TSR-Supporting Statement-2022 - FINAL

Supporting Statement for
Information Collection Provisions of
The Telemarketing Sales Rule
16 C.F.R. Part 310
(OMB Control No. 3084-0097)
Overview of Information Collection
This is a request for approval of a three-year extension of an existing clearance. As
required by the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act, 15 U.S.C. 61016108 (the “Telemarketing Act”), the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR” or “Rule”), 16 C.F.R.
Part 310, (OMB Control Number 3084-0097), mandates certain disclosures for telephone sales
and requires telemarketers to retain certain records regarding advertising, sales, and employees.
The required disclosures provide consumers with information necessary to make informed
purchasing decisions. There is no change in the instrument collection.1
1. Necessity for Collecting the Information
The TSR implements the Telemarketing Act, as amended by the Uniting and
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act (“USA PATRIOT Act”), Pub. L. 107056 (Oct. 25, 2001). The law seeks to
prevent deceptive or abusive telemarketing practices in telemarketing, which, pursuant to the
USA PATRIOT Act, includes calls made to solicit charitable contributions by third-party
telemarketers. As required by the Telemarketing Act, the TSR mandates certain disclosures for
telephone sales and requires telemarketers to retain certain records regarding advertising, sales,
and employees. The required disclosures provide consumers with information necessary to make
informed purchasing decisions. The required records are to be made available for inspection by
the Commission and other law enforcement personnel to determine compliance with the Rule.
Required records may also yield information helpful to measuring and redressing consumer
injury stemming from Rule violations.
In 2003, the Commission amended the TSR to include certain new disclosure
requirements and to expand the Rule in other ways. See 68 Fed. Reg. 4580 (Jan. 29, 2003).
Specifically, the Rule was amended to cover “upsells”2 (not only in outbound calls, but also in
inbound calls) and the solicitation by telephone of charitable donations by third-party
telemarketers. Finally, the amendments established the National Do Not Call Registry
1

On June 3, 2022, the FTC separately submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) a proposed
revision to this instrument collection (OMB Control Number 202204-3084-004). On June 16, 2022, the OMB filed
a comment in accordance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.11(c) stating that terms of the previous clearance remain in effect
and instructing the FTC to resubmit when the proposed rule is finalized.

2
An “upsell” is the solicitation in a single telephone call of the purchase of goods or services after an initial
transaction occurs. The solicitation may be made by or on behalf of a seller different from the seller in the initial
transaction, regardless of whether the initial transaction and the subsequent solicitation are made by the same
telemarketer (“external upsell”). Alternatively, it may be made by or on behalf of the same seller as in the initial
transaction, regardless of whether the initial transaction and subsequent solicitation are made by the same
telemarketer (“internal upsell”).

(“Registry”), permitting consumers to register, via either a toll-free telephone number or the
Internet, their preference not to receive certain telemarketing calls.3 Accordingly, under the
TSR, most sellers and telemarketers are required to refrain from calling consumers who have
placed their numbers on the Registry.4 Moreover, sellers and telemarketers must periodically
access the Registry to remove from their telemarketing lists the telephone numbers of those
consumers who have registered.5
In 2008, the Commission promulgated amendments to the TSR regarding prerecorded
calls, 16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(1)(v), and call abandonment rate calculations, 16 C.F.R. §
310.4(b)(4)(i).6 The amendment regarding prerecorded calls added certain information
collection requirements.7 Specifically, the amendment authorized sellers and telemarketers to
place outbound prerecorded telemarketing calls to consumers only if: (1) the seller has obtained
written agreements from those consumers to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls after a clear
and conspicuous disclosure of the purpose of the agreement; and (2) the call discloses and
provides an automated telephone keypress or voice-activated opt-out mechanism at the outset of
the call.8
In 2010, the Commission published additional amendments taking effect that year to
require specific new disclosures in the sale of a “debt relief service,” as that term is defined in
Section 310.2(m) to include for-profit credit counseling services, debt settlement, and debt
negotiation services. The amendments result in Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”) burden for
all covered entities -- both new and existing respondents -- that engage in telemarketing of these
services. The amendments, among other things: (1) applied the TSR to inbound telemarketing of
debt relief services; and (2) added new required disclosures and prohibited representations to
curb deceptive practices prevalent in the telemarketing of debt relief services.

3

68 Fed. Reg. 4580 (Jan. 29, 2003). The Registry applies to any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or
services through interstate phone calls. This includes telemarketers who solicit consumers, often on behalf of thirdparty sellers. It also includes sellers who provide, offer to provide, or arrange to provide goods or services to
consumers in exchange for payment. It does not limit calls by political organizations, charities, or telephone
surveyors.
4

16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B).

5

16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(3)(iv). Effective January 1, 2005, the Commission amended the TSR to require
telemarketers to access the Registry at least once every 31 days. See 69 Fed. Reg. 16,368 (Mar. 29, 2004).
6

See 73 Fed. Reg. 51,164 (Aug. 29, 2008).

7

By contrast, the revised standard for measuring the call abandonment rate did not impose any new or affect any
existing reporting, recordkeeping or third-party disclosure requirements within the meaning of the PRA. That
amendment relaxed the prior requirement that the abandonment rate be calculated on a “per day per campaign” basis
by permitting, but not requiring, its calculation over a 30-day period, as industry requested.
8

The prerecorded call amendment provided the first explicit authorization in the TSR for sellers and telemarketers
to place prerecorded telemarketing calls to consumers. The pre-amendment call abandonment prohibition of the
TSR implicitly barred such calls by requiring that all telemarketing calls be connected to a sales representative,
rather than a recording, within two seconds of the completed greeting of the person who answers. The requirements
apply not only to prerecorded calls that are answered by a consumer, but also to prerecorded messages left on
consumers’ answering machines or voicemail services.

