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FCC tightens regulations on campaign robocalls

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Illinois

* JD Supra…

Effective July 20, 2023, nonprofit organizations and others making non-commercial calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice (known as robocalls) to residential lines may make no more than three such calls to a particular residential line within any consecutive 30-day period without prior express consent of the called party and must give the called party the ability to opt out of any future calls they do not wish to receive.

These new requirements are part of regulations issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act (the TRACED Act) passed by Congress in 2019.

More…

Phone Number Provided Must Connect to Opt-Out Option. Robocalls are already required to include a phone number through which the organization may be reached. The FCC’s new rules require that this phone number must allow people to make do-not-call requests during regular business hours. If the call goes unanswered, answering machine or voicemail messages must include a toll-free number that connects the recipient to the voice or key press opt-out mechanism described above.

Written Policy and Training. Nonprofit and political organizations that make robocalls must have a written policy for maintaining a do-not-call list that is available on demand. Organizations must also provide training opportunities about these rules to personnel who are involved with robocall operations.

* Harmon Curran blog…

The types of robocall subject to the three-call-per-month limit is not restricted to fundraising calls. Rather, non-commercial calls such as calls conducting research, market surveys, political polling, or similar noncommercial activities are also subject to the three-call-per-month limit.

The rules are here.

* Cor Strategies…

Three new FCC rules within the Telephone Consumer Protection Act went into effect at the end of June that will limit telecom capabilities, whether you’re conducting a poll or doing paid outreach to voters via robocalls.

We wanted to make sure you were aware of these changes because ignoring them (or being unaware) can cost you thousands of dollars in violations—or worse.

New FCC Rules

1. All automated calls need to identify who the caller is at the beginning of the call.
2. Within 2 seconds of identifying who the caller is, you need to provide specific opt out instructions.
3. An entity can only call a phone number with automated voice three times within a 30-day period.

What does this mean for you? For polls, more data will need to be obtained to compensate for the third rule. In addition, we’ll likely see more drop off and need to make more overall attempts to hit a desired sample size. Overall, this just means things will get pricier, unfortunately.

At the end of the day, this trio of rules fits what we’ve been saying—automated response gathering is reaching the end of its useful life, and other solutions, like texting, panels, and live dialing will soon make up a majority of any samples. And robocalls—well, robocalling has been 99% dead for a while now, easily replaced with competitively priced peer-to-peer messaging.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 11:15 am

Comments

Never forget how during the unsuccessful Scott Walker recall election that robocalls went out saying that if you signed the recall petition that your vote in the recall election was already cast.

Comment by Lake Villa Township Dem PC Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 11:40 am
[Snark follows]

Now if the FCC could stop those Medicare calls I am getting each day, since I turned 65 in May.

Fraud is not an equivalence of Free speech.

Comment by H-W Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 11:41 am
My favorite part of the Cor Strategies segment is that the very end of it reminds us that we need these rules for things like texts too.

Comment by Blitz Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 12:09 pm
I have noticed a marked decrease in these calls the last few weeks and wondered why.

Comment by Big Dipper Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 12:32 pm
HarmonCurran Law? Hhhhmmm sounds suspicious

Comment by Frida's boss Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 2:02 pm
I know Congress passed the law, but I have to wonder if the courts will uphold it against campaign calls aka political speech.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Aug 7, 23 @ 7:30 pm