DNC (Do Not Call)
A federal registry of phone numbers that have opted out of most telemarketing calls, administered by the FTC.
Full Definition
The National Do Not Call Registry, launched in 2003 by the Federal Trade Commission, allows consumers to register their residential and wireless phone numbers to opt out of most telemarketing solicitations. Telemarketers must scrub their lists against the registry every 31 days. Calling a DNC-registered number without a valid exemption carries penalties up to $53,088 per violation (adjusted annually). Exemptions include: established business relationship (EBR) within 18 months of a purchase or 3 months of an inquiry, and prior express written consent. Many states also maintain their own DNC registries with stricter rules. Insurance lead vendors typically scrub lead data against federal and state DNC lists before delivery, but the ultimate compliance burden rests on the calling agent.
Example
Before an agent dials a list of aged leads, their dialer runs a DNC scrub against the federal registry and state-level lists for FL, TX, and PA. Numbers flagged as DNC are suppressed unless the lead record has a valid written-consent timestamp.
How Agents Apply This
Agencies should treat DNC scrubbing as a two-layer process: federal-registry scrub every 31 days minimum (required by law), plus state-registry scrubs for any state where you hold a license or dial consumers. Most modern dialers (Convoso, Readymode, Five9) integrate directly with DNC.com or PossibleNOW for real-time suppression; the monthly flat-rate cost ($50–$200) is trivial compared to a single $53K violation. Common pitfall: agencies scrub the federal list but not state lists, then get cited for calling Texas, Florida, or Pennsylvania DNC-registered numbers. If you work aged leads, assume a meaningful share have registered on the DNC between the original opt-in and your dial date — re-scrub aged lists every time you restart a campaign, not just at purchase.
Related Terms
- TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) — U.S. federal law restricting telemarketing calls, autodialed calls, prerecorded messages, and text messages without prior express written consent.
- Prior Express Written Consent (PEWC) — A TCPA-defined standard of consent requiring a signed, written agreement that clearly authorizes autodialed or prerecorded marketing calls and texts.
- Scrub — The process of filtering a lead list against prohibited, duplicate, or invalid records before dialing — covering DNC, duplicates, bad phones, litigator lists, and age.
- STIR/SHAKEN — A caller ID authentication framework required of U.S. voice carriers to combat illegal spoofing and reduce robocalls.