Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

11446

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 36 / Thursday, February 25, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
to prescribe or amend regulations relating to such requirement.
32. The Report and Order confirms that the conditions imposed by the Commission by order for exemptions under section 227b2C of the TCPA
for calls to wireless numbers satisfy the TRACED Acts section 8 requirements, and the only action necessary is to codify those exemptions in the rules.
The Commission does not adopt additional rules or reporting and recordkeeping requirements in that context.
33. With respect to the exemptions for artificial and prerecorded voice message calls to residential numbers, the Report and Order retains all existing exemptions and adopts certain conditions on such calls. Specifically, to satisfy the TRACED Acts requirement regarding the number of such calls that a calling party may make to a particular called party, the Report and Order amends the Commissions rules to generally limit the number of exempted calls that can be made to a particular residential line to three calls within any consecutive 30-day period. For HIPAArelated calls to a residence, however, the Commission amends the rules to limit the number of calls that can be made pursuant to this exemption to one artificial or prerecorded voice call per day up to a maximum of three artificial or prerecorded voice calls per week. The adopted rules also allow recipients of artificial and prerecorded voice message calls to residential numbers to opt out of future calls. Such residential subscribers may do so by dialing a telephone number required to be provided in the prerecorded message to register his or her do-not-call request in response to that call or by using an automated, interactive voiceand/or key press-activated opt-out mechanism to make a do-not-call request. Thus, the amended rules will bring these exemptions into line with the Commissions treatment of exempted calls to wireless numbers. To effectuate an opt-out mechanism, callers must comply with the requirements of 64.1200b and d of the Commissions existing rules, which govern the process for handling do-notcall requests.
34. In so doing, the Report and Order implements the requirements of the TRACED Act and, at the same time, minimizes any compliance burdens for both small and large entities that make calls pursuant to one of the exemptions in the law.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:18 Feb 24, 2021

Jkt 253001

B. Summary of Significant Issues Raised by Public Comments in Response to the IRFA
35. In the NPRM, the Commission solicited comments on how to minimize the economic impact of the new rules on small businesses. There were no comments filed that specifically addressed the rules and policies proposed in the IRFA. Three commenters, however, focused on the challenges certain entities would face in complying with the opt-out requirements given their small staffs and limited resources. The Credit Union National Association CUNA argues that the opt-out proposals would impose significant burdens for many credit unions that do not engage in telemarketing, and thus would have had no reason to create and maintain do-notcall lists. CUNA states that nearly 40
percent of all credit unions employ five or fewer full-time employees, approximately 25 percent have less than $10 million in assets, and over twothirds have less than $100 million in assets. The Illinois Credit Union states that an opt-out requirement would be burdensome for smaller institutions which have limited staff and resources, and the Professional Association for Customer Engagement similarly states that many healthcare providers are smaller entities that do not have the financial resources to implement an automated do-not-call system with a toll-free number.
C. Response to Comments by the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration 36. 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, 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.
D. Description of Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements for Small Entities 37. The Report and Order does not adopt any additional conditions on calls made to wireless numbers pursuant to the exemptions adopted under section 227b2C of the TCPA, but instead concludes that the exemptions already meet the requirements of the TRACED
Act. With respect to the exemptions for calls to residential numbers, the Report and Order adopts a numerical limit of three calls within a consecutive 30-day
PO 00000

Frm 00060

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

period that an entity may make pursuant to three of the four exemptions. The one exception is for HIPAA-related calls to a residence where the Commission amends the rules to limit the number of calls that can be made pursuant to this exemption to one artificial or prerecorded voice call per day up to a maximum of three artificial or prerecorded voice calls per week. The Commission explained that this limitation is identical to the condition imposed on healthcare calls to wireless numbers that are exempted under section 227b2C of the TCPA.
38. The Commissions ruling therefore satisfies the requirements of the TRACED Act while bringing the exemptions for calls made to residential telephone numbers in line with the treatment of exempted calls to wireless numbers. The adopted limitation will reduce the number of intrusive or unwanted robocalls consumers receive at their homes while still allowing legitimate businesses to provide services and information consumers want. The Report and Order also requires entities making artificial or prerecorded voice calls to residential numbers pursuant to any of the exemptions to honor opt-out requests from consumers who wish to avoid future calls. In such cases, a caller will need to have opt-out mechanisms in place to accept do-not-call requests and to record and track such opt-out requests in order to avoid making any additional calls to those consumers. If the caller makes a call using an artificial or prerecorded voice message, they must provide a telephone number in the message to allow a consumer to register his or her do-not-call request in response to that call. The Commissions existing rules also require that, in every case where an artificial or prerecorded voice telephone message includes or introduces an advertisement or constitutes telemarketing and is delivered to a residential telephone line, the caller must provide an automated, interactive voice and/or key pressactivated opt-out mechanism for the called person to make a do-not-call request. Entities will have up to 30 days to honor a residential subscribers donot-call request and ensure that they no longer call such residential subscribers telephone number. While these rules will necessitate that entities keep records associated with the number of calls they make to a particular called party and to track opt-out requests from consumers, entities are not required to routinely report these records to the Commission. These requirements will apply to both large and small entities alike that make calls to residential
E:FRFM25FER1.SGM

25FER1