September 8, 2002

Vendor Call Compliance Plans Training Product

Call Compliance, a vendor which helps firms comply with do-not-call and telemarketing restriction laws, plans to develop a training product this fall for complying with do-not-call lists and other provisions of regulations restricting the use of telemarketing, or cold calling. The product, TeleGuide®, will aim to help firms train reps to comply with those elements of self-regulatory organization rules that systems cannot handle alone, said Joseph Sanscrainte, Director of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel at Call Compliance, in New York. The SRO rules require that a certain protocol be followed by each rep at the beginning of and during every call, said Sanscrainte, such as reps promptly identifying themselves, their firms and why they  are  calling,  as  well  as  providing  their  contact  information.   Firms  are  also  required  to  add  the  names  to  their own do-not-call lists of customers that request it under NASD Rule 3110, he noted. The other NASD rule on call compliance, 2211 also requires prompt and clear disclosure "the identity of the caller and the member firm." Call Compliance is also responding to client and industry demand for the vendor to offer the training to provide one-stop shopping. Sanscrainte added that the training product materials would be offered over the Web and would include some video and more audio segments as well that will soon be produced.