2

(a) Recordkeeping
The Rule expressly requires that certain records be kept by covered entities. Specifically,
records evidencing various aspects of each covered transaction must be kept for a period of 24
months.9 These records include marketing material, telemarketing scripts, identifying
information for prize recipients, identifying information for customers and the goods or services
that customers purchased, identifying information for employees engaged in telemarketing, and
documents evidencing customers’ authorization to be billed.
(b) Disclosures
The TSR deems the failure to make specified disclosures of material information a
deceptive act or practice. These include the failure to disclose the “total costs to purchase,
receive, or use, and the quantity of, any goods or services that are the subject of the sales
offer;”10 failing to disclose “[a]ll material restrictions, limitations, or conditions to purchase,
receive, or use the goods or services that are the subject of the sales offer;”11 failing to disclose
“[a]ll material costs or conditions to receive or redeem a prize that is the subject of the prize
promotion;”12 and failing to disclose all material conditions related to negative option offers.13
The prerecorded call amendment also requires that all prerecorded calls disclose at the outset of
the message the key to press or what to say to terminate the call and be placed automatically on
the seller’s do-not-call list. The other disclosure required by the amendment is designed to
ensure that consumers who are asked to agree to receive prerecorded calls clearly understand the
agreement they are making.
2. Use of the Information
(a) Recordkeeping
The recordkeeping requirements are essential to the Commission’s ability to monitor
compliance with the TSR. The Rule requires the production of records on a case-by-case basis,
and the records are used to establish whether the company or persons affiliated with the company
have violated the Rule. In addition, the FTC, other governmental agencies, or private litigants
may use the records as evidence in administrative or court proceedings, to identify witnesses, and
to identify consumers who may be entitled to redress in connection with any law enforcement
actions. Without the required records, it would be difficult to ensure that entities are complying
with the Rule’s requirements and to redress injury that may have resulted from violations of the
Rule.
(b) Disclosures
9

16 C.F.R. § 310.5(a).

10

16 C.F.R. § 310.3(a)(1)(i).

11

16 C.F.R. § 310.3(a)(1)(ii).

12

16 C.F.R. § 310.3(a)(1)(v).

13

16 C.F.R. § 310.3(a)(1)(vii).

3

The Rule’s disclosure requirements for live telemarketing calls help prevent deceptive or
abusive telemarketing acts or practices by ensuring that consumers are informed about the
purpose of the call and the terms and conditions of the potential sale or solicitation. Consumers
use the disclosed information in making purchasing decisions. The Rule’s disclosure
requirements are also intended to prevent fraud by making it more difficult for telemarketing
companies to mislead consumers and easier for law enforcement officials to identify and take
action against those engaged in deceptive or abusive telemarketing practices. The debt relief
provisions similarly require disclosures to curb deceptive practices prevalent in the telemarketing
of debt relief services. The disclosure requirements for prerecorded telemarketing calls protect
consumer privacy by ensuring that consumers have the same ability as in a live telemarketing
call to ask to be placed on a seller’s company-specific do-not-call list and terminate the call.
3. Use of Information Technology
The TSR’s recordkeeping provisions permit sellers and telemarketers to keep records in
whatever form, manner, format, or location they choose. Accordingly, the Rule’s recordkeeping
provisions are consistent with the requirements of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act
(“GPEA”).14 The disclosures required by the TSR for the most part are made orally and,
secondarily, by direct mail. Thus, electronic disclosures for purposes of implementing the
provisions of the GPEA are either inapplicable or impracticable.
Neither the 2008 nor the 2010 amendments altered the TSR’s recordkeeping
requirements, and each is designed to encourage the use of electronic means of compliance. As
previously noted, the prerecorded call amendment expressly permits the use of electronic means
to record the written agreements required by the amendment, as well as the use of electronic
media for making required disclosures.
4. Non-Duplication
The TSR’s recordkeeping requirements involve the preparation and retention of records
demonstrating compliance with the Rule. Other federal and state government agencies may also
require the retention of some records that the TSR requires to be retained (e.g., personnel, sales,
or donation information). The debt relief and prerecorded call provisions create an obligation
under the TSR’s existing recordkeeping requirements for sellers to retain electronic or other
records of consumers’ written agreements to receive such calls, and the scripts used in such calls.
Staff is aware of substantially identical Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”)
prerecorded call and call abandonment requirements15 and some state law requirements for the
calculation of call abandonment rates.16 To the extent that the recordkeeping requirements of the
TSR may duplicate the information collection requirements of other federal or state government
agencies, the TSR does not require that a duplicate set of records be maintained.
14

Pub. L. No. 105-277, Title XVII, 112 Stat. 2681-749 (1998) codified at 44 U.S.C. § 3501 et seq.

15

47 C.F.R. §§ 64.1200(a)(1)-(3), 64.1200(a)(7), and 64.1200(b)(3). The FCC’s opt-out requirements took effect
on January 14, 2013. The written agreement requirements took effect on October 13, 2013.

16

E.g., California Public Utilities Commission, Interim Opinion, Rulemaking 02-02-020 (June 27, 2002) at 20.

