The prior-business-relationship exemption explained

The prior business relationship (PBR) exemption is the most commonly used carve-out from the federal Do-Not-Call rules. It allows a company to call a consumer who is registered on the National DNC Registry — but only if the relationship is recent enough and the call is related to that relationship.

The FTC defines two versions of the exemption with different time windows depending on the nature of the prior contact.

The two time windows

• Purchase or transaction: 18 months. If the consumer has made a purchase, payment, or other transaction with your company in the past 18 months, you may call them even if their number is on the DNC list.
• Inquiry or application: 3 months. If the consumer called your company, submitted a form, or made an inquiry in the past 3 months, you may call them during that window. No transaction is required — but the inquiry must be genuine and initiated by the consumer.

**Heads up:** These windows are shorter than most teams assume. An 18-month clock on a one-time purchase means a customer who bought something 17 months ago falls off the exemption in 30 days. You need a system that tracks relationship dates and automatically reclassifies leads as the window closes.

What counts as a prior business relationship

• A completed purchase or paid transaction.
• A signed service agreement or contract.
• An inbound inquiry, form submission, or application initiated by the consumer.
• A product trial or free service signup where the consumer actively provided contact information.

What does not count

• A third-party lead that purchased contact information from a data broker. The relationship must be with your company, not a list vendor.
• A relationship older than the applicable window even if the consumer has not removed themselves from your list.
• A consumer who has told you — at any point — not to call again. Once they explicitly opt out, the PBR exemption no longer applies regardless of how recent the relationship is.

Tracking PBR expiry in VICIdial

flowchart TD
  A[Consumer in database] --> B{On federal DNC?}
  B -->|No| C[Dial normally]
  B -->|Yes| D{Prior business relationship?}
  D -->|No| E[Do not dial - remove from list]
  D -->|Yes - purchase| F{Within 18 months?}
  D -->|Yes - inquiry| G{Within 3 months?}
  F -->|Yes| H[PBR exemption applies - may dial]
  F -->|No| E
  G -->|Yes| H
  G -->|No| E
  H --> I{Consumer requested no calls?}
  I -->|Yes| E
  I -->|No| C

VICIdial's Custom field system can store the date of last purchase or last inquiry per lead. You can use Lead filter rules to exclude leads where the PBR window has expired before sending them to the Hopper. This is the safest way to enforce the exemption automatically rather than relying on agents to check dates manually.

Keep documentation of the relationship for every lead you are calling under PBR. The FTC's 2024 TSR update requires records of customer business relationship dates to be retained for 5 years.

For the full picture on DNC rules and exemptions, see the VICIdial compliance overview. For the other DNC exemptions — charitable, political, and survey calls — see what the federal Do-Not-Call list is and who has to filter against it.

Need a VICIdial environment where lead filters and custom fields are ready to configure from day one? See VICIfast pricing.