FTC's DNC Registry Fee Fix: What E-Commerce Sellers Should Know

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a correction to its update of the Telemarketing Sales Rule fees that entities pay to access the National Do Not Call Registry. Published as 90 FR 42812 and effective September 5, 2025, the correction fixes a date error in the rule as first published — the revised Registry access fees now take effect October 1, 2025, not October 1, 2024, as the original document incorrectly stated. For e-commerce sellers that telemarket directly or that pay a vendor to do so on their behalf, this is a small but consequential fix: any billing cycle, vendor contract, or internal calendar keyed to the wrong date needs a correction of its own.

This guide explains, in plain English, what the correction actually changes, who it touches, what e-commerce sellers should check before the corrected date arrives, and how to keep a Federal Register-driven compliance calendar current without re-reading every daily filing by hand. It leads with the obligation and the dates, not with any product.

Key Takeaways

• The FTC's correction, cited as 90 FR 42812, is effective September 5, 2025.

• The correction fixes a date error: the revised National Do Not Call Registry access fees now take effect October 1, 2025, not October 1, 2024, as the rule originally (and incorrectly) stated when first published on August 27, 2025.

• The correction amends the Telemarketing Sales Rule at 16 CFR Part 310 under RIN 3084-AA98.

• The underlying fee update stems from the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007, which requires the Commission to periodically update the fees charged to entities that access the Registry.

• E-commerce sellers that telemarket directly, or that rely on a vendor or call center to access the Registry on their behalf, should confirm the corrected October 1, 2025, date is reflected in any related billing or compliance calendar.

• This post is informational only and is not legal or tax advice; consult a qualified attorney or tax advisor before acting on any specific situation.

What this rule actually does

The Telemarketing Sales Rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 310, requires sellers and telemarketers subject to the rule to check outbound calling lists against the National Do Not Call Registry before making a telemarketing call. Accessing that Registry data is not free: the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007 directs the Commission to periodically update the fees charged to entities that access it, and the Commission did so in a document it published in the Federal Register on August 27, 2025.

Shortly after that publication, according to the correction notice, Commission staff learned the document contained an incorrect date. The correction — 90 FR 42812, effective September 5, 2025 — exists solely to fix that error. It does not reopen the fee structure, revisit the amount of any fee, or change any other part of the August 27, 2025 rule. It corrects one thing: the date the revised fees become effective.

What changed in the correction

The table below states only what the correction itself says changed. It adds no figure, date, or requirement beyond the rule's own text.

Because the original document mistakenly pointed to a date that had already passed, the correction matters operationally as well as legally: any organization or vendor that built a billing cycle, contract renewal, or internal reminder around "October 1, 2024" was working from a date the Commission itself has now said was wrong. The controlling date, per 90 FR 42812, is October 1, 2025.

Who is affected

The Telemarketing Sales Rule's Registry-access fee applies to sellers and telemarketers covered by 16 CFR Part 310 who must check phone numbers against the National Do Not Call Registry before calling them. In e-commerce, that population splits two ways: some sellers maintain their own in-house telemarketing or outbound sales-call operations and pay for Registry access directly; many more contract the calling function out to a telemarketing vendor, BPO, or call center, which pays for Registry access on the seller's behalf and passes the cost — and the compliance obligation to use current data — through the vendor relationship. Either way, the corrected effective date in 90 FR 42812 determines when the revised fee applies.

E-commerce sellers that do not telemarket by phone at all — for example, those that rely solely on email, on-site marketing, or paid social — fall outside the Registry-access fee question entirely. The rule requires only entities that access the Registry under 16 CFR Part 310 to pay the fee; it does not create a new obligation for sellers that never place telemarketing calls. Confirming which category a given business falls into is the necessary first step, and a qualified attorney can help make that determination for a specific operation.

What e-commerce sellers should do before the date

The most useful thing an e-commerce seller can take from this correction is narrow and specific: nothing about the underlying fee structure changed, only the date on which the revised fees take effect. The rule requires that entities accessing the Registry pay the corrected fee as of October 1, 2025, per 90 FR 42812, and this notice corrects the record on when that obligation begins — it does not add a new fee, remove one, or change who owes it.