4

Many state laws require the same or similar disclosures that the TSR mandates. Staff
knows of no instance, however, under which the TSR or any other law or regulation governing
telemarketing requires that a specific disclosure be made in duplicative ways.
5. Efforts to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses
The TSR’s disclosure and recordkeeping requirements are generally consistent with the
business practices that most telemarketing organizations would choose to follow, regardless of
legal requirements. Moreover, the Rule has been designed to minimize the burdens on all
business entities, including small businesses. For example, the Rule contains an exemption that
allows a seller and its telemarketer to place live telemarketing calls to consumers with whom the
seller has an established business relationship, even if the consumer has placed his or her
telephone number on the National Registry. The effect of this exemption is that businesses—and
in particular small businesses—do not need to check their lists of existing customers against the
National Registry for live telemarketing calls. In addition, the burden placed on small charities
is minimized by the fact that for-profit firms that make fundraising calls on behalf of charitable
organizations are not required to ensure that they exclude consumers who have placed their
telephone numbers on the National Registry.17 Rather, they only have to honor individual
consumer requests not to be called by the particular charity.18 Furthermore, the TSR permits all
entities accessing the National Registry to obtain the first five area codes of data for free,
limiting the burden placed on businesses that only require access to a small portion of the
National Registry.
The prerecorded call provisions of the TSR are not likely to have a significant impact on
legitimate small business for several reasons. By their nature, most small businesses serve local
customers, develop personal relationships with their clientele, and are therefore likely to be able
to obtain their customers’ agreements to receive useful prerecorded telemarketing messages.
Moreover, purely informational prerecorded messages are not covered by the TSR, and the use
of such messages to schedule service calls, delivery times, and the like therefore will not be
subject to the written agreement requirement. In addition, to the extent that, in this Internet age,
small businesses may no longer be strictly local businesses, the option provided by the
amendment to obtain written agreements to receive prerecorded message calls pursuant to ESIGN will place them on an equal footing with other businesses.
Likewise, the Commission has taken care in developing the debt relief provisions to set
performance standards, which establish the objective results that must be achieved, but do not
establish a particular technology that must be employed in achieving those objectives.
Moreover, the debt relief disclosure requirements are format-neutral; sellers and telemarketers
may make the disclosures in writing or orally, as long as they are clear and conspicuous. In sum,
the FTC has worked to minimize any significant economic impact on small entities.

17

16 C.F.R. § 310.6(a).

18

16 C.F.R. § 310.4(b)(1)(iii).

5

6. Consequences of Conducting the Collection Less Frequently
(a) Recordkeeping
The TSR requires specified records to be retained for 24 months.19 A record retention
period of less than two years would frustrate many investigations under the FTC’s enforcement
program. Consumers who complain to the FTC about transactions covered by the Rule often do
not do so immediately. Therefore, there may already be a substantial “lag time” between the
time the alleged rule violations occur and the time the FTC learns of the alleged violations. A
two-year record retention period allows Commission staff to gather the information needed to
pursue enforcement actions and to identify those persons who have most recently suffered injury
from the alleged deceptive or abusive telemarketing practices.
(b) Disclosures
All of the disclosures required by the Rule provide consumers with information necessary
to make informed purchasing decisions or are essential to protect their privacy. Moreover, the
Rule’s disclosure requirements address specific areas of recurring deception or abuse in
telemarketing. They have been narrowly crafted to address the specific problems identified in
these transactions through law enforcement efforts by the states and the FTC.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
The collection of information in this Rule is consistent with all applicable guidelines
contained in 5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
For this current PRA clearance request, the FTC sought public comment on the Rule’s
information collection requirements and on the associated estimates of PRA burden. See 87 Fed.
Reg. 23,177 (April 19, 2022). The Commission received no germane comments during the
public comment period. Pursuant to the OMB regulations that implement the PRA (5 C.F.R. §
1320), the FTC is providing a second opportunity for public comment while seeking OMB
approval to extend the existing paperwork clearance for the Rule.
9. Gifts or Payments
Not applicable.
10-11. Privacy & Confidentiality/Sensitive Questions
The collection of information in this Rule is consistent with all applicable guidelines
contained in 5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(2). To the extent that information covered by a recordkeeping
19

16 C.F.R. § 310.5.

6

requirement of the Rule is collected by the Commission for law enforcement purposes, the
confidentiality provisions of Sections 6(f) and 21 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15
U.S.C. §§ 46(f) and 57b-2, will apply.
12. Burden Estimate
Estimated Annual Hours Burden: 1,228,050 hours
The estimated burden for recordkeeping compliance is 11,885 hours for all industry
members affected by the Rule. The estimated burden for the requisite disclosures for both live
telemarketing calls and prerecorded calls is 1,215,946 hours for all affected industry members.
Estimated burden for reporting requirements is 219 hours. Thus, the total PRA burden is
1,228,050 hours. These estimates are explained below.
Number of Respondents:
In calendar year 2021, 11,756 telemarketing entities accessed the Do Not Call Registry;
however, 536 were “exempt” entities obtaining access to data.20 Of the 11,220 non-exempt
entities, 8,034 sellers and 3,186 telemarketers accessed the Registry. Of those, however, 4,843
sellers and 1,992 telemarketers obtained data for just one state. Staff assumes that these 6,835
entities are operating solely intrastate, and thus would not be subject to the TSR.21 Therefore,
Staff estimates that 4,385 telemarketing entities are currently subject to the TSR, of which
3,191 (8,034 – 4,843) are sellers and 1,194 (3,186 – 1,992) are telemarketers.22
(a)

Recordkeeping Hours

Staff estimates that the 4,385 telemarketing entities subject to the Rule each require
approximately one hour per year to file and store records required by the TSR for an annual total
of 4,385 burden hours. The Commission staff also estimates that 75 new entrants per year would
need to spend 100 hours each developing a recordkeeping system that complies with the TSR for
an annual total of 7,500 burden hours. These figures, based on prior estimates, are consistent

20

An exempt entity is one that, although not subject to the TSR, voluntarily chooses to scrub its calling lists against
the data in the Registry.

