Pennsylvania requires most telemarketers to register with the Attorney General and post a bond, keeps a state do not call list that includes business numbers, and bars sales calls on legal holidays. Act 47, once effective, narrows calling hours and requires written robocall consent.
From official sources, checked September 26, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
A telemarketer, or the telemarketing business that employs it, must register with the Office of Attorney General at least 30 days before offering consumer goods or services for sale. The biennial application lists the business, its principal owners, and its current telemarketers, with a surety bond or a deposit of cash, a certificate of deposit, or government bonds. Exemptions include licensed or registered businesses acting within that scope, sellers completing the sale at a later face to face meeting, and some catalog, retail, and repeat customer sellers.
The Attorney General contracts with a nonprofit administrator for a state do not call list of residential, business, and wireless subscribers, issued quarterly. A telemarketer may not make a telephone solicitation to a listed number starting 30 days after the quarterly list first containing it is issued, and must obtain the listings each quarter or use a service provider that does. The Attorney General's FAQ says this applies even to telemarketers exempt from registration.
Until Act 47 of 2026 takes effect, the Act bars telemarketing after 9 p.m. or before 8 a.m. and telephone solicitation calls on a legal holiday. Act 47, approved July 20, 2026 and effective in 90 days, replaces that rule: no telephone solicitation may be initiated on a Sunday, after 7 p.m., before 9 a.m., or on a legal holiday. Because Act 47 also brings texts and voicemails into the definition, the new window reaches those messages too.
A telemarketer using robocalls must state at the start of the call how to opt out, offer an automated voice or key press opt out within two seconds of naming the caller and the seller, keep it available for the whole call, and leave a toll free call back number in voicemails. Act 47 adds a ban on initiating a robocall to any residential, business, or wireless line without the called party's prior express written consent, unless the call is for emergency purposes or otherwise exempt.
Act 47 defines prior express written consent as a written agreement between the called party and a seller authorizing telephone solicitations, including robocalls or texts. It must identify the telephone number, clearly and conspicuously disclose that signing consents to the seller's solicitations, state that consent is not a condition of purchase, and be signed, which may be electronic. Using unfair or deceptive practices to obtain consent is prohibited.
The state do not call list covers business telephone subscribers, meaning subscribers at a Pennsylvania business location on a line the provider classifies as a business line, other than those engaged in telemarketing. The Attorney General's FAQ says residents and businesses can register. Registration exempts a business to business sale only when the seller has operated at least three years under the same name and at least 50 percent of its dollar volume is repeat sales to existing businesses.
During the initial contact a telemarketer must promptly disclose the purpose of the call, its name, and what it is selling, and give the caller's and seller's names and, on request, a number or address. It may not act with the primary intent of hiding or falsifying its name or number or bypassing call screening, and must end a solicitation when the called party wants to end it. A sale made during a solicitation needs a written contract signed by the consumer unless an exception applies.
Pennsylvania makes intercepting a wire, electronic, or oral communication a felony of the third degree unless an exception applies, and the general exception requires prior consent from all parties. A narrower exception lets personnel of a business engaged in telephone marketing or customer service record those calls solely for training, quality control, or monitoring if one party consents, with recordings destroyed within one year unless law requires otherwise. A 2023 amendment added an exception for recording a telemarketer's calls with the recipient's consent to enforce telemarketing laws.
Act 47 of 2026 was approved July 20, 2026 and takes effect in 90 days. From then, no telephone solicitation may be initiated on a Sunday, after 7 p.m., before 9 a.m., or on a legal holiday. Until then, the Act bars telemarketing after 9 p.m. or before 8 a.m. and solicitation calls on legal holidays.
The Act requires telemarketers making telephone solicitations to obtain the state list each quarter or use a service provider that does, and the Attorney General's FAQ says this applies even to telemarketers exempt from registration. The Attorney General enforces the Pennsylvania list; the Federal Trade Commission enforces the national one.
The Attorney General says registration applies when calls are made to or received from a consumer in Pennsylvania, or when the telemarketer is in Pennsylvania regardless of where the consumer is, unless an exemption applies.
Checked September 26, 2026. Every fact on this page comes from these official sources. General information, not legal advice: rules change, so confirm with the cited statute or agency and with counsel.
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