Over the past week, there has been a series of developments having a direct bearing on the national Do Not Call registry. Two federal district courts had issued rulings which could have delayed or prevented implementation of the national Do Not Call registry as of Wednesday, October 1, 2003—but today, the FCC issued a statement confirming it will begin enforcement of its No Call rules on that date.

On Tuesday, September 23, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma issued a judgment that the portion of the FTC rule pertaining to the national Do Not Call registry is invalid, because it believed Congress had not given Federal Trade Commission authority to operate such a registry. Spurred by public outrage, the next day Congress passed legislation specifically granting that authority to the FTC.

Less than one hour after Congress passed the bill, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado issued an order enjoining the FTC from enforcing rules creating and implementing the federal do-not-call registry. This court found that registry rules were unconstitutional on freedom of speech grounds, because they would have allowed telemarketers for charitable organizations to continue to call numbers on the Do Not Call list even though commercial firms would be barred from doing so.

While President Bush today signed the legislation passed by Congress, this legislation does not resolve the constitutional issue. Rather, the Congressional action was in response to the first court ruling, which was primarily confined to the issue of whether the FTC had authority to implement the national Do Not Call registry.

Both the FTC and the FCC are vowing to fight for implementation of the national Do Not Call registry. Shortly before today's 3:00 p.m. EST White House bill signing ceremony, the FCC announced that it will begin enforcement of its No Call rules on Wednesday, October 1, 2003. Statement by FCC

On Friday, September 26, the FTC filed an appeal of the order of the federal court in Colorado that enjoins the FTC from enforcing the provisions of the Telemarketing Sales Rules that create and implement the national Do Not Call Registry. The FTC also filed a motion for an emergency stay of the portion of the court's order that enjoins the FTC.

September 30, 2003