DMA Praises FTC for Improving Accuracy of National Do Not Call Registry by Addressing List Hygiene Issues

FTC’s Hiring of Contractor to Remove Disconnected, Reassigned and Abandoned Phone Numbers Will Greatly Enhance List for Benefit of Consumers and Businesses Alike, says DMA’s Greco

Washington, DC, November 10, 2008 — Direct Marketing Association (DMA) president and CEO John A. Greco, Jr. today praised the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for improving the accuracy of the National Do Not Call Registry by hiring an outside contractor to remove disconnected, reassigned and abandoned phone numbers from the registry. The action, which was encouraged and prompted by the DMA, was highlighted in the FTC’s report to Congress Regarding the Accuracy of the Do Not Call Registry pursuant to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 (DNCIA).

“Since the Do Not Call Registry was first implemented in 2003, DMA has been aware that thousands, if not millions, of phone numbers were on the registry erroneously,” said Greco. “These numbers belonged to businesses, which are exempt from the Registry, individuals whose phone numbers had been reassigned due to relocation, or were fax numbers wrongly placed on the Registry. We worked closely with Congress, particularly with Senators Inouye, Dorgan and Pryor and Representatives Dingell and Rush, on the DNCIA that called for this report and with the FTC to correct the errors in the Registry, and we are pleased to see these efforts come to fruition through the FTC’s action.”

To date, more than 157 million phone numbers are on the National Do Not Call Registry, which became law in February of 2008 through the Do Not Call Improvement Act of 2007. Under the Act, the FTC had been removing telephone numbers that have been disconnected and reassigned to other customers. With its new procedures, adopted at the urging and with the cooperation of the DMA, the FTC will remove 5% of landline phone numbers that are incorrectly included on the Do Not Call Registry. In addition, the FTC expects to purge another approximately 0.5% of incorrectly listed phone numbers each month.

“It is in the best interests of our members, consumers, the government and businesses to have a clean, accurate list,” added Greco. “We appreciate the FTC’s willingness to work with us on this important issue and we look forward to working with them to improve the accuracy of the list.”

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About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2008, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — will spend $176.9 billion on direct marketing, which accounts for 52.1 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures will generate approximately $2.058 trillion in incremental sales. In 2008, direct marketing accounted for 9.9 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2008, there were 1.6 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 9.3 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 10.9 million US jobs.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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