21

These entities would nonetheless likely be subject to the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”)
Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulations, including the requirement that entities engaged in intrastate
telephone solicitations access the Registry.

22

For purposes of these calculations, staff assumes that telemarketers making prerecorded calls download telephone
numbers listed on the Registry, rather than conduct online searches, because the latter may consume much more
time. Other telemarketers not placing the high-volume of automated prerecorded calls may elect to search online,
rather than to download.

7

with staff’s current knowledge of the industry. Thus, the total estimated annual recordkeeping
burden for new and existing telemarketing entities23 is 11,885 hours.
(b)

Disclosure Hours

Staff believes that in the ordinary course of business, a substantial majority of sellers and
telemarketers make the disclosures the Rule requires because to do so constitutes good business
practice. To the extent this is so, the time and financial resources needed to comply with
disclosure requirements do not constitute “burden.” 5 CFR 1320.3(b)(2). Moreover, many state
laws require the same or similar disclosures as the Rule mandates. Thus, the disclosure hours
burden attributable solely to the Rule is far less than the total number of hours associated with
the disclosures overall. As when the FTC last sought OMB clearance, staff estimates that most
of the Rule disclosures would be made in at least 75 percent of telemarketing calls even absent
the Rule.24 Accordingly, staff has continued to estimate that the hours of burden for most of the
Rule’s disclosure requirements is 25 percent of the total hours.
Pre-sale Disclosures
Consistent with its past practice, staff necessarily has made additional assumptions in
estimating burden. Based on industry data and further FTC extrapolations,25 staff estimates that
2.3 billion outbound telemarketing calls are subject to FTC jurisdiction and attributable to direct
orders, that 450 million of these calls result in direct sales,26 and that there are 1.8 billion
inbound calls that result in direct sales. Staff retains its longstanding estimate that, in a

23

The recordkeeping requirements for prerecorded calls are de minimis, and are subsumed within the PRA
estimates above for existing and new telemarketing entities. As in its prior estimates, staff continues to believe that
any ongoing incremental burden on sellers to create and retain electronic records of written agreements by new
customers to receive prerecorded calls should not be material since the agreements may be obtained and recorded
electronically pursuant to the Electronic Signatures In Global and National Commerce Act (commonly, “E-SIGN”).
Although telemarketers (and telefunders) that place prerecorded calls on behalf of sellers or charities must capture
and transmit to the seller any requests they receive to place a consumer’s telephone number on the seller’s entityspecific do-not-call list, this obligation extends both to live and prerecorded telemarketing calls, and is also
subsumed within the PRA estimates above.

24

84 FR at 22,845.

25

Staff employs the methodology, assumptions, and studies it has consistently used since their development for the
2003 TSR amendments to determine, indirectly from external sales data and the relative percentages of inbound and
outbound calls, the number of telemarketing calls and resulting number of sales because no call or sales number
totals are otherwise available. Staff relies on its own prior estimates that of the $134.7 billion of sales from
outbound calls to consumers in 2012 (DMA 2013 Statistical Fact Book, at 5), 92.8% of those sales, or $125 billion,
are subject to FTC jurisdiction, with the average value of a sale being $85 and 20% of outbound calls resulting in a
sale.

26

For staff’s PRA burden calculations, only direct sales orders by telephone are relevant. That is, sales generated
through leads or customer traffic are excluded from these calculations because such sales are not subject to the
TSR’s recordkeeping and disclosure provisions. The direct sales transactions total of 450 million is based on an
estimated 1.5 billion sales transactions from outbound calls being subject to FTC jurisdiction reduced by an
estimated 30 percent attributable to direct orders. This percentage estimate is derived from the only known
available outside direct sales data for telephone marketing to consumers. See DMA Statistical Fact Book (2001), p.
301.

8

telemarketing call involving the sale of goods or services, it takes 7 seconds27 for telemarketers
to recite the required pre-sale disclosures plus 3 additional seconds28 to disclose the information
required in the case of an upsell.29 Staff also retains its longstanding estimates that at least 60
percent of sales calls result in “hang-ups” before the telemarketer can make all the required
disclosures and that “hang-up” calls allow for only 2 seconds of disclosures.30
Staff bases all ensuing upsell calculations on the volume of additional sales after an initial
sale, with the assumption that a consumer is unlikely to be predisposed to an upsell if he or she
rejects an initial offer—whether through an outbound or an inbound call. Using industry
information, staff assumes an upsell conversion rate of 40% for inbound calls as well as
outbound calls.31 Moreover, staff assumes that consumers who agree to an upsell will not
terminate an upsell before the seller or telemarketer makes the full required disclosures.
Based on the above, staff estimates that the total time associated with these pre-sale
disclosure requirements is 826,389 hours per year: [(2.3 billion outbound calls x 40% lasting the
duration x 7 seconds of full pre-sale disclosures ÷ 3,600 (conversion of minutes to hours) x 25%
burden = 447,222 hours) + (2.3 billion outbound calls x 60% terminated prematurely x 2 seconds
of disclosures ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 191,667 hours) + (450 million outbound calls resulting in
direct sales x 40% upsell conversions x 3 seconds of related disclosures ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden =
37,500 hours) + (1.8 billion inbound calls x 40% upsell conversions x 3 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25%
burden = 150,000 hours)] = 826,389 hours).
General Sales Disclosures
The TSR also requires several general sales disclosures in telemarketing calls before the
customer pays for goods or services.32 These disclosures, which FTC staff estimates takes eight
seconds, include the total costs of the offered goods or services, all material restrictions, and all
material terms and conditions of the seller’s refund, cancellation, exchange, or repurchase
policies (if a representation about such a policy is a part of the sales offer).
Staff estimates that the general sales disclosures for telemarketing calls require 351,680
hours annually. This figure includes the burden for written disclosures (672 inbound

