Vermont Statutes Title 9 Sec. 2509
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 9 Sec. 2509
- Advertisements and promotions: include all forms of solicitation directed at prospective callers of pay-per-call services, including mailings and advertisements in newspapers and magazines and on radio and television. See
- Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
- Sponsor: means an individual, corporation, association, partnership, or other entity that sells or offers to sell a pay-per-call service to a person in this State and on whose behalf charges are billed, but shall not include a public utility regulated by the State or the Federal Communications Commission or an interexchange carrier which provides transport or billing and collection services for a pay-per-call service unless the public utility or interexchange carrier actually produces or advertises the pay-per-call service. See
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
§ 2509. Charitable solicitations
It shall be an unlawful practice for a sponsor to sell or offer for sale pay-per-call services that involve charitable fundraising either directly or indirectly by solicitation of donations or through the sale of information, goods, or services unless:
(1) all advertisements and promotions for the service include the identity of the nonprofit tax-exempt charity or charitable organization for which the funds are being raised;
(2) the sponsor gives callers the right to cancel any pledge made by virtue of the telephone call, whether it is characterized as a donation or as the cost of the call itself, and notifies callers of that right as part of the service; and
(3) the sponsor and charity or charitable organization have complied with all applicable federal and State laws governing charitable fundraising. (Added 1993, No. 99, § 2.)