Call recording laws by state and country

Is it legal to record a phone call?

It depends on two places: where you are, and where the other person is. Call recording laws fall into three families, and the stricter of the two ends sets what you have to do.

In the US, federal law lets a participant record without telling anyone, but twelve states require everyone’s consent. In the EU, the UK and Canada, criminal law usually lets a participant record, but a business recording its calls is processing personal data, so it must give notice first and let people object. Germany, Switzerland and Portugal go further: recording without consent is a crime there, even for someone on the call.

For a sales team, the takeaway is simple: as soon as your calls leave your own one-party state or country, announcing the recording and letting people opt out becomes the working rule.

Calls across state lines or borders: the stricter rule wins

When the caller and the person called are under different laws, follow the stricter one. In the US, the leading case is Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney (California Supreme Court, 2006): a brokerage recording calls from Georgia, a one-party state, to clients in California was held to California’s all-party rule.

Between countries, no single ruling settles it as clearly, but the logic is the same: the other person’s law protects the other person. A team in Austin calling Munich has to reckon with § 201 of the German Criminal Code, whatever Texas allows.

In practice, the tool always applies the stricter rule of the two ends. For a team calling several states or countries, the simplest approach is one announcement that satisfies the strictest case, used on every call.

AI transcription and model training: what changes

1. Transcribing a call, summarizing it or pulling tasks out of it does not make a lawful recording unlawful. It does add a use, and usually a party: the vendor running the model. That is where the rules tighten.

2. In California, class actions under CIPA § 631 argue that a transcription vendor is a third party listening in without everyone’s consent. In Ambriz v. Google, the Northern District of California denied the motion to dismiss in February 2025, reasoning that the vendor had the capability to use the data for its own purposes. On August 13, 2026, the same court let the consolidated Otter.ai suits proceed under CIPA and the federal Wiretap Act: Otter allegedly uses conversations to train its models, which would make it a third party rather than a mere tool. SB 690, signed September 30, 2026, only targets website trackers and leaves these rules intact. Nothing has been decided on the merits, but the practice is set: disclose AI transcription explicitly, and bar the vendor by contract from reusing your calls.

3. In the EU, transcripts and summaries are additional personal data, to be disclosed and kept for a defined period. Training a model on calls is a purpose separate from the one you announced. And since February 2, 2025, the EU AI Act bans inferring employees’ emotions with AI in the workplace, so a “mood score” for reps is out. In Illinois, identifying speakers by their voice falls under BIPA, which requires a written release.

How the tool reaches its answer

The most common mistakes

• Thinking from your own office

  Your HQ is in Austin? It does not matter if the prospect is in San Francisco: their state’s law is often the one that bites.

• Announcing at the end of the call

  Notice has to come before the recording. A mention afterward, or a follow-up email, does not replace the opening announcement.

• Saying “recorded” when it is also transcribed by AI

  AI transcription is another use, and usually another vendor. Name it.

• An announcement with no way to opt out

  If someone says no and the recording keeps running, the announcement works against you. Plan the procedure and test it.

• Forgetting your own reps

  People whose calls are recorded need written notice before you switch recording on, and several states have employee monitoring notice rules of their own.

Keep going

Got your answer? Here is the logical next step, from the announcement to calling compliance.

• Call recording notice generator The opening announcement and the GDPR wording, ready to copy, in seven languages.
• Cold calling compliance checker Legal calling hours, holidays, do-not-call lists and telemarketing consent, country by country.
• Call recording laws for business Consent, retention, employee notice, PCI pause-and-resume: the full compliance playbook.
• AI call transcription and summaries What transcription actually produces, how accurate it is, and how to use it.
• Sales call scorecard Put your recordings to work: a printable scorecard to review calls.
• Cold calling laws by country The telemarketing rules of fourteen countries in one place.