Do Not Call rules for business: the national registry and your internal list
16 min readRules and statutes read 2026-10-22
For the owner or ops lead whose team makes sales calls or sends marketing texts: who the National Do Not Call Registry protects, how fresh your scrub has to be, what the safe harbor asks for, and how to run the internal list that 47 CFR § 64.1200(d) requires, with a policy you can print today. Every rule was read from the eCFR, the statute, the FCC's order and the state codes on 2026-10-22.
The short answer
Two lists govern every sales call and marketing text you send. The national registry is the government's list of people who want no telephone solicitations at all. Your internal list is your own record of people who told you to stop. The first you check before you dial; the second you build every day.
Who the National Do Not Call Registry protects
The FCC's rule bars any telephone solicitation to “a residential telephone subscriber who has registered his or her telephone number on the national do-not-call registry” (47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)). A telephone solicitation is a call or message that encourages a purchase, rental or investment. Calls that sell nothing are outside the registry rule (the FCC's 2003 order names surveys, market research, political and religious speech), though they can still be inside the consent rules.
“Such do-not-call registrations must be honored indefinitely, or until the registration is cancelled by the consumer or the telephone number is removed by the database administrator.”
There is no expiry date to wait out. A number registered years ago is still registered today, and a list you bought or inherited carries every registration on it. That is why the scrub has to run against every list, every time, and not just against new leads.
Mobile numbers and texts
Paragraph (e) of the same rule extends both the registry rule and the internal-list rule to “telephone solicitations or telemarketing calls or text messages to wireless telephone numbers”. A promotional text to a registered mobile number is treated like a sales call to it. The FCC settled who counts as residential on a mobile line in its 2003 order:
“we will presume wireless subscribers who ask to be put on the national do-not-call list to be residential subscribers.”
The same paragraph says the presumption “may require a complaining wireless subscriber to provide further proof” if the FCC takes enforcement action. In practice, you cannot assume a registered mobile number is a business line because the owner uses it for work.
Business lines
The registry rule protects residential subscribers, and the 2003 order is plain: “The national do-not-call rules will also not prohibit calls to businesses and persons with whom the marketer has a personal relationship” (para. 37). The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule exempts calls between a telemarketer and a business from its registry rule too (16 CFR § 310.6(b)(7)), though a few of its misrepresentation rules still apply. The Telemarketing Sales Rule vs TCPA guide covers that exemption line by line.
The 31-day scrub and registry access
The FCC's safe harbor wants a process that blocks registered numbers, “employing a version of the national do-not-call registry obtained from the administrator of the registry no more than 31 days prior to the date any call is made, and maintains records documenting this process” (47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(D)). The FTC's rule uses the same 31 days.
The clock runs from the day the registry copy was obtained, not from the day you uploaded your list. A scrubbing service that refreshes its copy daily makes the two dates the same; a spreadsheet you scrubbed once does not stay clean.
| Registry copy obtained | Last call date it covers | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-01 | 2026-11-01 | A call on 2026-11-02 needs a newer copy |
| 2026-10-15 | 2026-11-15 | Scrubbing the same list again on 2026-11-10 against this copy does not restart the clock |
| 2026-11-20 | 2026-12-21 | Calls from 2026-12-22 need the next copy |
Buying access, area code by area code
Access comes from the FTC's telemarketer site, and the TSR makes it a violation to call a number in an area code before the seller has paid for that area code (16 CFR § 310.8(a)), unless it calls only people who signed written permission or have an established business relationship with it and uses the registry for nothing else. The annual fee “is $85 for each area code of data accessed, up to a maximum of $23,425”, with no charge for the first five area codes (§ 310.8(c)). The TSR vs TCPA guide covers the fee year and the mid-year rates for added area codes.
Each payer gets “a unique account number” good for twelve months (§ 310.8(d)). The records rule calls it the subscription account number, the SAN, and wants a record of the entity that accessed the registry, the date, the SAN used and the campaign it served (16 CFR § 310.5(a)(11)). Scrubbing tools ask for your SAN because they cannot lend you theirs; our DNC scrubbing software comparison shows which ones work that way.
