The Federal Communications Commission has proposed tighter rules governing unsolicited recorded telephone solicitation, or “robocalls.”
These proposals would require sellers and telemarketers to obtain written consent from recipients before making such calls even when the caller has an established business relationship with the consumer. Additionally, the FCC proposes to make it easier to opt out of receiving robocalls.
Specifically, the Commission is proposing that:
*Sellers and telemarketers to obtain telephone subscribers’ express written consent (including electronic methods of consent) to receive prerecorded telemarketing calls, even when there exists an established business relationship.
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*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.
*Certain federally regulated healthcare-related calls be exempted from the general prohibition on prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential telephone lines. They currently are not.
The FCC noted that the proposed rule changes would not affect categories of prerecorded message calls that are not currently covered by the Federal Trade Commission’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules.
Those categories include calls by or on behalf of tax nonprofit 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.
