FTC No Call Registry Report 

The Federal Trade Commission has issued its biennial report to Congress focusing on the use of the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry by both consumers and businesses and other organizations over the past two years.   The report includes: 1) a summary of current Registry operations; 2) a summary of the impact on the Registry of new telecommunication technologies; and 3) a discussion of the impact of the established business relationship exception in the Commission’s enforcement efforts.

The DNC Registry currently has more than 239 million active registrations, an increase of more than 4.1 million registrations from the previous fiscal year (FY). According to the report, during FY2019, 2,014 businesses and other entities paid more than $12 million to access the Registry. More than 15,000 entities subscribed to access the Registry, including those who registered for five or fewer area codes free of charge, and 541entities (such as charitable organizations) claimed “exempt organization” status and also received free access to the Registry. In FY2018, 2,163 entities paid Registry access fees totaling nearly $12.3 million. That year, 15,045 entities subscribed to Registry, including those who registered to access five or fewer area codes at no charge, and 520 entities claimed “exempt organization” status and accessed the Registry without paying a fee. 

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The Regulatory Mix Today: FTC No Call Registry Report, FCC and Congressional Statements on TRACED Act 

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FCC and Congressional Statements on TRACED Act 

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement after the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act was signed into law: 

“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.”  

Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta (R-OH) released the following statement after TRACED Act was signed into law:  

“We are closing the books on 2019 one step closer to closing the books on illegal robocalls. The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act gives phone companies and the government new tools to combat the illegal robocall epidemic. This bipartisan law puts American consumers first by ensuring every call Americans receive is verified and can be blocked at no extra cost to consumers. It also gives the Federal Communications Commission and law enforcement the authority to quickly go after scammers. We applaud the President for signing this commonsense, bipartisan legislation into law. But we are well aware that the bad actors will do all they can to get to consumers, so Congress will need to stay vigilant to protect the American people from illegal calls and scams.”  

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.