The safe harbor's five elements
A call to a registered number is not a violation if the caller “can demonstrate that the violation is the result of error and that as part of its routine business practice” it meets five standards (47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)). All five, as routine, before the call. A policy written after a demand letter arrives does not count.
| Element | What the rule asks | What to keep as proof |
|---|---|---|
| (A) Written procedures | Written procedures to comply with the national do-not-call rules, established and implemented | The dated policy document and proof staff follow it |
| (B) Training of personnel | Your staff and “any entity assisting in its compliance” trained in those procedures | Training dates, attendees, the material used, vendor sign-offs |
| (C) Recording | A maintained and recorded list of numbers the seller may not contact | Your internal list, with the date and channel of each request |
| (D) Accessing the registry | A process that blocks listed numbers, using a registry copy no more than 31 days old | Scrub logs: copy date, list scrubbed, numbers removed |
| (E) Purchasing the registry | Registry data used only for compliance, bought from the administrator, never cost-shared | Your SAN, the area codes paid for, the renewal date |
| Plus: the result of error | The violating call has to be shown to be “the result of error” | The record of that call: who dialled, from which list, why it slipped |
Software covers part of this. A scrubbing tool runs element (D) and can hold the list for (C); the policy, the training and the purchase stay with you. The DNC scrubbing comparison maps each element to what a tool can and cannot do, and the TCPA compliance checklist turns them into tick boxes.
Your internal do-not-call list
The company-specific list is the rule most small callers miss, because it applies where the registry does not. Paragraph (d) reaches “any call for telemarketing purposes to a residential telephone subscriber”, including calls to your own customers under an established business relationship, and the prerecorded calls the consent rule lets you make without consent (47 CFR § 64.1200(d)).
| Standard | What the rule says | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Written policy | “a written policy, available upon demand, for maintaining a do-not-call list” | (d)(1) |
| Training | Everyone engaged in any aspect of telemarketing “must be informed and trained in the existence and use of the do-not-call list” | (d)(2) |
| Record and honour | Record the request and the number “at the time the request is made”; honour it within a reasonable time that “may not exceed ten (10) business days from the receipt of such request” | (d)(3) |
| No forwarding | Get the consumer’s prior express permission before passing the request to anyone other than the seller or an affiliate | (d)(3) |
| Identify the caller | The caller’s own name, the seller’s name, and a telephone number or address where the seller can be reached (never a 900 number) | (d)(4) |
| Affiliates | A request covers the entity that called, and affiliates only where the consumer would reasonably expect them to be included | (d)(5) |
| Keep it | “A do-not-call request must be honored for 5 years from the time the request is made.” | (d)(6) |
Requests arrive everywhere
A request does not have to use the right words or reach the right desk. It comes on a sales call, in a reply to a marketing text, by email, through a web form, to the front desk. For texts, a reply such as STOP also revokes consent under the current rule, which must be “honored within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt” (§ 64.1200(a)(10)). Put the number on the internal list as well, so a later call from another team or tool does not reach it. Our SMS opt-out keywords guide lists the words that count.
Build your internal do-not-call policy
The rule asks for a written policy “available upon demand”. Fill in the fields and the template writes one that covers each standard above, with your own windows. It runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Your details
Pre-filled for a roofing company that calls and texts its quote requests. Change any field.
Your policy, ready to print
Internal do-not-call policy: Harbor Lane Roofing LLC
Effective 2026-10-22
- 01
Purpose and scope
Harbor Lane Roofing LLC keeps a company-specific do-not-call list as required by 47 CFR § 64.1200(d). This policy covers every telemarketing call and text message made by or on behalf of Harbor Lane Roofing LLC, including by agencies, call centres and software vendors acting for us. A copy of this policy is available to anyone who asks for it.
- 02
Taking a request
Anyone who calls, texts or answers for Harbor Lane Roofing LLC accepts a request not to be contacted in any form: on a call, as a reply to a text message (STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE or any words that ask us to stop), by email, by mail, through our website or in person. The person who receives it records, at the time the request is made, the telephone number, the person's name if given, the date and the channel it came in on, and adds the number to the do-not-call list.
- 03
Honouring a request
The number is suppressed in every calling and texting system Harbor Lane Roofing LLC and its vendors use within 3 business days of the request. Federal rules allow no more than 10 business days.
- 04
How long we keep it
Each request is honoured and kept on the list for 5 years from the date it was made. Federal rules require at least 5 years.
- 05
Who a request covers
A request applies to Harbor Lane Roofing LLC and to any affiliate the person would reasonably expect it to cover. We do not share or forward a request to any party other than Harbor Lane Roofing LLC or an affiliated entity without the person's prior express permission.
- 06
Identifying ourselves
On every telemarketing call the caller gives their own name, the name Harbor Lane Roofing LLC, and a telephone number or address where Harbor Lane Roofing LLC can be reached: (555) 010-0148.
- 07
The national registry
Before any telephone solicitation, call and text lists are scrubbed against a copy of the National Do Not Call Registry obtained no more than 31 days earlier, under Harbor Lane Roofing LLC's own registry subscription. Registry data is used only to prevent calls and texts to registered numbers and is never shared or resold.
