On April 16, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission published a final amendment to its Telemarketing Sales Rule. It extended its prohibitions on material misrepresentations and false or misleading statements to business-to-business telemarketing calls. [S1][S3]

The change was narrower than making every consumer-call requirement apply identically to business calls. The FTC said the original rule generally excluded business-to-business calls, with an exception for office and cleaning supplies; the amendment targets specified deceptive statements in B2B telemarketing. For a small business buying by phone, the practical change is a clearer federal prohibition on material misrepresentation—not a guarantee that every dispute falls under the same rule provisions. [S1]

The rule also expanded what sellers and telemarketers must keep. The 2024 annual edition required covered telemarketing records to be retained for 24 months; the final amendment generally moves that period to five years from when a record is made. Certain service contracts must be kept for five years from the date the contract expires. [S1][S2]

The amendments were not effective on publication day: the Federal Register set May 16, 2024 as the effective date. One operational deadline came later. Compliance with the new call-detail-record requirement in 16 CFR 310.5(a)(2) was not required until October 15, 2024, giving firms a separate implementation window for those records. [S1][S3]

Source documents

  1. Telemarketing Sales Rule, 89 FR 26760 (final rule)https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/full_text/html/2024/04/16/2024-07180.html
  2. 16 CFR Part 310, 2024 annual editionhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2024-title16-vol1/xml/CFR-2024-title16-vol1-part310.xml
  3. Federal Register document 2024-07180 metadatahttps://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents/2024-07180.json