27

See, e.g., 60 FR 32,682, 32,683 (June 23, 1995); 63 FR 40,713, 40,714 (July 30, 1998); 66 FR 33,701, 33,702
(June 25, 2001); 71 FR 28,698, 28,700 (May 17, 2006); 74 FR 11,952, 11,955 (Mar. 20, 2009); 78 FR 19,483
19,485 (Apr. 1, 2013); 84 FR at 22,845 (May 20, 2019).

28

See, e.g., 71 FR 3302, 3304 (Jan. 20, 2006); 71 FR at 28,700; 78 FR at 19,485; 84 FR at 22,845.

29

Upselling is when a seller or telemarketer “solicit[s] the purchase of goods or services following an initial
transaction during a single telephone call.” 16 CFR 310.2(hh).

30

See, e.g., 60 FR at 32,683; 78 FR at 19,485; 84 FR at 22,845.

31

This assumption originated with industry response to the Commission’s 2003 Final Amended TSR. See 68 FR
4580, 4597 n.183 (Jan. 29, 2003). Although the comment provided an estimate specifically regarding inbound calls,
FTC staff will continue to apply this assumption to outbound calls as well, absent the receipt of any information to
the contrary.

32

16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(i)-(iii).

9

telemarketing entities estimated to use direct mail33 x 10 hours34 per year x 25% burden = 1,680),
as well as oral disclosures [(450 million outbound calls x 8 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden =
250,000 hours) + (450 million outbound calls x 40% upsell attempts x 20% sales conversion x 8
seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden =20,000 hours) + (1.8 billion inbound calls x 40% upsell attempts
x 20% sales conversion x 8 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 80,000 hours)] = 351,680 hours.35
Disclosures for Debt Relief Services
To estimate the time required to provide the general sales disclosures for calls offering
debt relief services, staff employs different assumptions and calculations.36 Employing that
analysis, as modified in response to a public comment to account for inbound debt relief sales,37
staff continues to assume that outbound calls to sell and inbound calls to buy debt relief services
are made only to consumers who are delinquent on one or more credit cards.38 Staff further
assumes that each such consumer will receive one outbound call and place one inbound call for
these services.
To estimate the number of consumers who are delinquent on one or more credit cards,
staff assumes that couples constitute a single decision-making unit, as do single adults (widowed,
divorced, separated, never married) within each household. According to the most current U.S.
Census Bureau data available, there are 167,360,000 decision-making units.39 Of these,

33

Based on previous assumptions, staff estimates that of the 4,385 telemarketing entities, 2,015 conduct inbound
telemarketing. Consistent with its previous analyses, staff estimates that, of the 2,015 entities that conduct inbound
telemarketing, approximately one-third (672) will choose to incorporate written disclosures in their direct mail
solicitations. Because it is likely that industry members make the requisite disclosures in direct mail solicitation in
an effort to qualify for a Rule exemption, Commission staff believes it is appropriate to include those written
disclosures in the burden hour calculation.

34

FTC staff believes a typical firm will spend approximately 10 hours per year engaged in activities ensuring
compliance with this provision of the Rule; this, too, has been stated in prior FTC notices inviting comment on PRA
estimates. No comments were received, and staff believes this estimate remains reasonable.

35

The percentage and unit of time measurements are FTC staff estimates. (For more information regarding the
25% apportionment appearing above see supra note 12 and surrounding text.)

36

75 FR at 48,504-05.

37

Debt relief sales in outbound calls have always been subject to the general sales disclosure requirements, and are
subsumed in the outbound general sales disclosure totals.

38

By extension, upsells on these initial calls would not be applicable. Moreover, staff believes that few, if any,
upsells on initial outbound and inbound calls would be for debt relief.

39

U.S. Census Bureau, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020 (September 2021), Table A1, available at
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html reflecting 129,931,000 households in 2021);
U.S. Census Bureau, Sharing a Household: Household Composition and Economic Well Being: 2007-2010 (June
2012), Table 2, p. 4, available at https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2012/demo/p60-242.pdf (reflecting
37,429,000 adults living with a householder who is neither a spouse nor cohabiting partner in 2010 and includes
adults enrolled in school). Commission staff was unable to locate more current data for the latter source.

