Why are telemarketers regulated?
A. In recent years, fraudulent telemarketing has become a serious problem in North America. Legitimate operations are increasingly becoming tainted by the proliferation of bogus schemes and not only find their reputations adversely affected, but also find it difficult to compete with fraudulent schemes for the limited dollars available in the marketplace. In addition, consumers are expressing increasing frustration with the number of calls that they are receiving from telemarketers. Licensing of telemarketers was provided for in the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act, which came in effect on July 4, 2004, subject to regulations. In March, 2005, the Telemarketer Licensing Regulation was approved, requiring the licensing of telemarketers by October 1, 2005.
