North Carolina has a new no-call law. A two-year effort by consumer advocates and the Attorney General has paid off with positive action by the General Assembly. The new North Carolina law will work in conjunction with the national no-call list run by the Federal Trade Commission. NCCC worked with North Carolina AARP and NC Justice and Community Development Center in support of the no-call law. Attorney General Roy Cooper strongly supported this effort. Senior Deputy Attorney General Joshua Stein, Investigator Jane Feather and Assistant Attorney General Dave Kirkman were present constantly in the General Assembly in support of the bill.
Under the no-call program, consumers who list their phone numbers should not receive telemarketing phone calls from most commercial for-profit telemarketers. If you want to continue to receive phone calls, you do not need to list your phone number. Exceptions were granted for constitutionally protected activities by political candidates and charities. Businesses with an existing relationship with you will also be able to call you for a period of time.
If you list your phone number by the August 31, 2003, you should start receiving fewer calls as of October 1, 2003. After August, it will take up to 3 months for your request to be activated.
You can call 1-888-382-1222 to list your numbers.
North Carolina needed its own law to complement the federal list. Since insurance companies, banks and telephone companies were not covered by the federal law, state law had to be amended to give more complete coverage to North Carolina's consumers. North Carolina companies that use telemarketing will be required to access the Federal Trade Commission list. North Carolinians will only need to list their phone numbers one time with the FTC to insure coverage under both federal and state law. Our own state law was also important because if the federal list were to be ended in court by legal challenges, the Attorney General could implement a separate list for North Carolina.
As of July 28, 2003, 28.7 million phone numbers had been listed with the do not call registry. Of those, 1.2 million were from North Carolina.