10

120,833,920 have one or more credit cards,40 and there are 2,984,598 decision-making units with
at least one delinquent credit card account.41
Accordingly, allowing for the above-stated FTC staff estimate of eight seconds per
general sales disclosures, staff estimates further that the general sales disclosure burden for
inbound debt relief calls is 1,658 hours (2,984,598 inbound debt relief calls to decision-making
units with at least one delinquent credit card account x 8 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden).
Disclosures for non-exempt inbound calls
The TSR general sales disclosures must also be made by sellers and telemarketers for
inbound calls in response to ads for investment opportunities, certain business opportunities,
credit card loss protection (“CCLP”),42 credit repair,43 loss recovery services,44 and advance fee
loans.45
Staff’s estimate for each of these types of non-exempt inbound calls is determined by
comparing the number of complaints reported to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel system in the
most recent complete year to the total number of reported fraud complaints for that year. In
2021, there were 2,789,161 fraud complaints.46 The resulting percentage of total fraud
complaints must be adjusted to reflect the fact that only a relatively small percentage of
telemarketing calls are fraudulent. To extrapolate the percentage of fraudulent telemarketing
calls, staff divides a Congressional estimate of annual consumer injury from telemarketing fraud
($40 billion)47 by available data on total consumer and business-to-business telemarketing sales
40

The estimated number of consumers with one or more credit cards is derived by multiplying the estimated
decision making units (167,360,000) by the percentage of consumers with one or more credit cards: 72.2%. The
percentage of consumers with one or more credit card is based on a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of
Boston. See Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Consumer Payments Research Center, The 2009 Survey of Consumer
Payment Choice (April 2011), screen pp. 8, 48 available at www.bostonfed.org/economic/ppdp/2011/ppdp1101.pdf.
Commission staff have not found percentage updates of a comparable nature. Later versions of such data differ in
how they present consumer adoption of payment instruments, e.g., combining, rather than presenting as separate
percentages, consumer purchases through credit and charge card use.

41

The estimated number of consumers with a delinquent account is derived by multiplying the estimate of
consumers with one or more credit cards (120,833,920) by the delinquency rate for credit cards (2.47%). Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Charge Off and Delinquency Rates on Loans and Leases at Commercial
Banks, available at https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/chargeoff/delallsa.htm (reporting a 2.47% delinquency
rate for credit cards for the second quarter of 2018).

42

16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(vi).

43

16 CFR 310.4(a)(2).

44

16 CFR 310.4(a)(3).

45

16 CFR 310.4(a)(4).

46

See FTC, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2021 (February 2022) (“Sentinel Data”) at 9, available at
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/CSN%20Annual%20Data%20Book%202021%20Final%20PDF.pdf.

47

House Committee on Government Operations, The Scourge of Telemarketing Fraud: What Can Be Done Against
It, H.R. Rep. 421, 102nd Cong., 1st Sess. at 7 (Dec. 18, 1991). The FBI believes that this estimate overstates
telemarketing fraud losses as a result of its investigations and closings of once massive telemarketing boiler room
operations. See FBI, A Byte Out of History: Turning the Tables on Telemarketing Fraud (Dec. 8, 2010), available

11

($310.0 billion projected for 2016),48 or 13%. The two percentages are then multiplied together
to determine the percentage of the 1.8 billion annual inbound telemarketing calls represented by
each type of fraud complaint. That number is then rounded to the nearest ten.
Thus, for the 4,678 Sentinel complaints in 2021 about investment opportunities covered
by the TSR,49 the general sales disclosure burden is 870 hours (1.8 billion inbound calls x the
percentage of fraud complaints for investment opportunities (4,678/2,789,161) x the percentage
of telemarketing calls that are estimated to be fraudulent (.13) x the length of the disclosures (8
seconds per disclosure) ÷ 3,600 to convert to hours). Likewise, the burden for business
opportunity sales (23,274 complaints), including complaints for multi-level
marketing/pyramids/chain letters) 50 is 4,340 hours (1.8 billion x [23,274/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8
seconds ÷ 3,600); for advance fee loan sales (20,540 complaints)51 is 3,830 hours (1.8 billion x
[20,540/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8 seconds ÷ 3,600); for credit repair sales (3,151 complaints) 52 is
590 hours (1.8 billion x [3,151/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8 seconds ÷ 3,600); 60 hours for loss
recovery services (339 complaints) 53 (1.8 billion x [339/2,789,161] x 0.13 x 8 seconds ÷ 3,600);
and 20 hours for CCLP sales (124 complaints) 54 (1.8 billion x [124/2,789,161] x.13 x 8 seconds

at https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/december/telemarketing_120810/telemarketing_120810. See also Internet
Crime Complaint Center, 2020 Annual Report on Internet Crime (citing $4.1 billion of losses claimed in consumer
complaints for 2020), available at https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2020_IC3Report.pdf.
48

DMA 2013 Statistical Fact Book (January 2013) projection up through 2016, p. 5 (no associated DMA updates
made or otherwise found thereafter).

49

See FTC, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2021 (February 2022) (“Sentinel Data”), Appendix B3, p. 86,
available at https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/consumer-sentinel-network-data-book2020/csn_annual_data_book_2020.pdf. The figure above tallies the number of complaints under the subcategories
“Advice, Seminars” and “Art\Gems\Rare Coins.” The remaining subcategories under the “Investment Related”
category are not covered by either the FTC Act or the TSR.

50

Sentinel Data at 85. While this total excludes “Franchises/Distributorships” covered by the Franchise Rule and
thus not subject to the TSR, the data cannot additionally be segregated to omit “Work-At-Home” opportunities now
covered by the Business Opportunity Rule and thus also not subject to the TSR. Staff therefore believes this total
significantly overstates the opportunities subject to the TSR.

51

Id.

52

Id.

53

Id.

54

Id.

