Arkansas Call Recording Laws: One-Party Consent

Arkansas is a one-party consent state: you may record a phone call or in-person conversation if you are a party to it, or if one participant gives prior consent. Arkansas also does something most states do not: it makes it unlawful to possess a recording that was made illegally, even if someone else made it.

For a business, recording your own calls with customers is lawful under Arkansas law. The steps below keep you safe when the caller is somewhere stricter.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Arkansas recording law at a glance

Question	Answer in Arkansas
Consent rule for phone calls	One party
Main statute	Ark. Code § 5-60-120
Can a participant record without telling others?	Yes
Possessing an illegal recording	Also unlawful
Criminal penalty	Misdemeanor: up to 1 year, fine up to $2,500
Civil lawsuit in the statute	No
Expectation-of-privacy requirement	Not stated in the statute

What the statute says

Ark. Code § 5-60-120(a) makes it unlawful for a person to intercept a wire, landline, oral, telephonic communication or wireless communication, and to record or possess a recording of the communication, unless the person is a party to the communication or one of the parties has given prior consent to the interception and recording.

Three features stand out:

1. Party or prior consent. A participant can record. A non-participant needs prior consent from someone on the call.
2. Possession is covered. Keeping a recording that was made illegally is itself unlawful.
3. No privacy qualifier. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), the statute does not say the parties must have a reasonable expectation of privacy, which suggests it could apply even to conversations in public places.

Phone calls, cellphones and cordless phones

The RCFP notes that intercepting or recording any wire, landline, cellular or cordless phone conversation is illegal unless the person recording is a party or a party has consented. Arkansas's public utility laws separately criminalize intercepting a message transmitted by telephone (Ark. Code § 23-17-107).

For a business, the one-party rule covers:

• Employees recording their own calls with customers or vendors
• A manager recording a conference call they join
• Recording a call on a speakerphone where one participant has agreed

It does not cover recording a call between two other people with no participant's consent, for example on a shared line you are not using.

Implied consent

Arkansas courts have found consent from conduct. In Alexander v. Pathfinder, Inc., 189 F.3d 735 (8th Cir. 1999), the federal appeals court held that a mother could not hold a care facility liable for invasion of privacy under Arkansas law because she knew some of her conversations with staff were being recorded and did not protest. The case is a reminder that a clear notice, followed by the person continuing the conversation, is strong evidence of consent.

Penalties

According to the RCFP:

Violation	Penalty
Intercepting or recording without a party's consent (§ 5-60-120)	Misdemeanor, up to 1 year in jail (§ 5-4-401), fine up to $2,500 (§ 5-4-201)
Possessing an illegally made recording	Covered by the same statute
Video voyeurism (§ 5-16-101)	Felony, up to 6 years and $10,000

Civil liability

The Arkansas statute does not expressly authorize civil lawsuits, according to the RCFP. Claims can still come from other directions: invasion of privacy torts, and the federal Wiretap Act's civil remedy at 18 U.S.C. § 2520 for interceptions that violate federal law. Federal law, like Arkansas, allows one-party consent under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d), unless the recording is made for a criminal or tortious purpose.

The possession rule in practice

Because possessing an unlawful recording is itself prohibited, Arkansas businesses should think about recordings they receive, not just ones they make.

• If a customer or employee hands you a recording of someone else's call, ask how it was made before you keep or use it.
• If an employee secretly recorded a conversation they were not part of, do not add it to company files.
• Keep business call recordings in one controlled system rather than scattered on personal phones.

Calls between Arkansas and other states

Neighboring state	Rule for phone calls
Missouri	One-party
Tennessee	One-party
Mississippi	One-party
Louisiana	One-party
Texas	One-party
Oklahoma	One-party

Arkansas is surrounded by one-party states, which makes regional calls simple. National calls are different. A customer calling from California, Florida, Pennsylvania or Washington may be protected by an all-party law, and courts have applied the stricter state's law to calls crossing state lines. See interstate call recording consent and the recording laws by state table.

What this means for Arkansas businesses

Retail, logistics and suppliers

Northwest Arkansas companies deal with national retailers, carriers and suppliers every day. If you record vendor or customer calls, a brief notice at the start covers calls with people in all-party states without anyone having to check an area code.

Healthcare and professional offices

Recording calls that include health or financial details adds privacy and security obligations beyond consent. Limit who can access those recordings.

Employee calls

Publish a written policy that business calls may be recorded and monitored. Have staff acknowledge it. That documents employee consent and sets expectations about personal calls on business lines.

Questions to ask before you keep a recording

Because Arkansas makes possessing an unlawfully made recording an offense, a short intake check helps. Before a recording goes into a customer file, ask: Was someone from our business a party to the call? If not, did a party give prior consent? Was it made on our phone system, or on a personal device? Do we know where the other party was? If the answers are unclear, do not keep it. Recordings your own system makes, on calls your staff take part in, avoid all of these questions.

Arkansas recording checklist

• Recording notice plays on recorded inbound calls
• Staff disclose recording at the start of outbound recorded calls
• Written, acknowledged employee recording policy
• No recording of calls without a participant's prior consent
• Do not keep recordings someone else made unlawfully
• Recordings stored centrally, with limited access
• Retention period set and followed

Sample wording is in call recording disclosure scripts.

Recording calls in Arkansas with Callata

Callata keeps recordings in one place instead of on personal phones. With recording turned on, Callata plays "This call may be recorded." to both sides when a call connects, inbound and outbound, and records the call. Each recording is transcribed and summarized with sentiment and action items on the contact's history, and stored privately, shared only through short-lived signed links. You remain responsible for consent-law compliance under Callata's terms. Recording and AI summaries come with the $99 monthly plan, which includes five users, plus $20 a month per extra user. Start here.