President Trump signed the TRACED Act into law on Tuesday, and while the law is not expected to put an end to individuals receiving annoying robocalls and will likely not cause too many headaches for the credit and collection industry, it is an important piece of legislation that addresses a very sore subject for consumers and collectors alike.
Among the major provisions of the law are:
- Extends the window for the FCC to catch and take civil enforcement action against intentional violations to four years after a robocall is placed. Under current law, the FCC has only one year to do so, and the FCC has said that “even a one-year longer statute of limitations for enforcement” would improve enforcement against violators.
- Broadens the authority of the FCC to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call on people who intentionally flout telemarketing restrictions.
- It requires implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN call authentication protocols at no additional charge to consumers
- Brings together the Department of Justice, FCC, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Commerce, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other relevant federal agencies, as well as state attorneys general and other non-federal entities to identify and report to Congress on improving deterrence and criminal prosecution at the federal and state level of robocall scams.
- Requires voice service providers to adopt call authentication technologies, enabling a telephone carrier to verify that incoming calls are legitimate before they reach consumers’ phones.
- Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers.
- Directs the FCC to initiate a rulemaking process to protect consumers from “one-ring” scams.
- Requires the FCC to establish a working group to issue best practices to prevent hospitals from receiving illegal robocalls.
The White House released a statement after the president signed the bill into law:
This historic legislation will provide American consumers with even greater protection against annoying unsolicited robocalls. American families deserve control over their communications, and this legislation will update our laws and regulations to stiffen penalties, increase transparency, and enhance government collaboration to stop unwanted solicitation. President Donald J. Trump is proud to have worked with Congress to get this bipartisan legislation to his desk, and even prouder to sign it into law today.
Also issuing a statement in support of the new law was Ajit Pai, the chairman of the FCC. He said:
“I applaud Congress for working in a bipartisan manner to combat illegal robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing. And I thank the President and Congress for the additional tools and flexibility that this law affords us. Specifically, I am glad that the agency now has a longer statute of limitations during which we can pursue scammers and I welcome the removal of a previously-required warning we had to give to unlawful robocallers before imposing tough penalties.
I want to thank Chairmen Thune and Pallone, Chairmen Wicker and Doyle, Ranking Members Walden and Latta, and Senator Markey for their leadership in seeing this important piece of legislation through. I want to thank the President for his strong support of this bill. And I thank the American people for never letting us forget how fed up they are with scam, spoofed robocalls. It’s their voices that power our never-ceasing push to fight back against the scourge of robocalls and malicious spoofing.”
Originally introduced by Sen. John Thune [R-S.D.] and Sen. Edward Markey [D-Mass.] and passed in the Senate, the TRACED Act was overhauled last summer in conjunction with a bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Frank Pallone [D-N.J.]. Once overhauled, the revised TRACED Act quickly passed in both the Senate and the House
