PORTLAND – Telemarketers who violate provisions of the National Do Not Call Registry can expect to be hunted down by a “posse” of investigators from the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission.

Speaking with reporters Thursday, Maine Attorney General G. Steven Rowe and Eileen Harrington, director of marketing practices for the FTC, said the combined resources of both agencies should effectively pull the plug on telemarketing calls for those who have signed up with the registry.

Maine enacted do-not-call legislation in 2001 and began offering online registration through the attorney general’s Web site in 2002. The FTC added its authority to a similar program later that year. Now both agencies have joined forces to create what Harrington referred to as “a posse” for enforcement after Oct. 1 when the new federal policies become effective.

“I think this cooperation should serve as a model for future state-federal cooperation,” Rowe said. “We share a simple common goal: That is to empower the consumers to make the choice to stop unwanted telemarketing calls.”

More than 110,000 Mainers have signed up for the do-not-call program through the Attorney General’s Office. When the FTC began accepting registrations for the federal program in July, Rowe said, it only seemed reasonable to forward the state’s entire do-not-call base to the FTC.

“The bottom line will be greater peace and quiet at home with fewer interrupted dinners and greater assurance that when the phone rings, the person at the other end will be someone that you want to talk to,” Rowe said.

Harrington said Maine is among a group of states that “led the way” in demonstrating to the federal government that do-not-call laws are highly valued.

“And they work,” she said. “So the federal government has set up a national registry that will cover all consumers in the United States.”

Rowe said Mainers who are already registered through the attorney general’s Web site have been included in the new national registry and do not have to register again at the FTC Web site.

The FTC’s site is at www.donotcall.gov and its toll-free number (888) 382-1222. Registering can be done online without charge. Harrington said consumers would be asked to enter the telephone numbers they want protected. She said they also must provide a valid e-mail address so the FTC can provide the consumer with a confirmation message. The entire process, she said, takes no more than a minute.

When calling the toll-free number to register, Harrington said, consumers must call on the phone line they want to enter into the registry. The policy is consistent with the FTC’s goals of providing some assurance that the person making the request has some control over the phone line. The do-not-call telemarketing registrations are good for five years.

Starting in September, telemarketers will have to review the registry list every three months to ensure that unwanted calls are not made. Violators face fines of up to $11,000 for each offense. They would be reported by consumers who would file their complaints by submitting the company’s name and phone number to the Maine Attorney General’s Office. It would forward them to the FTC’s national database through the FTC Web site or toll-free number.

Harrington said the new registry should block most of Maine’s telemarketing calls, although charities, surveys and political calls are exempt from the ban. She added that a person might legally be called by a company if he has purchased, bought or leased goods and services from the firm within the past 18 months. Consumers can eliminate those calls, she said, by simply requesting the company to stop calling.

“It’s a wonderful model,” Harrington told Rowe. “We thank you very much for turning the registry for Maine over to the national registry. This is just the way it should work.”