DMA STATEMENT: FTC revises do-not-call list- scrubbing rule

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DMA STATEMENT: FTC revises do-not-call list- scrubbing rule

NEW YORK, March 24, 2004 - The Direct Marketing Association (The DMA) stated today that it is pleased by the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) decision not to implement a rule that will require telephone marketers to download the National Do Not Call Registry every 31 days until January 1, 2005.

"We are pleased that the FTC opted for a longer implementation timeline by setting January 1, 2005 as the effective date -- more than 9 months from today," said H. Robert Wientzen, president & CEO, The DMA. "We are also pleased that FTC solved the problem caused by the fact that the number of days in each month varies. The 31-day timetable is a good compromise--it allows a 30-day schedule as well as a first-day-of-the-month schedule."

However, The DMA noted that it continues to believe that the current 90-day scrubbing requirement is adequate. Although The DMA is satisfied with the FTC’s implementation decision, the revised rule still creates new costs and burdens for marketers, especially for small businesses. The FTC revised its list-scrubbing requirement to adhere to a new law passed by Congress as part of a federal budget appropriations bill.

"More than 58 million phone numbers are on lists that have already been downloaded by marketers," said Wientzen. "The new rule provides absolutely no additional benefits to those already registered on the list, while being of major consequence to companies who will incur the added costs of scrubbing their lists at least eight times more often annually than they had originally planned for." Wientzen also noted that the new requirement will add costs to running to do-not-call program for the government.

Earlier this year, The DMA submitted comments petitioning the FTC to set an effective date that would give marketers 12 months to install any new systems and implement procedures necessary to accommodate the more frequent scrubbing interval. The effective date for the rule could have been within 30 days.

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The DMA is the leading trade association for businesses interested in interactive and database marketing, with nearly 4,700 member companies from the United States and 53 other nations. Founded in 1917, its members include direct marketers from every business segment as well as the nonprofit and electronic marketing sectors. Included are catalogers, Internet retailers and service providers, financial services providers, book and magazine publishers, book and music clubs, retail stores, industrial manufacturers and a host of other vertical segments, including the service industries that support them. According to a DMA-commissioned economic-impact study, direct and interactive marketing sales in the United States are projected to have surpassed $1.7 trillion in 2003, including $133 billion in catalog sales and $41 billion in sales generated by the Internet. The DMA's Web site is www.the-dma.org, and its consumer Web site is www.shopthenet.org.

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