Section 10-5B-4. Required and prohibited telephone conduct and activities; liability

   (a) It shall be unlawful for any person who is jurisdictionally subject to the provisions of Chapter 5 of this title, the "Georgia Uniform Securities Act of 2008"; the provisions of Chapter 5A of this title, relating to commodities and commodity contracts and options; the provisions of Chapter 14 of Title 43, relating to electrical contractors, plumbers, conditioned air contractors, low-voltage contractors, and utility contractors; or the provisions of Chapter 17 of Title 43, the "Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act of 1988," and who makes any telephonic offer to sell or telephonic sale in this state:

   (1) To fail to promptly state clearly the name of the business on whose behalf the call is being made before any sales solicitation can begin and provide a telephone number or address at which the business can be contacted and shall not by electronics block their name and phone number from being identified by caller ID;

   (2) To violate any rule, regulation, or order promulgated or issued by the Secretary of State under this chapter;

   (3) In connection with a telephonic sale, selling telephonically, or telephonic solicitation of sale in or from this state, to employ a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud;

   (4) In connection with a telephonic sale, selling telephonically, or telephonic solicitation of sale in or from this state, to engage in an act, practice, or course of business that operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon a person;

   (5) Knowingly to cause to be made, in any document filed with the Secretary of State or in any proceeding under this chapter, any statement which is, at the time it is made and in light of the circumstances under which it is made, false or misleading in any material respect; or

   (6) In connection with a telephonic solicitation of a monetary charitable contribution, to use the services of any person as a courier or otherwise to obtain personally receipt or possession of a monetary contribution from a residence.

(b) Every person who directly or indirectly controls a person culpable under subsection (a) of this Code section, every general partner, executive officer, or director of such person culpable under subsection (a) of this Code section, every person occupying a similar status or performing similar functions, and every telephone soliciting business or telephone solicitor who participates in any material way in the sale or solicitation of sale is culpable to the same extent as the person whose culpability arises under subsection (a) of this Code section unless the person whose culpability arises under this subsection sustains the burden of proof that he or she did not know and, in the exercise of reasonable care, could not have known of the existence of the facts by reason of which culpability is alleged to exist.

Code 1981, § 10-5B-4, enacted by Ga. L. 1994, p. 536, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 643, § 4; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1200, § 1; Ga. L. 2008, p. 381, § 10/SB 358.