12

÷ 3,600). The exceptions to the TSR’s inbound call exemptions add an additional 9,710 hours to
the general sales disclosure burden.
Altogether, the general sales disclosure burden is 363,048 hours (351,680 hours for
outbound sales + 1,658 hours for debt relief inbound sales + 9,710 hours for non-exempt inbound
sales).
Specific Transaction Disclosures
Additional specific disclosures are required if the call involves a prize promotion,55 the
sale of credit card loss protection products,56 an offer with a negative option feature,57 or the sale
of a debt relief service.58 Staff estimates that the specific sales disclosures other than for debt
relief services will require 22,363 hours annually [(450 million direct sales transactions from
outbound calls x 5% [estimate of percentage of sales transactions involving prize promotions] x
3 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 4,688 hours) + (450 million direct sales transactions from
outbound calls x 0.1% [estimate of percentage of sales transactions involving CCLP] x 4 seconds
÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 125 hours) + (450 million sales transactions from outbound calls x 40%
attempted upsell conversions x 20% sales conversions x 0.1% [estimate of percentage of
outbound calls involving CCLP upsells] x 4 seconds x 25% burden ÷ 3,600 = 10 hours) + (1.8
billion inbound calls x 40% attempted upsell conversions x 20% sales conversions x 0.1%
[estimate of percentage of inbound calls involving CCLP upsells] x 4 seconds x 25% burden ÷
3,600 = 40 hours) + (450 million sales transactions from outbound calls x 10% [estimate of
percentage of outbound calls involving negative options] x 4 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden =
12,500 hours) + (450 million sales transactions from outbound calls x 40% attempted upsell
conversions x 20% sales conversions x 10% [estimate of percentage of outbound calls involving
negative option upsells] x 4 seconds x 25% burden ÷ 3,600 = 1,000 hours) + (1.8 billion inbound
calls x 40% attempted upsell conversions x 20% sales conversions x 10% [estimate of percentage
of inbound calls involving negative option upsells] x 4 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 4,000
hours).
Staff estimates that reciting the specific sales disclosures in each debt relief sales call will
take ten seconds, and therefore the disclosure burden associated with the debt relief disclosures is

55

16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(iv)-(v).

56

16 CFR § 310.3(a)(1)(vi). It is neither staff’s understanding nor belief that CCLP sales occur through inbound
calls. Staff anticipates, however, the potential for such sales in an upsell following an inbound call.

57

16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(vii).

58

16 CFR 310.3(a)(1)(viii).

13

4,146 hours (2,984,598 outbound debt relief calls x 10 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 2,073
hours) + (2,984,598 inbound debt relief calls x 10 seconds ÷ 3,600 x 25% burden = 2,073 hours).
Thus, the total specific transaction disclosure burden is 26,509 hours annually (22,363 for
non-debt-relief calls) + 4,146 (for debt relief calls).
Cumulatively, therefore, the total annual burden for all of the disclosures is 1,215,946
(826,389 hours pre-sales disclosures + 363,048 hours general sales disclosures + 26,509 hours
specific sales disclosures).
(c)

Reporting Hours

Finally, any entity that accesses the Registry must submit minimal identifying
information to the operator of the Registry. This basic information includes the name, address,
and telephone number of the entity; a contact person for the organization; and information about
the manner of payment. The entity also must submit a list of the area codes for which it requests
information and certify that it is accessing the Registry solely to comply with the provisions of
the TSR. If the entity is accessing the Registry on behalf of other seller or telemarketer clients, it
has to submit basic identifying information about those clients, a list of the area codes for which
it requests information on their behalf, and a certification that the clients are accessing the
Registry solely to comply with the TSR.
As it has since the Commission’s initial proposal to implement user fees under the TSR,
FTC staff estimates that affected entities will require no more than two minutes for each entity to
submit this basic information, and anticipates that each entity will have to submit the information
annually.59 Based on the number of entities accessing the Registry that are subject to the TSR,
this requirement will result in 146 burden hours (4,385 entities x 2 minutes per entity). In
addition, FTC staff continues to estimate that up to one-half of those entities may need, during
the course of their annual period, to submit their basic identifying information more than once in
order to obtain additional area codes of data. Thus, this would result in an additional 73 burden
hours. Accordingly, accessing the Registry will impose a total burden of approximately 219
hours per year.
Thus, total recordkeeping, disclosure, and reporting burden is 1,228,050 hours (11,885
hours + 1,215,946 hours + 219 hours).
Estimated Annual Labor Cost: $18,367,441
(a)

Recordkeeping Labor Cost

As indicated above, staff estimates that existing telemarketing entities require 11,885
hours, cumulatively, to maintain compliance with the TSR’s recordkeeping provisions.
59

See 67 FR 37,366 (May 29, 2002). The two-minute estimate likely is conservative. The OMB regulation
defining “information” under the PRA generally excludes disclosures that require persons to provide facts necessary
simply to identify themselves, e.g., the respondent, the respondent’s address, and a description of the information
the respondent seeks in detail sufficient to facilitate the request. See 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(1).

