South Dakota requires registration with the Public Utilities Commission before unsolicited residential calls, uses national registry numbers as its do not call register, bars unsolicited telemarketer calls to residences before 9 a.m., after 9 p.m., or on Sunday, and restricts recorded message dialers.
From official sources, checked September 26, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Any telephone solicitor that makes unsolicited telephone calls to South Dakota residential telephone subscribers must pay the Public Utilities Commission an annual fee before the first such call, and the Commission says these solicitors must register. The fee depends on the number of employees or agents. The filing includes the solicitor's federal tax identification number, a contact email, and the name and address of its registered agent for service of process in South Dakota. A separate statute requires anyone planning to use an automatic telephone dialing system for telephone solicitation to register that use with the Commission at least 10 business days in advance.
A telephone solicitor that makes unsolicited telephone calls may not call any number on the register. Under the Commission's rules, the register is the list of South Dakota residential subscribers on the national registry kept by the Federal Trade Commission, which solicitors obtain from the FTC for South Dakota area codes. A residential telephone subscriber is a person residing in the state with residential service, including cellular service, primarily used for personal use. Calls at the person's express request, about an unfinished debt or contract, or within an established business relationship are not unsolicited calls.
A telemarketer may not place unsolicited consumer telephone communications to any residence that will be received before 9 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at the consumer's local time, or place any on Sunday. It also may not engage in unfair or deceptive telephone solicitation, harass or intimidate anyone, or send misleading caller ID information. Communications at the person's express request, about an unfinished debt or contract, to people with an existing business relationship, by newspaper publishers, and certain appointment calls for insurance licensees are not unsolicited.
Separate statutes cover automatic telephone dialing systems, defined as equipment that stores or produces numbers to be called randomly or sequentially and delivers a prerecorded message without a live operator. A person using one for telephone solicitation must register with the Public Utilities Commission first. It may not be used to call emergency numbers, paging or cellular phones in the state, or unlisted, toll free, or direct inward dial numbers, and it may be used only on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. South Dakota time. The message must immediately name the caller and the purpose, and the device must disconnect within 20 seconds after the called party hangs up. Business to business contacts are excluded.
A telemarketer making an unsolicited consumer communication to a residential number must display its authentic name and number on caller ID and immediately give the caller's true name, the telemarketer's name, the name and address of the business, and the purpose. Within 30 seconds it must ask whether the person wants to hear a sales presentation, and it must stop if the answer is no. A consumer's verbal agreement to buy is not binding until the telemarketer receives a signed written confirmation of the sale terms, and no charge may be made before then, unless one of the chapter's exclusions applies.
The telemarketing chapter covers consumer goods or services, meaning those normally used for personal, family, or household purposes and not for resale or business use, and it does not apply to a transaction in which the business making the solicitation is establishing a business to business relationship. The automatic dialing rules also exclude business to business contacts. The do not call register holds residential telephone subscribers only.
South Dakota makes it a Class 5 felony for a person who is not a sender or receiver of a communication to intentionally overhear or record it with an eavesdropping device without the consent of either a sender or receiver. A recording made with the consent of one sender or receiver falls outside that offense.
The annual fee and registration apply to any telephone solicitor that makes unsolicited telephone calls to South Dakota residential telephone subscribers, and state law defines a telephone solicitation call as one made to a South Dakota consumer, originating from South Dakota or elsewhere. The fee is due before the first unsolicited call.
The telemarketing chapter says a communication to set a date and time for an appointment with a person licensed under Title 58, the insurance title, at a mutually agreeable physical location is not an unsolicited consumer telephone communication. The do not call statute has its own shorter list of excluded calls, which does not include that one.
The telemarketing chapter bars a telemarketer from placing any unsolicited consumer telephone communication to a residence on Sunday. Communications the chapter does not treat as unsolicited, such as those at the person's express request or to someone with an existing business relationship, are outside that rule.
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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