The Federal Communications Commission has issued a declaratory ruling in response to pair of requests — including one made by ACA International — related to a 2020 order implementing portions of the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, affirming a three-call-limit for calls made using automated telephone dialing systems to residential lines, while also granting callers the opportunity to obtain consent from individuals if they wish to make more calls than allowed. The FCC also granted a request from ACA that prior express consent for calls made by utility companies to wireless phones equally applies to residential landlines as well.
A copy of the ruling, issued December 27, can be accessed by clicking here.
Back in 2020, the FCC adopted a ruling limiting the number of calls made using an autodialer or an artificial or pre-recorded voice to a residential landline during a 30-day period. ACA International, in coordination with a number of other organizations, filed a request seeking to reconsider the limit while also seeking clarification regarding how callers could obtain consent to exceed that limit — whether it could be made via voice or had to be in writing. The FCC opted to loosen how consent could be obtained to include oral, as well as written permission, but declined the request to revisit the limit itself.
“We agree with the petitioners and commenters, including both industry and consumer organizations, that the Commission did not intend to require that such callers obtain consent only in writing,” the FCC wrote.
Regarding the call limit, the FCC determined that “limiting the number of calls that can be made to a particular residential line to three artificial or prerecorded voice calls within any consecutive thirty-day period strikes the appropriate balance between these callers reaching consumers with valuable information and reducing the number of unexpected and unwanted calls consumers currently receive and thus restoring trust in the residential landline network and advancing health and the safety of life.”
