Pallone-Thune TRACED Act includes some beneficial language targeting illegal actors, fails to include important clarifications concerning TCPA compliance for legitimate businesses
Tags/Topics:
Legislation emerging from the U.S. House and Senate reconciliation process aimed at mitigating robocalls reflects some changes addressing the concerns of legitimate businesses in the accounts receivable management industry.
ACA International CEO Mark Neeb released the following statement concerning the reconciled legislation titled, Pallone-Thune TRACED Act (S.151): “Although this is a far from perfect piece of legislation, we appreciate that Congress ultimately considered how the accounts receivable management industry and other legitimate actors would have been impacted by certain broad language in the original House bill that hindered needed business communications and made American businesses prone to additional frivolous litigation.
“We are encouraged that lawmakers and regulators have improved the bill and continue to work to identify solutions to eliminate illegal robocalls. Nevertheless, more action is needed by Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to address concerns of legitimate businesses and resolve ambiguities about Telephone Consumer Protection Act compliance and call blocking and labeling, so that lawful businesses can understand what the rules are and play by them,” he said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down aspects of the FCC’s 2015 Omnibus Declaratory Ruling and Order including what is considered an automatic dialing system (ATDS) in ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission, et al. On May 8, 2018, the D.C. Circuit ssued its mandate resulting from its March 16 ruling in ACA Int’l v. FCC returning the question of what is considered an ATDS to the FCC. However, despite thousands of American businesses, fellow regulators and members of Congress supporting the need for clarity on this issue, the FCC has yet to act to define an ATDS.
