How to Enforce Calling Compliance in Real Time on Outbound Calls

How to do it

1. 1

   Check consent before a number enters the list

   Under FCC rules, a marketing call made with an artificial or prerecorded voice needs the called person's prior express written consent. Keep a record per lead: who agreed, when, and to what wording. You own this step. Topcalls does not track consent, so a lead with no proof of consent should never be uploaded.

2. 2

   Scrub the list and keep your own suppression list

   Scrub every upload against the National Do Not Call Registry and the state lists, then keep an internal list of people who told your company to stop. You own this step: Topcalls does not keep a do-not-call list or scrub lists. The how-to on scrubbing a list against DNC walks through it.

3. 3

   Set calling hours per time zone

   The FCC rule bars telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m., local time at the called party's location. In Topcalls you set a dispatch window and the weekdays for each campaign, and calls go out only inside that window in the campaign's time zone. Because the window follows the campaign's time zone, run one campaign per time zone and set the window a little narrower than the legal limit.

4. 4

   Cap the retries per lead

   No single law sets a retry number for every country, so a cap is your policy. In Topcalls each campaign takes 1 to 10 attempts per lead and a retry schedule inside the dispatch window. Pick the lowest number that still serves the campaign, and never leave a lead on retry after it asked to stop.

5. 5

   Identify the caller at the start of the call

   FCC rule 64.1200(b) requires an artificial or prerecorded voice message to state, at the beginning, the identity of the business responsible for the call, and to give a telephone number during or after the message. The February 2024 FCC ruling treats AI-generated voices as an artificial voice, so an AI agent follows the same rule. Write the business name and a call-back number into the first lines of the agent's script.

6. 6

   Tell the person the voice is automated

   Put a plain disclosure in the opening line, such as "this is an automated assistant calling for [business]". Topcalls does not add the disclosure for you: it lives in the agent's script and is said on every call because you wrote it there. Some countries and states add their own disclosure rules, listed in the AI calling laws by country table.

7. 7

   Handle opt-outs inside the call

   For artificial or prerecorded telemarketing messages, FCC rule 64.1200(b)(3) asks for an automated opt-out that records the number and ends the call. Topcalls does not keep a do-not-call list, so write the opt-out into the script: the agent offers the way to stop, acknowledges the request, and ends the call, and the agent can end a call. Test this with a scripted "please stop calling me" before launch.

8. 8

   Remove opted-out leads before the next dispatch

   An opt-out only counts if the number is never dialed again. After each campaign run, read the call outcomes, move every do-not-call result onto your suppression list, and remove the lead from the campaign so a scheduled retry cannot fire. Topcalls does not do this removal for you.

9. 9

   Record every call and review a sample

   Every answered call in Topcalls keeps a recording and a transcript. Review a sample each week for three things: was the disclosure said, was the opt-out honored, and did the call stay inside the window. Recordings are your evidence if a regulator or a customer asks what was said.

Common gotchas

• Assuming the platform checks consent or the do-not-call registry. Topcalls controls dispatch hours and retries per campaign, and you own consent, the registry scrub and every opt-out.
• Running one campaign over a list that spans several time zones. The dispatch window follows the campaign's time zone, so a single window cannot be right for every recipient.
• Leaving the disclosure and the opt-out out of the script because the agent "sounds natural". The words must be written into the script to be said on every call.
• Removing an opted-out lead from your CRM but not from the running campaign, so a scheduled retry still dials the number.
• Reading a US rule as a global rule. France, Germany and Austria use opt-in for consumer marketing calls, so the answer changes by country.

Where Topcalls fits

Topcalls enforces the parts of compliance that sit at dial time: each campaign calls only inside the dispatch hours and weekdays you set, in the campaign's time zone, with 1 to 10 attempts per lead on your retry schedule. Every answered call keeps a recording and transcript, so you can show what was said. Topcalls does not keep a do-not-call list, does not track consent and does not scrub lists, and the agent says the disclosure and the opt-out only because your script says them. AI calls cost from $0.25/min, and the price covers the AI, the phone line for the destination country's zone, recording, transcription and analytics. Read the compliance duties on the secure infrastructure page, then set up a test campaign with the smart campaigns product.

Frequently asked questions