Congressional directives align with best practices. Editor’s Note: This article is available for members only.
9/17/2021 8:00
A working group made up of representatives from both the telecom and caller-side recently addressed issues related to the mislabeling of outbound calling numbers and the erroneous blocking of outbound calls.
The working group issued a set of best practices for how quickly voice service providers and the third-party service providers they partner with (e.g., Hiya, First Orion) should resolve requests for redress of mislabeled calling numbers or erroneously blocked calls.
In sum, the best practices state that:
- Participating voice service providers and analytics engines (e.g., Hiya, First Orion) should commit to resolving at least 95% of blocking and labeling requests for redress within two business days.
- Remaining requests for redress should be resolved within a “reasonable time frame,” based on circumstances. The Federal Communications Commission’s recent orders require voice service providers to resolve blocking disputes in a “reasonable amount of time.” The best practices document mimics the language in the FCC’s orders.
- For requests that cannot be resolved within two business days, voice service providers and analytics engines should “keep the requestor reasonably apprised of status and updates.”
- In addition to the expectations described above, voice service providers should provide an initial status update within 24 hours, consistent with the FCC’s Fourth Report and Order, which requires voice service providers to provide a status update to the party that filed the blocking dispute within 24 hours.
The best practices align with congressional and FCC directives ACA International advocated for including mandatory transparency and redress options. In its December order concerning call blocking, the FCC required that:
- Terminating voice service providers that block calls must immediately notify the caller that the call has been blocked by sending either a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or ISDN User Part (ISUP) response code, as appropriate (Compliance date of Jan. 1, 2022).
- Terminating voice service providers that block calls on an opt-in or opt-out basis must disclose to their subscribers a list of blocked calls upon request. Voice service providers must retain records of blocked calls for a minimum of four weeks or 28 days.
- Terminating voice service providers, upon a dispute from a calling party about the appropriateness of blocking, must provide a status update to the party that filed the dispute within 24 hours.
If you would like to share any thoughts or feedback on the best practices, contact ACA International’s Vice President and Senior Counsel, Federal Advocacy Leah Dempsey at [email protected].
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Related Content from ACA International:
Keep Lines of Communication Open: It’s Time for the FCC to Provide Redress for Lawful Callers