Entity-specific Do Not Call list
internal do not call list / company do not call list / entity-specific do not call
An entity-specific Do Not Call list is a business's own record of people who asked it to stop calling them. The Telemarketing Sales Rule forbids calling those people, separately from the National Do Not Call Registry, and each violation can bring a civil penalty of $53,088.
The Federal Trade Commission's guide to the Telemarketing Sales Rule calls it the entity-specific Do Not Call provision. A telemarketer may not call a consumer who has asked not to receive more calls from or on behalf of a particular seller. A seller that has been asked not to call also may not have a telemarketer call that person.
Keeping the list falls to the business. The FTC says sellers and telemarketers are responsible for maintaining their own Do Not Call lists, and that calling someone on one can bring a civil penalty of $53,088 for each violation. A seller without distinct corporate divisions may not call that person again even to offer something different.
It runs alongside the national registry, and the two work differently. The established business relationship exemption lets a seller call a customer whose number is on the national registry, but only if that customer has not asked to be on the seller's own list. Telefunders calling for charities are exempt from the national registry provision and must still honor the entity-specific one.
The rule also protects the request itself. Under 16 CFR 310.4, it is abusive to interfere with someone's request to be put on the list, including making them listen to a sales pitch first or charging a fee to honor it.
In practice
A home security company's outside appointment setter calls a past quote request, and the person asks not to be called again. That request has to reach the company's own list. If the company's in-house team calls the same person next month about a different package, the call breaks the rule, because a single seller may not call again even to offer something different.
Not the same as
- National Do Not Call Registry
- The national registry lists numbers people registered against telemarketing in general. The entity-specific list holds people who asked this particular seller to stop, whether or not they are on the registry.
Why it matters to you
A request to stop can be made to anyone who calls for the business: a salesperson, an outside telemarketer or an AI calling tool. The list only works if every one of those routes feeds it and every outbound call is checked against it. An existing customer relationship does not override the request.
What to ask or check
- 01Where are do not call requests recorded, and does every calling tool and outside caller check that list?
- 02When an outside company or AI tool hears a request to stop, how does it get back onto the business's list?
- 03Could anyone calling for the business make a person listen to a pitch before accepting a request to stop?
What people get wrong
That an existing customer relationship allows the call anyway. The FTC says the established business relationship exemption applies only if the consumer has not asked to be on the seller's entity-specific Do Not Call list.