North Dakota call recording law

Is North Dakota a one-party consent state?

One-party consent

Yes. North Dakota is a one-party consent state. It is a defense to the interception felony that the person was a party to the call, or that one party gave prior consent, as long as the call was not recorded to commit a crime or other unlawful harm (N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-15-02).

Last checked October 13, 2026 · 7 quoted facts from official pages

North Dakota at a glance

Phone calls: One-party consent
The law: N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-15-02 (interception of wire or oral communications) (official source, opens in a new tab)
In-person conversations: The same rule (see below)
Criminal penalty: Intentionally intercepting a wire or oral communication is a class C felony: up to five years' imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Last checked: October 13, 2026

The law

The official pages this page relies on.

Penalties

As the statutes and courts state them.

Criminal: Intentionally intercepting a wire or oral communication is a class C felony: up to five years' imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

In-person conversations

In-person “oral communications” are protected when the speaker shows an expectation that the conversation is not being intercepted (§ 12.1-15-04).

What this means for a business that records calls

Callers can be in any state. The state-by-state table compares every state's rule, and the disclosure generator writes a plain notice sentence such as “This call may be recorded.” Whether a notice is enough under North Dakota's law is a question for a lawyer licensed in North Dakota.

Recording notices on CallFlux numbers

CallFlux plays a recording notice to callers on every tracking number that records, before the call connects.

How CallFlux call tracking works

What the official sources say

Each line is a short quote from the official page it links to, with the date we read it.

Intentionally intercepting a wire or oral communication is a class C felony.
“A person is guilty of a class C felony if he: ... Intentionally intercepts any wire or oral communication”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026
Party consent operates as a defense to the felony.
“It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection 1 that:”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026
The defense applies when the actor was a party or had one party's prior consent.
“The actor was a party to the communication or one of the parties to the communication had given prior consent to such interception”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026
The defense requires that the recording was not made to commit a crime or other unlawful harm.
“Such communication was not intercepted for the purpose of committing a crime or other unlawful harm.”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026
A 'wire communication' is one carried in whole or in part over wire or cable facilities.
“any communication made in whole or in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026
An in-person 'oral communication' is protected when the speaker expects it is not being intercepted.
“any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026
Class C felony: up to five years' imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or both.
“Class C felony, for which a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, a fine of ten thousand dollars, or both, may be imposed.”
Source: ndlegis.gov (official source, opens in a new tab) · read October 13, 2026

North Dakota call recording questions