rom Brooklyn to Buffalo, New York State residents are flocking to get their names on a newly created registry of people who do not want to receive unsolicited phone calls from telemarketing companies, which starting next spring could face stiff fines if they call a registered home or business.
State officials say that although the law authorizing the registry was enacted just a month ago, and is not to take effect until April 1, more than 180,000 New Yorkers have already put their names on the "do not call" registry as of Friday, a figure running ahead of what the officials expected. They say they might have to raise their estimate that 500,000 people and companies will be on the list by April.
Under the statute, which the state's Consumer Protection Board calls one of the strongest state laws intended to help people reduce unwanted calls from telephone solicitors, a telemarketing company can be fined up to $2,000 for each call that it makes to a number on the registry.
There are thousands of telemarketing companies across the country. Any that place calls to any number in New York State will be required to buy the latest copy of the registry, which officials expect to update four times a year. The cost of the registry has not yet been determined, Consumer Protection Board officials said.
After obtaining the latest list, a company will have 30 days to expunge from its own lists of telephone-sales targets any number that appears on the updated registry. A company can be fined if it calls a number on the registry more than 30 days after obtaining the registry. The initial 30-day grace period will end May 1, after which companies can begin to be cited for violations.
The law has exceptions, so getting on the registry will not help stave off all solicitation calls.
Under enforcement regulations being considered by the state consumer panel, if a registered party complains of receiving a call that violates the law, the telemarketing company will have to show that the call did not occur, or be subject to a fine.
"Telemarketing companies and their persistent calls have multiplied to the point where it seems you can't sit down to a meal without being interrupted," Gov. George E. Pataki said when he signed the registry bill into law on Oct. 12. "Even worse, telemarketers often dupe consumers into buying products they don't want or can't afford."
Debra Martinez, chairwoman and executive director of the Consumer Protection Board, said the elderly were particularly vulnerable to high-pressure sales tactics.
Among the calls exempted from the law are those by companies trying to set up a personal meeting with a consumer to offer a product or service, according to a spokesman for the Consumer Protection Board, Jon Sorensen. He said, though, that the company may not call again if the consumer tells it not to and that the board was drafting regulations to enforce that provision.
"Also, if you have a relationship at the time with a company, they can call you without violating the law," he said.
Also exempted from the law, he said, are charities soliciting contributions, political campaigns and organizations doing political polling or marketing surveys.
Some telemarketers opposed the new state law, saying a state registry was not needed to curb telemarketing intrusions and the industry had been acting to police itself. Members of one industry group, the Direct Marketing Association, have agreed not to call consumers who have put their names on the association's do-not-call list.
But state officials noted that telemarketers who do not belong to the association are not covered by its program.
Many telemarketers have suggested that New York City residents, in particular, hardly need government help in rebuffing their calls. More than in most parts of the country, the companies say, city residents are either not home, screen their calls when they are home, or when they do answer, declare in no uncertain terms that the call is unwelcome before slamming down the phone. Some telemarketing concerns pay more to employees assigned to deal with New York City residents, and some companies, state officials say, welcome do-not- call registries because they help reduce time-wasting calls to people who will be unreceptive.
Mr. Sorensen said 18 states had some form of laws or regulations to help reduce unwanted telemarketing calls. He said New York's system would be one of the strongest because it has fewer exemptions than some other states' efforts, and its registry is to be maintained by the state instead of by a telemarketing trade group. And while some states charge consumers $5 to $10 a year to be on their registries, he said, New York has no fee.
Federal regulations also restrict telemarketers by prohibiting, among other things, calls between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., and by requiring telemarketers themselves to maintain do- not-call lists of consumers who have asked not to be called again.
But, Mr. Sorensen said, given the extent of the problem nationwide, federal agencies are less able than states to enforce telemarketing restrictions.
Those interested in getting on the New York registry can do so through the consumer board's Web site, www.consumer.state.ny.us, or by writing to the board at 5 Empire State Plaza, Suite 2101, Albany, N.Y. 12223. Besides the name and address, he said, the letter should provide the phone numbers to be on the registry, which can include cell phones and fax lines.
He said it might be quicker to register through the Web site or by sending a letter than by calling the agency, at (800) 697-1220, because of the large number of people trying to register by phone.
Elsewhere in the metropolitan region, New Jersey does not have an official do-not-call registry. In Connecticut, a new telemarketing law allows the public to contact the Department of Consumer Protection and get on a do-not-call list. Starting in January, no business doing telemarketing in Connecticut will be able to legally call anyone on the list. Violators could face up to $5,000 in fines.
