The groups are meeting with the FCC to discuss TCPA rules and implementation of the TRACED Act. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
11/30/2020 11:00
ACA International and industry trade groups met with the Federal Communications Commission in November, and will continue meetings in December, to discuss proposed rulemaking on eliminating illegal robocalls as well as implementation of Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (TRACED) Act.
In one meeting, representatives of industry trade groups met with staff of the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau by telephone to discuss the Fourth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls.
The groups reiterated their strong support for the FCC’s effort to mitigate illegal robocalls and their appreciation of the agency’s requirement that voice service providers provide redress when lawful calls are erroneously blocked, according to a letter summarizing the meeting. Consistent with their comments in this proceeding, the industry trade groups explained that, despite the commission’s initial steps, the record demonstrates the need for enhancing redress processes to rectify erroneous blocking and mislabeling of legitimate and important calls.
In particular, the groups stressed the need for real-time notification of blocking and the establishment of a concrete 24-hour timeframe within which to resolve complaints of erroneous blocking or mislabeling.
Representatives of the American Bankers Association, ACA International, the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, American Financial Services Association, Consumer Bankers Association, Credit Union National Association, and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Union met by phone with members of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau concerning the implementation of the TRACED Act.
In particular, the industry trade groups discussed the TRACED Act requirement for the FCC to review exemptions from the TCPA and if they require amendments, according to a letter summarizing the meeting.
During the meeting, the groups urged the commission not to impose additional restrictions on the existing exemption for informational calls placed to residential telephone numbers. They have argued a numerical limitation is not needed or warranted because there is no evidence that informational calls to residential numbers cause the harm that Congress sought to address in the TCPA or the TRACED Act.
Last year, Congress passed the TRACED Act to combat illegal and unsolicited automated calls. The groups highlighted that Congress did not target informational calls containing important account-related information. Instead, Congress has concluded that automated informational calls from legitimate companies “can benefit consumers” by providing valuable, timely, and often urgent information
Specifically, ACA has argued no commission-adopted numerical limitation could realistically account for the variety of use cases and industry-specific calling practices currently in place today and the FCC should defer to policy judgment of other regulators, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on limits of calls by third-party debt collectors to consumers, according to the letter.
The TCPA directed the FCC to establish a regime for allowing consumers who do not wish to receive telemarketing calls to be protected from doing so. This regime imposes obligations on callers to have a written policy regarding its do-not-call list, to train employees on the policy, and to record the do-not-call requests of call recipients. The commission’s proposal would apply these do-not-call requirements to informational (non-telemarketing) calls, despite the absence of a specific mandate from Congress to impose such requirements on informational calls. In so doing, the proposal would impose burden on callers, particularly smaller businesses that do not engage in telemarketing and have had no reason to set up a do-not-call regimen, the letter concludes.
These meetings are an important step in advocacy with the FCC as 2020 comes to a close and requirements to implement the TRACED Act before the end of the year continue. ACA and the trade groups have several additional meetings this week and will be filing additional ex parte documents.
ACA members may find more TCPA advocacy resources and copies of the letters through the Advocacy Resource Center.