Call Recording Laws in District of Columbia

Plain-English summary

The District of Columbia is a one-party-consent jurisdiction. D.C. Code § 23-542 prohibits intercepting a wire or oral communication, and § 23-542(b)(3) provides a participant exception where any party has consented.

A participant may record an ordinary phone call in D.C. without notifying the other parties. The criminal-or-tortious-purpose limitation that appears in the federal statute is mirrored at D.C. Code § 23-542(b)(3).

Case law of note

No appellate decision in District of Columbia has materially reshaped the participant-recording rule in recent decades. Lower-court decisions exist but do not change the analytical framework set by the statute and by general federal precedent under § 2511.

Edge cases and special rules

In-person vs. phone. Same — one-party
Voicemail. Leaving a message creates the recording at the recipient’s direction; reviewing one’s own voicemail is not interception.
Vicarious consent. Several federal courts have recognized a parental-consent doctrine permitting a parent to consent on behalf of a minor child (Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998)). State law varies; no controlling District of Columbia appellate decision on the question.
Law enforcement. Court-authorized intercepts are governed by a separate framework and are outside the scope of this page.
Cross-border calls. Where any participant is in an all-party state, treat the stricter rule as the safer default. See cross-border calls.

Penalties and remedies

Criminal: Felony under § 23-542; up to 5 years.

Civil: Yes — § 23-554 provides a civil action with damages.

Evidence: a recording made in violation of the District of Columbia statute is generally inadmissible in District of Columbia proceedings. Federal § 2515 separately bars use of unlawfully intercepted communications in federal proceedings.

Practical guidance

If you are recording an ordinary phone call: you may record without notifying the other party, but verbal consent is the safer practice if the recording may be used in a proceeding.
Suggested opening: See our consent script templates for jurisdiction-specific language.
If the other party objects: stop recording. Continued recording over an objection is a separate factual question that no consent statute helps you with.
What to keep: the date and time of the call, the parties’ phone numbers, a description of the consent given (express verbal, continued participation after notice, etc.), and the audio file itself.