The USA's telecoms regulator, the FCC is calling for comments on a proposal to ban Spam on mobile phones and unauthorized telemarketing calls. This action is in response to Congress' passage of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM Act).
The Commission is also seeking further comment on two issues related to the restrictions under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). For autodialed and artificial or prerecorded message calls to wireless telephone numbers, we seek comment on the possibility of instituting a "safe harbor" for telemarketers to allow them reasonable opportunities to comply with the rules in the era of local number portability. In addition, the Commission seeks comment on whether, as part of its safe harbor, telemarketers should be required to update their calling lists every 30 days using the national do-not-call registry, to be consistent with a possible rule change by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) specifically prohibits most calls using an autodialer or artificial or prerecorded message "to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged." Beginning November 24, 2003, local number portability (LNP) has permitted subscribers to port numbers previously used for wireline service to wireless service providers. Telemarketers must ensure that they do not place autodialed or prerecorded calls to wireless devices. The Commission is now seeking comment on the adoption of a limited "safe harbor" for telemarketers that call wireless numbers that have recently been ported from wireline service. Telemarketers contend that even a ported number database will not allow them to update their call lists instantaneously when consumers port their wireline numbers. As a result, telemarketers may not have a reasonable opportunity to comply with the rules.
In a separate but related matter, on January 23, 2004, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 was signed into law, requiring the FTC to amend its Telemarketing Sales Rule to require telemarketers subject to those rules to obtain the telephone numbers on the do-not-call registry once a month. The FCC rules currently provide a safe harbor for those telemarketers and sellers that access the list quarterly, as do the FTC rules. The FTC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on February 10, 2004, proposing to amend its rule so that telemarketers and sellers will need to use the updated national do-not-call registry every thirty (30) days to purge those numbers from their calling lists. Without FCC action to amend its safe harbor provision, many telemarketers might face inconsistent standards because the FTC's jurisdiction extends only to certain entities, while FCC jurisdiction extends to all telemarketers."
Posted to the site on 15th March 2004
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/10840.php