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Outbound Marketing Rules: More Complex, Risky When Improperly Managed

TMCnews Featured Article


July 01, 2015

Outbound Marketing Rules: More Complex, Risky When Improperly Managed

By Tracey E. Schelmetic, TMCnet Contributor


When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cooperated over a decade ago to create the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR (News - Alert)) legislation, it was a relief for homeowners who simply wanted to get through a meal or a movie without the phone ringing with a telemarketing call. Annoyance was the name of the game, and the creation of the Federal Do Not Call list brought blessed silence to many. Since then, marketers have had to adapt and adjust when it comes to outbound telephone marketing, or risk large fines. Many survived in the loopholes: it was OK to call existing customers, businesses and individuals not on the do-not-call list, and to engage in non-profit calling for the purpose of surveying.


Fast-forward a decade or so, and unwanted outbound communications have become a menace again. Automated outbound calls (“robocalls”) are the choice of marketers, campaign managers, survey companies and non-profits. Unfortunately, for many Americans, it’s no longer about being interrupted at dinner: it’s about having pay for those unwanted calls and texts to mobile phones. Once again, the FCC (News - Alert) has stepped in to take action thanks to a rising number of consumer complaints by redefining some terms that were causing confusion in the outbound telemarketing industry. Users of robocalls argued that existing FCC regulations prohibiting the user of outbound dialers in some instances did not cover the technology used for robocalling. The FCC has called foul on that assertion, wrote Gordon Gibb for the Web site Lawyers and Settlements.

“First, the FCC updated the definition of an auto dialer, which until now has been defined as ‘equipment which has the capacity to store or produce telephone numbers to be called using a random or sequential number generator and to dial such numbers.’ The FCC has now defined and quantified ‘capacity’ to include both present and future capacity -- thus a broad definition that extends into the future in limitless fashion,” wrote Gibb.

In addition, the FCC recently said that it encourages service providers to make use of technologies that help to block robocalls and other unwanted communications to subscribers. (Something marketers and other outbound callers had asked the agency not to do.) The FCC also put limits on how organizations breaking the rules can feign ignorance about calling a number that has, for example, changed hands.

“Along with the right to revoke consent to receive robocalls and/or texts at any time, any consumer who has recently acquired a reassigned number can no longer receive auto-dialed calls or texts intended for the original owner of that number,” wrote Gibb. “This is a big issue, because thousands of numbers are reassigned every year in the US. The FCC, in its updated policy, holds that any consumer who inherits a phone number should not be subjected to unwanted calls or messaging directed toward a previous subscriber.”

In short, it’s more critical than ever that any entity that uses automated outbound calling (or live outbound calling, for that matter) ensure they are operating within the boundaries of what is becoming an increasingly complicated set of rules. Given the stakes for non-compliance – up to $1,500 per incident – companies today simply can’t afford to approach outbound communications without a platform that will help them stay fully compliant. 










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