Okla. Stat. tit. 15 § 775A.2

Current through Laws 2024, c. 453.

Section 775A.2 - Definitions

As used in Section 775A.1 et seq. of this title, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Commercial telephone seller" or "seller" means a person who, in the course of such person's business, vocation or occupation, on the person's own behalf or on behalf of another person, causes or attempts to cause a commercial telephone solicitation to be made; except that "commercial telephone seller" or "seller" does not include a telephone call made by:

a. a person offering or selling a security as defined in Section 1-102 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes if:

(1) the security is either registered as required by Section 1-301 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or exempt from registration under Section 1-201 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes and general or public solicitation is not prohibited or the security is a federal covered security for which a notice filing has been made under Section 1-302 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes, and

(2) the person is registered as required by Section 1-401, 1-402, 1-403 or 1-404 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes as a broker-dealer as defined in Section 1-102 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes, an agent as defined in Section 1-102 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes, an investment adviser as defined in Section 1-102 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or an investment adviser representative as defined in Section 1-102 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes, unless expressly excluded from such definitions, or such person is exempted from registration under Section 1-401, 1-402, 1-403 or 1-404 of Title 71 of the Oklahoma Statutes,

b. a person soliciting the sale of any book, record, audio tape, compact disc or video if the person allows the purchaser to review the merchandise without obligation for at least seven (7) days and provides a full refund for the return of undamaged merchandise within thirty (30) days or if the person solicits such sale on behalf of a membership club operating in conformity with 16 Code of Federal Regulations 425,

c. a person soliciting a residential customer for the sole purpose of polling or soliciting the expression of ideas, opinions or votes, or a person soliciting solely for a political or religious cause or purpose,

d. a paid solicitor or charitable organization which is required to and which has complied with the notice and reporting requirements of Section 552.3 of Title 18 of the Oklahoma Statutes or a person who is excluded from such notice and reporting requirements by Section 552.4 of Title 18 of the Oklahoma Statutes,

e. a supervised financial organization, as defined in Section 1-301 of Title 14A of the Oklahoma Statutes, and its employees, when acting within the scope of their employment,

f. a supervised lender, as defined in subsection (2) of Section 3-501 of Title 14A of the Oklahoma Statutes, and its agents and employees, when acting within the scope of their employment,

g. a person or an affiliate of a person who is regulated by the Insurance Commission pursuant to Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes,

h. a person soliciting without the intent to complete and who does not in fact complete the sales transaction during the telephone solicitation or another telephone solicitation and who only completes the sales transaction at a later face-to-face meeting between the solicitor and the prospective purchaser, excluding a face-to-face meeting, the sole purpose of which is to collect the payment or deliver any item purchased, or a person soliciting a purchaser with whom the person has had a previous face-to-face meeting in the course of such person's business,

i. any governmental entity or employee thereof, acting in the employee's official capacity,

j. a person soliciting telephone service, or licensed or franchised cable television service, which is billed and paid on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis and which can be canceled at any time without further obligation to the purchaser,

k. a person or an affiliate of a person whose business is regulated by the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission,

l. a person whose conduct is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission as granted under the federal "Commodity Exchange Act", as amended,

m. a seller of food for immediate consumption when the sale to one purchaser does not exceed Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00),

n. a person who initially contacts the purchaser with a retail sales catalog requesting a telephone call response, when the person allows the purchaser to review the merchandise without obligation for at least seven (7) days and provides a full refund for the return of undamaged merchandise within thirty (30) days after receipt of the returned merchandise,

o. an issuer or a subsidiary of an issuer that has a class of securities which is subject to Section 12 of the federal "Securities Exchange Act of 1934", 15 U.S.C. 781, and which is either registered or exempt from registration under paragraph (A), (B), (C), (E), (F), (G) or (H) of subsection (g) (2) of that section,

p. a person who has been operating for at least three (3) years a retail business establishment in Oklahoma under the same name as that used in connection with the solicitation of sales by telephone if, on a continuing basis, the majority of the seller's business involves the purchaser receiving the seller's goods and services at the seller's business location,

q. any telephone marketing service company which provides telemarketing sales services under written contract to sellers and has been operating continuously for at least five (5) years under the same business name and seventy-five percent (75%) or more of its services are performed on behalf of sellers exempt from this section. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to exempt any commercial telephone seller that contracts with a telephone marketing service company for telemarketing sales service from the requirements set forth in Section 775A.3 of this title,

r. a person soliciting business solely from business purchasers who have previously purchased identical or similar goods or services from the business enterprise on whose behalf the person is calling,

s. a person or an affiliate of a person whose business is regulated by the Corporation Commission,

t. a person soliciting the sale of any newspaper, magazine, or other periodical of general circulation if such sales constitute a majority of such person's business and business revenues, or

u. a person or affiliate of a person who offers or sells products or services by means of a cellular telephone text message only to persons who have affirmatively indicated their opt-in consent to receive cellular telephone text messages for such purpose from such person or affiliate;

2. "Commercial telephone solicitation" means:

a. an unsolicited telephone call or message, including, but not limited to, a cellular telephone text message, to a person initiated by a commercial telephone seller or salesperson, or an automated dialing machine with or without a recorded message device or electronic text message delivery device, for the purpose of inducing the person to purchase or invest in goods, services or property or offering an extension of credit,

b. any other communication by a commercial telephone seller in which:

(1) a gift, award, prize or contest is offered and a telephone call response from the intended purchaser is invited,

(2) a loan, credit card or other extension of credit is offered to a purchaser who has not previously purchased from the person initiating the communication, and a telephone call response from the intended purchaser is invited, or

(3) a sale is to be completed or an agreement to purchase is to be entered into during the course of the telephone call response, or

c. any other communication by a commercial telephone seller which includes representations about the price, quality or availability of goods, services or property and which invites a response by telephone or cellular telephone text message, including pay-per-call or pay-per-text service calls, or which is followed by a telephone call or message, including, but not limited to, a cellular telephone text message, to the intended purchaser by a salesperson;

3. "Pay-per-call" or "pay-per-text" means the use of a telephone number with a 900 prefix or any other prefix under which liability for the service or product provided attaches to the telephone bill of the individual calling such number;

4. "Principal" means an owner, an officer of a corporation, a general partner of a partnership, the sole proprietor of a sole proprietorship, a trustee of a trust or any other individual with similar supervisory functions with respect to any person;

5. "Purchaser" means a person who receives or responds to a commercial telephone solicitation;

6. "Salesperson" means any person employed or authorized by a commercial telephone seller to cause or attempt to cause a commercial telephone solicitation to be made; and

7. "Telephone sales transaction" means any payment of money by a purchaser in exchange for the promise of goods, services, property or an extension of credit by a commercial telephone seller and includes all communications which precede such payment of money.

Okla. Stat. tit. 15, § 775A.2

Added by Laws 1994, HB 2210, c. 235, § 6, eff. 9/1/1994; Amended by Laws 1999 , HB 1147, c. 325, §3, eff. 11/1/1999; Amended by Laws 2011 , SB 398, c. 369, §3, emerg. eff. 7/1/2011.