- 08
Training
Every employee and outside vendor engaged in telemarketing for Harbor Lane Roofing LLC is trained on this policy and on the use of the do-not-call list when they start and at least once every 12 months. Training dates and attendees are recorded.
- 09
Records and questions
Harbor Lane Roofing LLC keeps the do-not-call list, scrub records, training records and each version of this policy. The policy owner is Dana Ruiz, Operations Manager.
“Persons or entities making artificial or prerecorded-voice telephone calls pursuant to an exemption under paragraphs (a)(3)(ii) through (v) of this section or calls for telemarketing purposes must have a written policy, available upon demand, for maintaining a do-not-call list.”
Calls the registry rule does not reach
Most exemptions work by taking a call outside the definition of a telephone solicitation, which excludes a call made with the person's “prior express invitation or permission”, to someone with an established business relationship, or “by or on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization” (47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(15)). None of them switches off your internal list.
| Exemption | National registry rule | Your internal list |
|---|---|---|
| Established business relationship | Exempt: a purchase in the last 18 months or an inquiry in the last 3 months ((f)(5)) | Still applies. A do-not-call request ends the relationship for this purpose, even if the person keeps buying |
| Signed written permission | Exempt with “a signed, written agreement between the consumer and seller” that names the seller and includes the number ((c)(2)(ii)) | Still applies. A later request to stop wins |
| Personal relationship | Exempt for a “family member, friend, or acquaintance of the telemarketer making the call” ((c)(2)(iii), (f)(17)) | Applies to any call made for telemarketing purposes |
| Tax-exempt nonprofit | Not a telephone solicitation, so outside the registry rule ((f)(15)(iii)) | Prerecorded calls under the nonprofit exemption must still honour opt-outs ((a)(3)(iv)) |
| Informational calls and texts | A call that sells nothing is not a telephone solicitation, so outside the registry rule | Prerecorded commercial calls with no advertisement must still honour opt-outs ((a)(3)(iii)) |
State do-not-call lists
The TCPA leaves room for “more restrictive intrastate requirements” (47 U.S.C. § 227(f)(1)), and several states keep their own list or longer clocks. These six were read on their legislatures' own sites; for every other state, check the statute before you dial it.
| State | What it adds | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Florida | Keeps its own “no sales solicitation calls” listing, which takes in the Florida numbers from the national database. No unsolicited sales call to a number in “the then-current quarterly listing”. A stop request covers calls, texts and voicemail | Fla. Stat. § 501.059(3)-(5) |
| Oklahoma | No unsolicited sales call or message, “including, but not limited to, a cellular telephone text message”, more than 30 days after a number first appears on the state registry | 15 O.S. § 775B.6(A) |
| Virginia | A stop request “shall be honored for at least 10 years”; by text, the person replies UNSUBSCRIBE or STOP. National registry numbers barred too | Va. Code § 59.1-514 |
| South Carolina | A request “must be honored for at least five years”; national registry numbers barred, with a scrub-based defence | S.C. Code § 37-21-70 |
| Washington | Tell the person their details come off your lists “for at least one year” and end the call within 10 seconds | RCW 80.36.390(7) |
| Maine | A sales call to a number on the national or state registry “for at least 3 months” is a violation, and so is skipping the Reassigned Numbers Database before the call | 10 M.R.S. § 1499-B(6) |
Run to the longest clock you dial into. If you call Virginia numbers, a 10-year retention covers every period in the table and the federal 5 years at once; the policy builder above sets it for you. State calling hours, call caps and consent rules are in mini-TCPA state laws, and the quiet hours checker applies them by time zone.
What a missed request costs
Do Not Call has its own private right of action, and its trigger is a pattern, not a single call. It opens when a person receives more than one violating call from or for the same entity within 12 months.
“A person who has received more than one telephone call within any 12-month period by or on behalf of the same entity in violation of the regulations prescribed under this subsection may … receive up to $500 in damages for each such violation”
The same paragraph gives you a defence: it is an affirmative defence that the defendant “has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations in violation of the regulations”. That is the five-element safe harbor and the internal-list standards in practice, and it is only as good as the records behind it. FTC enforcement and civil penalties under the Telemarketing Sales Rule are a separate track, covered in Telemarketing Sales Rule vs TCPA.
