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FCC PROPOSES FURTHER RESTRICTIONS ON "ROBOCALLS" The FCC has announced proposed revisions to its rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to further restrict the transmission of pre-recorded voice calls to residential telephone subscribers. The proposals would require sellers and telemarketers to obtain written consent (including electronic methods of consent) from recipients before making prerecorded telemarketing calls, commonly referred to as "robocalls," even when the caller has an established business relationship with the consumer. If enacted, these new restrictions would harmonize the FCC's rules with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) recent amendments to its Telemarketing Sales Rule. See our prior discussion on the FTC's requirements here. Because the majority of entities that use prerecorded telemarketing calls are subject to both agencies telemarketing regulations, most regulated entities must comply with the FTC's current, more restrictive standards. However, entities outside the FTC's jurisdiction, such as telephone companies, airlines, banks, and insurance companies, are currently subject to less restrictive standards. The Commission noted that the proposed rule changes would not affect categories of prerecorded message calls that are not currently covered by its TCPA rules. Those categories include calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations; calls for political purposes, such as those made by politicians or political campaigns; calls for other noncommercial purposes; and commercial calls that do not contain unsolicited advertisements, for example, calls that deliver purely "informational" messages notifying recipients of a flight cancellation. Furthermore, because the TCPA's restrictions on prerecorded messages do not apply to calls initiated for emergency purposes, the proposed rule revisions would not affect messages sent to consumers to alert them to emergency situations. Key revisions proposed by the FCC include: 1. Requiring sellers and telemarketers to obtain telephone subscribers' express 2. Requiring that prerecorded telemarketing calls include an automated, interactive mechanism by which a consumer may "opt out" of receiving future prerecorded messages from a seller or telemarketer; and, 3. Exempting certain federally regulated healthcare-related calls from the general prohibition on prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential telephone lines.
FTC Slams MoneyGram for $18 million for Aiding Telemarketing Fraud MoneyGram International will pay $18 million in consumer redress to settle FTC charges that the company allowed its money transfer system to be used by fraudulent telemarketers to bilk U.S. consumers out of millions of dollars. The settlement comes as part of the FTC's continuing campaign to hold legitimate companies such as payment processors, list brokers, and others responsible if they help facilitate telemarketing wrongdoing.
FTC Forbearance Policy on Pre-Recorded Voice Ends on August 31, 2009 Telemarketers who utilize pre-recorded voice messaging are reminded that the FTC's new enforcement policy prohibiting telemarketing sales calls that deliver pre-recorded voice messages unless the seller has previously obtained the recipient's signed written agreement to receive such calls from the specific company becomes effective September 1, 2009. The FTC's policy was announced as part of the FTC's August 2008 final rule amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The FTC will permit sellers to obtain the required permission for prerecorded messages calls from a consumer in any manner permitted by the E-Sign Act. There are a few exemptions to the prohibition - notably healthcare-related messages and charitable solicitations calls that deliver messages to non-profit members or existing donors.
Suntasia Settles FTC Charges and Agrees to Pay More than $16 Million Fourteen defendants involved in the telemarketing operation by Largo, Florida-based Suntasia Marketing, Inc. have agreed to pay a total of more than $16 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges. The funds obtained under the four settlements are in addition to approximately $33 million that will be provided as part of a previously announced settlement between the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Wachovia Bank, N.A., which allegedly processed thousands of unauthorized demand drafts on Suntasia's behalf.
New FTC Amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule Regarding Call Abandonment and Pre-Recorded Voice The Federal Trade Commission recently announced two important amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule. Published on August 29, 2008 in the Federal Register, one amendment harmonizes the FTC's call abandonment calculation standard with that of the Federal Communications Commission's standard and the other dramatically limits the FTC's current policy on pre-recorded voice calls.
Lead Generation Industry Must Take Notice Of FTC Settlement with Ameriquest On October 7, 2007 the FTC announced six settlements with companies and individuals accused of violating the requirements of the National Do Not Call Registry. One of the settlements was with Ameriquest Mortgage Company who allegedly made improper calls to consumers on the Registry whose numbers had been obtained from third-party lead generators. The lead generators enticed consumers to provide their contact information, including phone numbers, using Web sites that offered information on financial and other products.
FTC Pledges Not to Drop Numbers From Do Not Call Registry, Pending Final Congressional or Agency Action The FTC pledged not to allow the first entries in the Do Not Call registry expire as scheduled, pending Congressional or agency action on the underlying regulations.
FTC To Temporarily Continue Forbearance Policy Regarding Prerecorded Voice Messaging The Federal Trade Commission announced that it will continue past January 2, 2007 its policy of forbearing enforcement of the prerecorded voice messaging policy under certain limited conditions. Telemarketers relying on the safe harbor must be prepared to demonstrate an established business relationship as well as allowing the telephone to ring for at least fifteen (15) seconds or four (4) rings before disconnecting an unanswered call;
DMA to Phase Out TPS Consumer Registrations On November 1, 2006 the DMA will phase out TPS Consumer Registrations. The change will impact telemarketers.
New Fax Marketing Law In Effect Businesses large and small alike that rely on fax advertisements to generate business need to carefully consider the new requirements now in place before transmitting such advertisements. While the FCC seems to be taking a more flexible approach than other agencies on the issue of established business relationship, there are important requirements, including substantiating the established business relationship and how the recipient's fax number was obtained, as well as providing a cost-free method of opting out that must be followed.
DMA Abandons TPS The DMA's decision to terminate its Telephone Preference Service makes sense given the overwhelming popularity of the national do not call list. The DMA's recognition that mutliple do not call lists are unnecessary should send a wake up call to states that insist on maintaining their own lists . |
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