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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 7. Section 12b6 of the TRACED Act directs the Commission to consider requiring international gateway providers to verify the nature or purpose of calls but does not require the Commission to adopt such a rule. The Commission stated that it would consider this proposal in the context of another pending proceeding, in which it sought comment on adopting a broader set of safeguards that would require voice service providers to take affirmative, effective measures to prevent new and renewing customers from using their networks to originate illegal calls and would hold them responsible for doing due diligence on their high-volume customers. See Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls, published at 85 FR 46063, July 31, 2020, paragraph 13.
8. Pursuant to section 12b1 of the TRACED Act, the Commission is working with federal and state law enforcement agencies to protect consumers from one-ring scams by participating in an interagency working group, convened by the Attorney General, in consultation with the Chairman of the Commission, to study Government prosecution of violations of 47 U.S.C. 227b, and will ensure that the group addresses one-ring scams.
Pursuant to section 12b2 of the TRACED Act, the Commission intends to expand and enhance its enforcement coordination and cooperation with foreign governments aimed at combatting unlawful cross-border schemes such as one-ring scams. And pursuant to section 12b3 of the TRACED Act, the Commission will continue and expand its proactive consumer outreach efforts, in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission, to better educate consumers about how to avoid one-ring scams as well as other fraudulent and abusive robocalling practices.
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 9. As required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended, RFA, an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis IRFA was incorporated in the NPRM in this docket. The Commission sought written public comment on the proposals in the NPRM, including comment on the IRFA. The Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis FRFA
conforms to the RFA.
10. Need for, and Objectives of, the Rules. In the Report and Order, the Commission adopts, with some modification, the proposal in the NPRM
to include numbers that are likely to be associated with the one ring scam as a category of numbers that voice service
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providers can block. This will implement section 12 of the TRACED
Act, to prevent consumers from a type of scam called a one-ring scam. The TRACED Act defines one-ring scam as a scam in which a caller makes a call and allows the call to ring the called party for a short duration, in order to prompt the called party to return the call, thereby subjecting the called party to charges.
11. Section 12 of the TRACED Act requires the Commission to initiate a proceeding to protect consumers from one-ring scams and to consider the following ways: Work with federal and state law enforcement agencies; work with the governments of foreign countries; in consultation with the FTC, better educate consumers about how to avoid one-ring scams; encourage voice service providers to stop one-ring scam calls, including adding identified onering scam-type numbers to the list of permissible categories for carrierinitiated blocking; work with entities that provide call-blocking services to address one-ring scams; and establish obligations on international gateway providers, including potential requirements that such providers verify with the foreign originator the nature or purpose of calls before initiating service.
12. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments in Response to the IRFA. There were no comments filed that specifically addressed the rules and policies proposed in the IRFA.
13. Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. Pursuant to the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which amended the RFA, the Commission is required to respond to any comments filed by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration SBA, and to provide a detailed statement of any change made to the proposed rules as a result of those comments. The Chief Counsel did not file any comments in response to the proposed rules in this proceeding.
14. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements. Voice service providers may implement reporting or recordkeeping in order to accomplish blocking of one-ring scam calls, but it is not required in the rule.
15. Steps Taken to Minimize Significant Economic Impact on Small Entities, and Significant Alternatives Considered. The RFA requires an agency to describe any significant alternatives that it has considered in reaching its approach, which may include the following four alternatives among others: 1 The establishment of
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differing compliance or reporting requirements or timetables that take into account the resources available to small entities; 2 the clarification, consolidation, or simplification of compliance or reporting requirements under the rule for small entities; 3 the use of performance, rather than design, standards; and 4 an exemption from coverage of the rule, or any part thereof, for small entities.
16. The Commissions rule allows, but does not require, voice service providers to block calls from numbers that they identify, using reasonable analytics, as likely to be associated with one-ring scams. The rule is permissive, not mandatory; it allows all voice service providers, including small businesses, to block such calls, but it does not impose any new compliance obligations or reporting obligations. To the extent this new rule has any economic impact on voice service providers that are small entities, the impact will likely be beneficial because they will be shielded from liability if they opt to block calls in the manner described in the Report and Order.
List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 64
Communications common carriers, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Telecommunications, Telephone.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch, Secretary, Office of the Secretary.

Final Rules For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications Commission amends 47 part 64 as follows:
PART 64MISCELLANEOUS RULES
RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS
1. The authority citation for part 64
continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154, 201, 202, 217, 218, 220, 222, 225, 226, 227, 227b, 228, 251a, 251e, 254k, 262, 276, 403b2B, c, 616, 620, 14011473, unless otherwise noted; Pub. L. 115141, Div. P, sec.
503, 132 Stat. 348, 1091.

2. Amend 64.1200 by redesignating paragraphs f8 through f17 as f9
through f18, and adding paragraphs f8 and k2iv, to read as follows:

64.1200

Delivery Restrictions.

f
8 The term one-ring scam means a scam in which a caller makes a call and allows the call to ring the called party for a short duration, in order to prompt the called party to return the call,
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