The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has been around the United States since 1991 which prohibits unsolicited calls, text messages and faxes (does anyone still use the fax machine?) that involves the sale or purchase of goods and services. Thus was born the Do Not Call (DNC) list that spawned similar laws and lists in other countries.
Now, the last piece of legislature takes effect on October 16, 2013 that bans all autodialed and prerecorded telemarketing calls to wireless numbers and all prerecorded calls to residential landlines without prior express written consent. Wow!
Prior express written consent is described as a signed written agreement clear disclosure and an agreement to receive such kinds of calls to a specific telephone number. The written consent or agreement must follow the ESIGN Act (Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act).
For residential landlines, even if there is an existing business relationship between the seller and buyer (the owner of the landline number), a writtent consent is now a requirement prior to a telemarketing call using an prerecorded voice message.
Source: Lexology
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Talk Is Cheap! 