in the State of New York because it provides for specific damages. Previous New York decisions have made the same ruling.

Ohio
An appellate court in Ohio has ruled that a law firm which received an unsolicited fax was not entitled to sue the sender of the fax pursuant to Ohio Consumer Protection Law and that the TCPA does not provide a private cause of action for the identification requirements required on faxes pursuant to federal regulations.

Tennessee
A law has been passed in Tennessee , SB 3162, which provides that residential telephone subscribers' enrollment on the Tennessee "do-not-call" list takes effect 30 days following the first day of the succeeding month of enrollment by the subscriber.

Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has passed a law, SB 713, prohibiting any provider of cellular telephone service from including a subscriber's telephone number in a directory without express consent from that subscriber. Many states considered similar laws in response to rumors regarding cell phone directories to be published by cell phone companies.

Personal data protection
In light of the recent theft of personal information regarding veteran's groups, the USA Today has called for Congress to establish base protections regarding treatment of sensitive personal information. The unified federal standard may be considered soon.