Telemarketers whose businesses or clients come under Federal Communications Commission jurisdiction and who have been using outbound pre-recorded calls to deliver marketing messages now face the same kinds of restrictions on this method coped with by firms regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.

 

The FCC (News - Alert) has issued proposed revisions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act that would harmonize its prerecorded rules with the FTC’s recent amendments on this area that were made to its Telemarketing Sales Rule and which went into effect in 2009.

 

The key revisions proposed by the FCC include:

 

* Requiring 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 between callers and consumers

 

* 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

 

* Exempting certain federally regulated healthcare-related calls from the general prohibition on prerecorded telemarketing calls to residential phone lines. These calls are currently not specifically exempted from the prerecorded message rules.

 

The FCC points out 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 (News - Alert) current, more restrictive standards. However, entities outside the FTC’s jurisdiction, such as the telcos, airlines, banks, and insurance companies, are presently subject to less restrictive standards.

 

The TCPA’s restrictions on prerecorded messages do not and will not apply to calls initiated for emergency purposes. That means the proposed rule revisions would not affect messages sent to consumers to alert them to emergency situations.

 

The FCC’s proposed rule change also would not affect other categories of prerecorded message calls that are not currently covered by its TCPA rules. These include calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations, or political purposes i.e., by politicians or political campaigns, for other noncommercial purposes and commercial calls that do not contain unsolicited advertisements such as messages notifying recipients of a flight cancellation.

 

This last category is growing as more firms use notifications to improve customer service by such alerts while cutting costs through avoiding inbound calls to live agents. As consumers appear to generally want and appreciate these kinds of calls, there is apparently little danger of them being restricted.

 

The FCC is asking for comments on whether these proposed revisions would benefit consumers and industry by creating greater symmetry between the FCC and FTC regulations and by extending the FTC’s standards to regulated entities that are not currently subject to FTC rules. Comments can be made on the FTC’s site; the docket number is 02-278.

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