Records that prove you did it
Every defence above is a records question. The FCC's rules ask for the records without a period for most; the FTC's rule says a seller or telemarketer must keep its telemarketing records “for a period of 5 years from the date the record is produced” (16 CFR § 310.5(a)). Keeping everything for 5 years is the simple rule that satisfies both.
| Record | What it holds | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Internal do-not-call list | Each number, the name if given, the date of the request | 5 years (FCC (d)(6)) |
| Do-not-call request detail | Name, number(s), the seller, the telemarketer that called, the date, what was being sold | 5 years (TSR § 310.5(a)(10)) |
| Registry access | The entity that accessed it, the date, the subscription account number, the campaign | 5 years (TSR § 310.5(a)(11)) |
| Scrub logs | “records documenting this process”: copy date, list scrubbed, numbers removed | No period set; keep with the rest |
| Written policy | Each dated version, “available upon demand” | No period set; keep every version |
| Training records | Who was trained, when, on what; vendors included | No period set; keep with the rest |
Keep the records where the person answering a demand letter can find them in an afternoon: the list with dates, the scrub reports by campaign, the SAN and its renewal, the training log, the policy versions. The TCPA compliance checklist has a records part to tick off, and the TCPA training quiz gives you a dated training record for each caller.
This guide explains the federal and listed state rules as read on the dates shown; it is not legal advice.
Questions owners ask
Do I have to scrub my existing customers against the registry?
Not while the established business relationship lasts: a purchase in the last 18 months or an inquiry in the last 3 months, under 47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(5). Once it lapses, the number is scrubbed like any other. A customer who asks you to stop ends the relationship for this purpose even if they keep buying from you.
Does the Do Not Call Registry cover text messages?
Yes. 47 CFR § 64.1200(e) applies the registry rule and the internal-list rule to "telephone solicitations or telemarketing calls or text messages to wireless telephone numbers". A marketing text to a registered mobile number needs the same scrub, exemption or written permission as a call.
Can I call a business number that is on the registry?
Under the FCC's rule the registry protects residential subscribers, and its 2003 order says the national rules "will also not prohibit calls to businesses". The FTC's rule exempts most business-to-business calls too. The catch is mobile numbers: the FCC presumes a wireless number on the registry belongs to a residential subscriber, so a sole trader's registered mobile starts out treated as residential.
How fast do I have to honour a do-not-call request?
Within a reasonable time that "may not exceed ten (10) business days from the receipt of such request" (47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(3)), and for 5 years from the request. The same paragraph wants the request recorded and the number put on your list "at the time the request is made"; the ten days are the ceiling for the calls to stop, not for writing it down.
Can I use my dialer vendor's registry subscription?
No. The safe harbor needs the seller to buy its own access from the registry administrator and not share the cost with anyone (47 CFR § 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(E)), and the FTC's fee rule bans any arrangement to divide the cost among a provider's clients (16 CFR § 310.8(c)). The vendor scrubs with your account number.
Do nonprofits need to scrub or keep a do-not-call list?
A call by or on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit is not a telephone solicitation (47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(15)), so the registry rule does not reach it. Prerecorded calls a nonprofit makes under its exemption in § 64.1200(a)(3)(iv) still have to honour opt-outs under the internal-list rule in § 64.1200(d).
Does one request cover our sister companies?
Only if the person would reasonably expect it to. Under 47 CFR § 64.1200(d)(5), a request applies to the entity that called and not to affiliates "unless the consumer reasonably would expect them to be included given the identification of the caller" and the product. When a shared brand name is on the call, treat the request as covering every company behind it.
Sources
- 47 CFR § 64.1200(c), (d), (e) and (f) (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
- 47 U.S.C. § 227(c)(5), private right of action (govinfo, 2023 edition)fetched 2026-10-22
- FCC, Report and Order FCC 03-153 (adopted June 26, 2003; released July 3, 2003), paras. 36-37fetched 2026-10-22
- 16 CFR § 310.4(b), Telemarketing Sales Rule (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
- 16 CFR § 310.5(a)(10)-(11), records (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
- 16 CFR § 310.6(b)(7), business-to-business exemption (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
- 16 CFR § 310.8, registry access fee and account number (eCFR, current as of 2026-10-20)fetched 2026-10-22
- National Do Not Call Registry, telemarketer access sitefetched 2026-10-22
- Florida, Fla. Stat. § 501.059 (Florida Telephone Solicitation Act)fetched 2026-10-22
- Oklahoma, 15 O.S. § 775B.6(A) (Telemarketer Restriction Act), complete Title 15fetched 2026-10-22
- Virginia, Va. Code § 59.1-514fetched 2026-10-22
- South Carolina, S.C. Code § 37-21-70fetched 2026-10-22
- Washington, RCW 80.36.390fetched 2026-10-22
- Maine, 10 M.R.S. § 1499-Bfetched 2026-10-22