Federal Communications CommissionWashington, D.C.  20554


                                    August 19, 1998

Ramin Karimi, CPA
Coastal Telephone Company
P.O. Box 56724 
Houston,  Texas  77256-6724

Dear Mr. Karimi:

     I am writing in response to your February 3, 1998, letter requesting that the Commission
issue an opinion clarifying Commission's rules and orders regarding the maintenance of do-not-
call lists.  Specifically, you asked whether the maintenance of a company specific do-not-call list
of consumers who do not wish to be contacted further by Coastal Telephone is a satisfactory
adherence to Commission regulations.  You request that the Commission clarify its position and
authority regarding do-not-call lists.  

     In your letter you state that Coastal Telephone has received correspondence from a
company regarding do-not-call lists.  You note that the company implies that a maintenance of a
company specific do-not-call list may not be sufficient to escape financial penalties if a consumer
complains of being contacted by a telemarketer.  

     On December 20, 1991, the U.S. Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection
Act of 1991 (TCPA), Public Law 102-243, which amended the Communications Act of 1934 by
adding a new section 47 U.S.C.  227.  The TCPA mandated that the Commission implement
regulations to protect the privacy rights of citizens by restricting the use of the telephone network
for unsolicited advertising.  The TCPA recognizes the legitimacy of the telemarketing industry but
notes that unrestricted telemarketing could be an invasion of privacy and, in some instances, a risk
to public safety.  One of the Commission's tasks with regard to implementing the TCPA was to
consider which methods would best accommodate telephone subscribers who do not wish to
receive unsolicited advertisements, including live voice solicitations, while not unduly hampering
the telemarketing industry.

     After considering a number of options, the Commission concluded that company-specific
do-not-call lists would be the most effective, least costly, and most easily implemented means of
curbing unwanted telephone solicitations.  See Rules and Regulations Implementing the
Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, CC Docket No. 92-90, Report and Order, 7 FCC
Rcd 8752, 8763-65 (1992).  In the Report and Order, the Commission stated that the company-
specific do-not-call lists would best protect residential subscriber confidentiality because do-not-call lists would not be universally accessible and could be verified
with a telemarketer's own customer information.

     When describing the company-specific do-not-call list option in the Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, the Commission noted that a telemarketing entity usually "has become aware of the
subscriber's wishes through a prior telemarketing contact during which the subscriber asked not to
be contacted in the future."  See The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, CC Docket
No. 92-90, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 7 FCC Rcd 2736 (1992).  Moreover, section
64.1200(e)(2)(iii) of the Commission's rules states:

          If a person or entity making a telephone solicitation (or on whose behalf a
     solicitation is made) receives a request from a residential telephone subscriber not
     to receive calls from that person or entity, the person or entity must record the
     request and place the subscriber's name and telephone number on the do-not-call
     list at the time the request is made.  If such requests are recorded or maintained by
     a party other than the person or entity on whose behalf the solicitation is made, the
     person or entity on whose behalf the solicitation is made will be liable for any
     failures to honor the do-not-call request.  

Section 64.1200(e)(2)(iii) establishes that a telephone subscriber may request not to receive
telephone solicitation calls.  In the Report and Order, the Commission states that the do-not-call
list requirements were designed to help ensure that residential subscriber privacy is protected from
further undesired solicitations and that mandatory company-specific do-not-call lists allow
residential subscribers to halt calls selectively from specific businesses from which they do not
wish to hear.  These Commission orders and regulations mandate that telemarketers respond to
specific requests by individual subscribers to place those subscribers upon a telemarketer's  do-
not-call list, and the entity on whose behalf a solicitation is made is responsible for honoring an
individual's request.  Since liability for failure to honor an individual's request is placed on the
entity making the solicitation, it is reasonable to allow telemarketers to determine under what
circumstances they accept lists of numbers compiled by third parties, particularly since the
Commission's regulations do not specifically address the compilation of lists of names by third
parties.  

     I hope that this information is helpful.

                                   Sincerely,



                                   Geraldine A. Matise
                                   Chief, Network Services Division
                                   Common Carrier Bureau