A sourced preparation path looks like this. First, confirm whether the business telemarkets directly or through a vendor, since that determines who within the relationship actually pays the Registry access fee described in 90 FR 42812. Second, if a vendor handles telemarketing and Registry access, ask the vendor directly whether its billing already reflects the corrected October 1, 2025, date or whether it was built around the withdrawn October 1, 2024, date. Third, update any internal compliance calendar, budget line, or contract renewal note that referenced the original document published August 27, 2025, so no team is planning around a date the Commission has since corrected. Fourth, keep the correction's own text on hand — available at 90 FR 42812 — since it is the controlling document for both the fee change and its corrected timing.

Operationalizing that tracking at volume

The hard part for most e-commerce compliance teams is not reading a single correction notice — it is catching it in the first place, alongside every other Federal Register document tied to the rules that already govern the business, and routing it to the right person before a vendor contract renews on the wrong date. That is a monitoring problem, and it is where US Tech Automations fits: configured against the Federal Register feed, the platform can watch for new documents tied to a given RIN, such as 3084-AA98, or a given CFR part, such as 16 CFR Part 310, and flag a matching filing — correction or otherwise — to a named compliance reviewer instead of leaving it to be found by chance. You can see how that monitoring workflow is structured on the US Tech Automations agentic workflows page.

How this fits the broader regulatory window

This correction is a small entry in a much larger stream. It is one of 259 U.S. federal rules sealed in our point-in-time index of rules published July 1, 2024 – July 5, 2026 by 10 agencies governing our covered industries. A single date correction like this one is easy to miss entirely, precisely because it looks minor next to a full rulemaking — yet a vendor invoice or internal calendar built on the withdrawn date is just as much a compliance gap as missing a rule outright. E-commerce sellers that telemarket, or that hire vendors who do, are exposed to this kind of correction any time the Commission revisits a fee, a threshold, or a filing deadline tied to the Telemarketing Sales Rule at 16 CFR Part 310.

The takeaway for compliance leadership is straightforward: the Registry access fee obligation itself has not changed — only its effective date has been corrected, per 90 FR 42812 — and that correction is itself a reminder that even settled-looking rules can be revised in place. For teams ready to see how ongoing Federal Register tracking can be built into an existing compliance workflow, current plans and pricing are here.

Frequently asked questions

What is the effective date of the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule fees correction?

The correction is effective September 5, 2025, as stated in 90 FR 42812. That is the date the correction itself takes legal force; it is separate from October 1, 2025, which is the corrected effective date of the underlying Registry access fees.

What did the FTC actually correct in this notice?

The FTC corrected a date error in the document it published on August 27, 2025, updating the fees charged to entities that access the National Do Not Call Registry. The revised fees take effect October 1, 2025, not October 1, 2024, as the original document incorrectly stated. Details are in 90 FR 42812.

Which part of the Code of Federal Regulations does this correction affect?

The correction affects the Telemarketing Sales Rule at 16 CFR Part 310. The rulemaking carries RIN 3084-AA98.

Does this correction change who has to pay to access the National Do Not Call Registry?

No. The correction fixes only the effective date of the previously announced fee update. The underlying requirement — that entities accessing the Registry pay a fee under the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007 — is unchanged by 90 FR 42812.

Are e-commerce sellers required to access the National Do Not Call Registry?

Only if they telemarket by phone, or if a vendor telemarkets on their behalf, in a manner covered by 16 CFR Part 310. Sellers that do not place telemarketing calls are not subject to the Registry access fee. A qualified attorney can confirm how the rule applies to a specific business.

What is the RIN for this correction, and why does it matter?

The RIN is 3084-AA98. It is the identifier the Commission uses to track this specific rulemaking and distinguish it from other Telemarketing Sales Rule filings, including the August 27, 2025, document it corrects. See 90 FR 42812 for the primary text.

Related guidance

For related FTC rules affecting e-commerce sellers, see our notes on the FTC's Negative Option Rule revision, the FTC's revised premerger notification rule, and the FTC's amended Ophthalmic Practice Rules.

Disclaimer

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Regulatory requirements are fact-specific, and you should consult a qualified attorney or tax advisor before acting on any matter discussed here. Every date, citation, RIN, CFR reference, and figure in these posts is copied verbatim from the Federal Register and eCFR as of the snapshot date. Nothing is estimated, modeled, or extrapolated. This is not legal or tax advice.

Last reviewed: July 5, 2026.

Source: U.S. Federal Register (90 FR 42812); current text via eCFR, 16 CFR Part 310.