WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Senate tonight approved legislation to extend and improve the Do-Not-Call registry by unanimous consent.  The Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007 (S.781) and the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 2096) were both cosponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).  Similar legislation was approved by the House of Representatives earlier this month.  The combination of this legislation will allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to collect fees to maintain the registry and remove the need for consumers to re-register their names on the Do-Not-Call list.

“By enacting this legislation, the Senate has taken an important step toward making the Do-Not-Call list the Never-Call list,” said Senator Stevens. “The Do-Not-Call registry has dramatically limited the number of unwanted calls to millions of consumers and assisted the Federal Trade Commission in preventing telemarketing fraud and abuse.”

S.781 would specifically:

• extend the FTC’s authority to collect funds to maintain the Do-Not-Call registry while providing financial certainty to entities that utilize the registry by standardizing yearly fee increases for use of the registry’s list.

S. 2096 would specifically:

• remove the need for consumers currently on the list to have to re-register, and ask the FTC to report to Congress on its efforts to improve the accuracy of the Do-Not-Call list.

###