/>iThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the federal government’s crown jewel response to the robocall epidemic.
It restricts calls made using certain regulated technology (including autodialers and pre-recorded and artificial voice calls) without express consent. It also presents unsolicited calls to residential numbers on the national DNC list.
A violation of the TCPA may cost up to $1,500.00 per–and private litigators can sue callers in class action and seek up to four years of damages for all calls made to any consumers that violate the Act in a single lawsuit. Plus personal liability is available in many instances. This makes TCPA compliance critical to any company engaging in outbound calls– including for servicing or transactional purposes.
If you are involved in outbound calling or texting at any scale you MUST be paying attention to the TCPA and understanding how it impacts your business.
Two big changes to the TCPA are slated to take place in 2025 and it is critical companies making outbound calls (or texts) understand these new rules.
First, on January 26, 2025 a new rule will become effective preventing marketing calls using regulated technology unless the consumer has specifically requested to hear from “no more than one identified seller” on a consumer form. This is a big change from current practice where multiple entities may be listed on a consent form– both in the third-party and the first-party context. This means that businesses who generate leads for themselves or others need to be especially cautious to capture only “one-to-one” consent. Companies that rely on third-party or first-party leads also need to be extremely cautious to comply with the new rules. Failure to do so will mean that all regulated calls made after January 26, 2025 will be illegal–carrying up to $1,500.00 per call penalties.
Second, on April 11, 2025 a new set of rules will go into effect requiring businesses to take expansive steps to stop calls at a consumer’s request. The new rules greatly change current practices and assure consumer requests that calls stop are heeded, even if a business is contacting a consumer across multiple channels and for multiple reasons. The rule will allow consumers to stop calls “in any reasonable manner” and will require businesses to comply with the complex revocation rules within ten business days. A failure to comply with the rule will trigger TCPA penalties of up to $1,500.00 per call for each call placed in violation of the rule.
Troutman Amin, LLP has provided a more thorough breakdown of the rule here.
Notably both new rulings were crafted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after hearing from both consumer and business groups regarding the impact of the new rule. The FCC held multiple meetings with trade organization Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (R.E.A.C.H.)— a group representing the marketers and lead generators committing to the highest standards and of self-regulation–in crafting the new rules so as to assure breathing pace was afforded to small and mid-sized businesses impacted by the rules. For more information on R.E.A.C.H. visit reachmbc.com.