14

Applying a clerical wage rate of $18.75/hour,60 recordkeeping maintenance for existing
telemarketing entities would amount to an annual cost of approximately $222,844. Assuming
also from the above a cumulative burden of 7,500 hours for 75 new telemarketing entities per
year to set up compliant recordkeeping systems (75 new entrants/year x 100 hours each), and
applying to that a skilled labor rate of $29.11/hour,61 cumulative labor costs for them would
approximate $218,325 yearly. Thus, the estimated labor cost for recordkeeping associated with
the TSR for both new and existing telemarketing entities, including prerecorded and debt relief
calls, is $441,169.
(b)

Disclosure Labor Cost

The estimated annual labor cost for disclosures for all telemarketing entities is
$17,923,044. This total is the product of applying an assumed hourly wage rate of $14.7462 to
the earlier stated estimate of 1,215,946 hours pertaining to the pre-sale, general and specific
disclosures.
(c)

Reporting Labor Cost

Estimated labor cost supplying basic identifying information to the Registry operator is
$3,228 (219 hours x $14.74 per hour).
Thus, cumulatively for both new and existing telemarketing entities total labor costs are
$18,367,441 [($441,169 recordkeeping) + ($17,923,044 disclosure) + ($3,228 reporting)].
13. Capital and Other Non-labor Costs
Estimated Annual Non-Labor Cost: $4,596,656
(a) Recordkeeping
Staff believes that the capital and start-up costs associated with the TSR’s recordkeeping
provisions are de minimis. Although staff believes that most affected entities would maintain the
required records in the ordinary course of business, consistent with its prior analyses, staff
estimates that the estimated 4,385 telemarketing entities subject to the Rule continue to spend an

60

This figure is derived from the mean hourly wage shown for Office Clerks, General. See “Occupational
Employment and Wages–May 2021,” U.S. Department of Labor, released March 2022, Table 1 (“National
employment and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey by occupation, May 2021”),
available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm.

61

This figure is derived from the mean hourly wage shown for “Computer Support Specialist.” See id.

62

This figure is derived from the mean hourly wage shown for Telemarketers. See supra note 42. It is applied
additionally to the ensuing calculation of reporting labor cost regarding the Registry operator.

15

annual amount of $50 each on office supplies as a result of the Rule’s recordkeeping
requirements, for a total recordkeeping cost burden of $219,250.
(b) Disclosure
Applying the disclosure estimates of 1,215,946 hours to an estimated commercial calling
rate of 6 cents per minute ($3.60 per hour), staff estimates a total of $4,377,406 in telephone
charges.63 Thus, total capital and/or other non-labor costs are $4,596,656 ($219,250 (office
supplies)) + $4,377,406 (telephone charges)).
14. Estimated Cost to the Federal Government
The Commission has also amended the TSR several times in order to impose fees on
entities that must pay for access to the National Registry.64 In the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee
Extension Act of 2007, Congress directed the FTC to make a moderate reduction in the TSR’s
fees for access to the National Registry, and to expand the definition of “exempt” entities eligible
to access the National Registry without charge.65 Accordingly, the Commission amended the
Rule to comply with that directive. Staff anticipates that, to the extent Registry and enforcement
costs are not fully offset by the fees collected, the FTC’s budget will cover the shortfall.
15. Program Changes/Adjustments
The burden estimate of 1,228,050 hours is slightly reduced from the FTC’s prior cleared
burden estimate in 2019 of 1,233,817 hours. Estimated annual labor cost increased slightly from
$17,181,914 (2019) to $18,367,441 (2022). Estimated annual non-labor cost is reduced from
$4,717,991 (2019) to $4,596,656 (2022). The reductions are largely attributable to staff’s
reduced estimates for the number of telemarketing entities subject to the TSR, based on updated

63

Staff believes that other non-labor costs would be incurred largely by affected entities in the ordinary course of
business and, beyond that, would not materially exceed those ordinary costs.

64

The Do-Not-Call Implementation Act enacted by Congress shortly after the Commission amended the TSR in
2003 authorized the Commission to “promulgate regulations establishing fees sufficient to implement and enforce
the provisions relating to the ‘do-not-call’ registry of the [TSR].” Pub. L. 108–10, 117 Stat. 557 (2003) at § 2. After
receiving that authority, the Commission has conducted annual amendment proceedings to set and adjust the
National Registry access fees to cover the costs of the Registry and Do Not Call enforcement. See for example 68
Fed. Reg. 45,134 (July 31, 2003); 69 Fed. Reg. 45,580 (July 30, 2004); 70 Fed. Reg. 43,273 (July 27, 2005); 71 Fed.
Reg. 43,040 (July 31, 2006).

65

Pub. L. 110–188, 122 Stat. 635 (2008). The Commission subsequently reduced the access fees in compliance
with the Act. See 73 Fed. Reg. 43,354 (July 25, 2008). The Act also requires that the National Registry access fees
be adjusted annually after fiscal year 2009 to reflect the amount by which the average monthly Consumer Price
Index for urban consumers for the most recently ended 12-month period ending on June 30 exceeds the CPI for the
12 month period ending June 30, 2008, provided the increase is at least one percent. Accordingly, the Commission
has issued yearly notices of any fee adjustments made pursuant to the Act. See 74 Fed. Reg. 42,771 (Aug. 25,
2009); 75 Fed. Reg. 55,269 (Sept 10, 2010); 76 Fed. Reg. 53,636 (Aug. 29, 2011); 77 Fed. Reg. 51,697 (Aug. 27,
2012); 78 Fed. Reg. 53,642 (Aug. 30, 2013); (79 Fed. Reg. 51,477 (Aug, 29, 2014); 80 Fed. Reg. 59,778 (Oct. 2,
2015); 81 Fed. Reg. 59,845 (Aug. 31, 2016); 82 Fed. Reg. 39,533 (Aug. 21, 2017); 83 Fed. Reg. 46,639 (Sept. 14,
2018).

16

National Registry data. The increase of annual labor costs is associated with higher average
wage rates offsetting the decrease in annual burden hours.
16. Statistical Use of Information
There are no plans to publish any information for statistical use.
17. Exceptions for the Display of the Expiration Date for OMB Approval
Not applicable.
18. Exceptions to the “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions”
Not applicable.

17