Missouri telemarketing rules

Missouri's own No Call list

The Missouri No Call law bars any person or entity from making a telephone solicitation to a residential subscriber who has told the Attorney General they object to such calls. The statute calls for the Missouri part of the national database to be included, and the Attorney General's Office says it has added Missourians' federal Do Not Call numbers to the state list. To get a copy of the register, a business registers with the office and signs a confidentiality agreement, and the office provides updated registers every three months.

Permission and other exemptions

A call is not a telephone solicitation under the No Call law when it is made to a subscriber with that subscriber's prior express invitation or permission, or by or for a business the subscriber has had business contact with in the past 180 days or has a current business or personal relationship with. Other exemptions cover certain charitable fundraising calls, certain federally regulated entities that must keep their own no call lists, and a natural person responding to a referral or working from their primary residence. A person licensed by Missouri in a trade, occupation or profession who is setting or trying to set an appointment for that licensed work, within the state or contiguous counties, is also exempt.

Calling hours and conduct rules

Subject to its exemptions, Missouri's telemarketing practices law makes it unlawful for a seller or telemarketer to engage in telemarketing to a consumer's residence outside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time at the called consumer's location. The same section bars threats, profane or obscene language, and repeated calls a reasonable consumer would find annoying, abusive or harassing. It also bars knowingly calling a consumer who has said they do not want solicitation calls by or for that seller, unless the request was rescinded.

Calls to businesses

The Attorney General's Office says business numbers are not allowed on the No Call list and that the list does not apply to business or fax numbers. The telemarketing practices law also exempts calls between a telemarketer and any business, except calls involving the retail sale of nondurable office and cleaning supplies. Missouri's No Call list covers residential subscribers, meaning people who subscribed to residential, wireless or similar service for primarily personal and familial use.

Required disclosures and caller ID

Anyone making a telephone solicitation to a Missouri residential subscriber must clearly state at the beginning who is initiating it, and may not knowingly use any method to block or circumvent the subscriber's caller identification service. Under the telemarketing practices law, a telemarketer must also disclose at the beginning of the call that its purpose is to make a sale, the telemarketer's name and the seller's name, the nature of what is being sold, and whether the call uses a recorded or computer generated voice. A person who receives more than one solicitation from the same caller within 12 months in violation of the No Call or caller ID rules may sue.

Recording calls

Missouri's wiretap statute makes it a crime to knowingly intercept a wire communication, with listed exceptions. One exception covers a person not acting under law who is a party to the call, or where one of the parties has given prior consent, unless the call is intercepted to commit a criminal or tortious act. A note on the Revisor's page cites a Missouri appeals case holding that calls between a cellular phone and a regular wire phone are wire communications under the wiretap law.