A Guide to Call Recording Laws and Regulations

Understanding consent and its types

Most laws in the call recording space involve getting consent from those participating in the call. Generally, if you notify the participants of a call that the call will be recorded and they stay on the line without objection, it is considered as consent (called passive consent).

Depending on the location, you will need to comply with one of two types of consent.

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Single Party-Consent

  • Any active participant can record the call as long as s/he is in the room, present on the call, or can reasonably overhear the conversation
  • Other participants do not need to be informed about the recording. If you are calling a prospect and you know that the call is being recorded (and you’re on the call), this may be considered Single-Party Consent

Two-Party Consent

  • You have to alert all attendees that you will be recording the call by providing either an audio or a visual cue
  • In some countries, such as Canada and Ireland, you are also required by law to state the purpose of the recording so participants can give informed consent

Call Recording Laws in the U.S.

Federal

The federal law in the U.S. (18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d)) requires Single-Party Consent for call recording, so long as the consenter has full knowledge that the conversation will be recorded.

States

While U.S. Federal law and many state statutes allow recording if one party (including you) to the phone call or conversation consents, other states have accepted different laws and require all parties to the communication consent for recording i.e, Two-Party Consent.

Call Recording Laws in Europe

MindTickle is compliant with GDPR. Our Privacy Policy outlines our commitment to maintaining the privacy of our customers’ personal data. It describes data collection, processing, and usage practices across the services provided by MindTickle. It also describes the choices available to MindTickle customers regarding the use of, access to, and how to update and correct the Personal Information. More details on our GDPR compliance can be accessed here.

Consent

Prior to the GDPR, call recording regulations varied widely in the EU. Some EU nations permitted Single-Party Consent while others required Two-Party Consent (e.g. Germany) for recording calls. In countries that do not have defined regulations for call recordings, each call participant’s local laws will apply.

Compliance with GDPR

After General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the bar for valid consent has been raised much higher. Data controllers must have a legal basis or explicit, active consent to process (i.e. collect, store, share, etc.) the personal data of EU residents. Businesses recording conversations will be required to actively justify lawfulness of recording, by demonstrating the purpose fulfills one of the Article 6 conditions.

In essence, you should not collect personal data from an EU resident on call or otherwise unless they’ve actively consented to share it with you. Data controllers held in violation of the GDPR are vulnerable to fines and other penalties.

Call Recording Laws in Countries Outside the U.S. and EU

International call recording laws vary widely. Many countries do not have specific laws that cover telecommunication issues.

Here is a small sampling of international call recording laws of predominantly English-speaking countries:

  • UK: Two-Party Consent
  • South Africa: Two-Party Consent
  • Canada: All-parties’ Consent. To record a call, you need to obtain informed consent by notifying others on the call (1) that you intend to record the conversation, (2) any purposes the recording will be used for, and (3) that the call may only be recorded with each person’s consent.
  • Ireland: All-parties’ Consent. To record a call, the purpose of the recording should be explained in detail, so the parties participating can give informed consent.
  • Australia: Call recording is permitted for business purposes. One prerequisite is that the Parties must be notified, in advance, that they are being recorded. Callers must also be given options if they do not wish to be recorded.
  • Germany: Two-Party Consent

 

** MINDTICKLE IS PROVIDING THIS DOCUMENT FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. IT IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

Mindtickle does not warrant that the information in this document is complete, true, accurate, up-to-date, or non-misleading. Call recording laws are complex, strict, and ever-changing. You should consult with your legal advisors to ensure that your use of services is compliant with all applicable laws, regulations, and requirements.

 

How Mindtickle’s Call AI Works

A quick look at how Call AI works and integrates with your existing sales process.

Step 1

Administrators configure settings to determine what calls Call AI will join, like only external meetings.

Step 2

The sales rep integrates their company calendar with Call AI. This gives Call AI access to all upcoming external meetings.

Step 3

Call AI sends pre-meeting notification emails and joins the meetings scheduled on the rep’s calendar, recording and transcribing the conversations.

Step 4

AI analyzes the transcription and generates actionable trends and insights about the call. These insights can be leveraged to improve selling skills and boost win rates.

Step 5

If someone does not consent to the call recording by responding to the email notification, Call AI is automatically removed. Call owners can also manually remove Call AI as-needed at any time.

How Mindtickle ensures compliance

With Call AI before, during, and after calls…

Administrators can define what types of calls get recorded (internal vs. external vs. all calls) and reps have the option to enable/disable the bot from joining certain meetings from the Upcoming Meetings section.

15 minutes before the meeting, an email goes out to all participants informing them that the call will be recorded.

Participants can choose to disable the recording for the upcoming meeting if desired.

Once the meeting starts and the participants join, Call AI verbally announces that the call is being recorded for training & quality purposes. Mindtickle also allows companies to have an announcement cue of their choice.

The recording can be stopped at any time during the call by the host or participants*. Call AI can be renamed to something else, such as “Notetaker.”

If a participant responds to the email ‘Disable recording and join’ the recording will be disabled.

If a participant requests to delete a recording, you can optionally notify all attendees confirming that the call was deleted.

*Coming Soon*
Participants are notified when a meeting they are in is being recorded

This notification will be displayed to all guests joining a meeting regardless of the account owner’s settings

Participants can consent to stay in the meeting or leave the meeting

Participants joining a recorded call late will have their audio and video automatically muted until they click ‘continue’ in the dialog box

A visible recording cue appears for the entire duration of the call

Participants have the ability to stop the recording during a call

Best Practices

For using conversation intelligence as part of your sales process.

  • Establish a company-wide policy regarding recording etiquette and use call scripts to reduce human error
  • Utilize a virtual waiting room so when all participants enter the meeting, they hear the automated recording notification
  • Include ‘recorder’ in the name of your Call AI participant
  • After the automated recording notification is delivered, give a verbal alert as the host and state the purpose for recording
  • Get verbal confirmation from each attendee that they consent to being recorded
  • Periodically review your call recordings to ensure hosts are adhering to company policy

For more information on Mindtickle compliance, visit mindtickle.com/trust.

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