105 STAT. 2394 PUBLIC LAW 102-243—DEC. 20, 1991 Public Law 102-243 102d Congress An Act Dec. 20 1991 '^^ amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit certain practices involving the re 14(521 "^ °^ telephone equipment. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Telephone United States of America in Congress assembled, Consumer Protection Act of SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1991 47 USC 609 note '^'^i^ Act may be cited as the "Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991". 47 USC 227 note. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. The Congress finds that: (1) The use of the telephone to market goods and services to the home and other businesses is now pervasive due to the increased use of cost-effective telemarketing techniques. (2) Over 30,000 businesses actively telemarket goods and services to business and residential customers. (3) More than 300,000 solicitors call more than 18,000,000 Americans every day. (4) Total United States sales generated through telemarketing amounted to $435,000,000,000 in 1990, a more than four-fold increase since 1984. (5) Unrestricted telemarketing, however, can be an intrusive invasion of privacy and, when an emergency or medical assistance telephone line is seized, a risk to public safety. (6) Many consumers are outraged over the proliferation of intrusive, nuisance calls to their homes from telemarketers. (7) Over half the States now have/statutes restricting various uses of the telephone for marketing, but telemarketers can evade their prohibitions through interstate operations; therefore. Federal law is needed to control residential telemarketing practices. (8) The Constitution does not prohibit restrictions on commercial telemarketing solicitations. (9) Individuals' privacy rights, public safety interests, and commercial freedoms of speech and trade must be balanced in a way that protects the privacy of individuals and permits legitimate telemarketing practices. (10) Evidence compiled by the Congress indicates that residential telephone subscribers consider automated or prerecorded telephone calls, regardless of the content or the initiator of the message, to be a nuisance and an invasion of privacy. (11) Technologies that might allow consumers to avoid receiving such calls are not universally available, are costly, are unlikely to be enforced, or place an inordinate burden on the consumer, (12) Banning such automated or prerecorded telephone calls to the home, except when the receiving party consents to receiving the call or when such calls are necessary in an emergency
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