The TSR states that there are two kinds of established business relationships
The Established Business Relationship Exemption
Sellers and telemarketers may place live telemarketing calls from a sales agent (but not automated calls or robocalls) to a consumer with whom a seller can demonstrate it has an established business relationship, provided the consumer has not asked to be on the seller’s entity-specific Do Not Call list. One is based on the consumer’s purchase, rental, or lease of the seller’s goods or services, or a financial transaction between the consumer and seller, within 18 months preceding a telemarketing call. The 18-month period runs from the date of the last payment, transaction, or shipment between the consumer and the seller. The other is based on a consumer’s inquiry or application regarding a seller’s goods or services, and exists for three months starting from the date the consumer makes the inquiry or application. This enables sellers to return calls to interested prospects even if their telephone numbers are on the National Registry.
A magazine seller may make a live telemarketing call to a customer whose number is on the National Registry for 18 months after the date of the customer’s last payment for magazines or for 18 months after the seller’s last shipment date of magazines, whichever is later.
A consumer calls a company to ask for more information about a particular product. If the company returns the consumer’s call within three months from the date of the inquiry, whether the consumer’s telephone number is on the National Registry is immaterial. But after that three month period, the company would need either the consumer’s express agreement to get more calls or a transaction-based established business relationship to support more calls.
To whom does the established business relationship apply? An established business relationship is between a seller and a customer; it is not necessarily between one of the seller’s subsidiaries or affiliates and that customer.
