View Rule
View EO 12866 Meetings | Printer-Friendly Version Download RIN Data in XML |
FCC | RIN: 3060-AI14 | Publication ID: Fall 2016 |
Title: Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 (CG Docket No. 02-278) | |
Abstract:
On July 3, 2003, the Commission released a Report and Order establishing, along with the FTC, a national do-not-call registry. The Commission's Report and Order also adopted rules on the use of predictive dialers, the transmission of caller ID information by telemarketers, and the sending of unsolicited fax advertisements. On September 21, 2004, the Commission released an Order amending existing safe harbor rules for telemarketers subject to the do-not-call registry to require such telemarketers to access the do-not-call list every 31 days, rather than every 3 months. On April 5, 2006, the Commission adopted a Report and Order and Third Order on Reconsideration amending its facsimile advertising rules to implement the Junk Fax Protection Act of 2005. On October 14, 2008, the Commission released an Order on Reconsideration addressing certain issues raised in petitions for reconsideration and/or clarification of the Report and Order and Third Order on Reconsideration. On January 4, 2008, the Commission released a Declaratory Ruling, clarifying that autodialed and prerecorded message calls to wireless numbers that are provided by the called party to a creditor in connection with an existing debt are permissible as calls made with the "prior express consent" of the called party. Following a December 4, 2007, NPRM, on June 17, 2008, the Commission released a Report and Order amending its rules to require sellers and/or telemarketers to honor registrations with the National Do-Not-Call Registry indefinitely, unless the registration is cancelled by the consumer or the number is removed by the database administrator. Following a January 22, 2010, NPRM, the Commission released a Report and Order (on February 15, 2012), requiring telemarketers to obtain prior express written consent, including by electronic means, before making an autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing call to a wireless number or before making a prerecorded telemarketing call to a residential line; eliminating the "established business relationship" exemption to the consent requirement for prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential lines; requiring telemarketers to provide an automated, interactive "opt-out" mechanism during autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls to wireless numbers and during prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential lines; and requiring that the abandoned call rate for telemarketing calls be calculated on a "per-campaign" basis. On November 29, 2012, the Commission released a Declaratory Ruling clarifying that sending a one-time text message confirming a consumer's request that no further text messages be sent does not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) or the Commission's rules as long as the confirmation text only confirms receipt of the consumer's opt-out request, and does not contain marketing, solicitations, or an attempt to convince the consumer to reconsider his or her opt-out decision. The ruling applies only when the sender of the text messages has obtained prior express consent, as required by the TCPA and Commission rules, from the consumer to be sent text messages using an automatic telephone dialing system. On May 9, 2013, the Commission released a declaratory ruling clarifying that while a seller does not generally "initiate" calls made through a third-party telemarketer, within the meaning of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), it nonetheless may be held vicariously liable under Federal common law principles of agency for violations of either section 227(b) or section 227(c) that are committed by third-party telemarketers. On July 10, 2015, the commission released a Declaratory Ruling and Order resolving 21 separate requests for clarification or other action regarding the TCPA. It clarified, among other things, that: nothing in the Communications Act of the Commission's rules prohibits carriers or other service providers from implementing consumer-initiated call-blocking technologies; equipment meets the TCPA's definition of "autodialer" if it has the "capacity" to store or produce random sequential numbers, and to dial them, even if it is not presently used for that purpose; an "app" provider that plays a minimal role in making a call, such as just proving the app itself, is not the maker of the call for TCPA purposes; consumers who have previously consented to robocalls may revoke that consent at any time and through any reasonable means; the TCPA requires the consent of the party called - the subscriber to a phone number or the customary user of the number - not the intended recipient of the call; and callers who make calls without knowledge or reassignment of a wireless phone number and with a reasonable basis to believe that they have valid consent to make the call to the wireless number should be able to initiate one call after reassignment as an additional opportunity to gain actual or constructive knowledge of the reassignment and cease future calls to the new subscriber. The Commission also exempted certain financial and healthcare-related calls, when free to the consumer, from the TCPA's consumer-consent requirement. |
|
Agency: Federal Communications Commission(FCC) | Priority: Substantive, Nonsignificant |
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda | Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Final Rule Stage |
Major: No | Unfunded Mandates: No |
CFR Citation: 47 CFR 64.1200 47 CFR 64.1601(e) 47 CFR 68.318(c) and 68.318(d) | |
Legal Authority: 47 U.S.C. 227 |
Legal Deadline:
None |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Timetable:
|
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes | Government Levels Affected: None |
Small Entities Affected: Businesses, Organizations | |
Included in the Regulatory Plan: No | |
RIN Information URL: www.fcc.gov/cgb/policy/telemarketing.html | |
RIN Data Printed in the FR: Yes | |
Agency Contact: Kristi Thornton Deputy Division Chief Federal Communications Commission 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554 Phone:202 418-2467 Email: kristi.thornton@fcc.gov |