The Telemarketing Sales Rule is the FTC regulation at 16 CFR Part 310 governing telemarketing practice. It contains the abandoned-call prohibition, the two-second connection requirement and the three-percent safe harbour that shape how a multi-line dialer must be configured.
The provisions that matter to dialer settings are concentrated in 16 CFR 310.4. A call is abandoned "if a person answers it and the telemarketer does not connect the call to a sales representative within two (2) seconds of the person’s completed greeting" — 310.4(b)(1)(iv) — and abandoning calls is prohibited.
The safe harbour at 310.4(b)(4) sets out the conditions under which abandonment does not create liability: technology ensuring no more than three percent abandonment of calls answered by a person, measured per campaign or per 30-day period; a minimum of fifteen seconds or four rings before disconnecting; and a prompt recorded message identifying the seller where no representative is available.
This is a plain-English summary of a published rule, not legal advice, and whether the rule reaches your calls depends on facts about your business.
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