Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) issued a rule amending a portion of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). The amendments to rules [47 CFR 64.1200 § (a)(10)] were set to become effective on April 11, 2025 and designed to strengthen consumers’ ability to revoke consent under the TCPA by making the revocation process simple and easy.  The rule change, however, was far-reaching and required callers to apply a revocation request made in response to one type of message to all future calls and texts. 

In response to industry comments (particularly from financial institutions and healthcare organizations),  the FCC has extended the effective date of Section 64.1200(a)(10), a specific and  narrow portion of the amended rules through April 11, 2026, “to the extent that it requires callers to apply a request to revoke consent made in response to one type of message to all future robocalls and robotexts from that caller on unrelated matters.”  See the Order, In the Matter of Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, No. DA 25-312 (Apr. 7, 2025).

The FCC repeatedly refers to this as a limited waiver, so the remaining portions of the rule and the other changes to Section 64.1200(a)(10) will go into effect as planned on Friday April 11, 2025.

There is some ambiguity as to what requirements are extended because the FCC’s announcement did not include an amendment showing how Section 64.1200(a)(10) would be codified.  Based on the Order’s plain language, by April 11, 2025 callers will still need to:

• process requests for which the party is seeking an opt-out within a reasonable time not to exceed 10 business days, as opposed to the current outer limit of 30 days;
• recognize and process the expanded list of opt-out commands (“STOP”, “QUIT”, “END”, etc.) and any other opt-out request made using any reasonable method to clearly express a desire not to receive further calls or texts;
• allow users to opt out of exempted texts or calls if they request an opt-out in response to one of those messages; and
• provide a clear, conspicuous disclosure and an alternate, reasonable method of opting out if two-way texting isn’t supported, so that the party knows how to opt out in response to a text.

Fortunately, by extending the portion of the rule that would have required callers to apply a revocation request made in response to one type of message to all calls and texts messages from that caller, the FCC has deferred the most onerous portion of the 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10) changes.  Despite the extension, callers should confirm that they are in compliance with the remaining portions as of April 11, 2025 and continue preparing for the 2026 effective date of the deferred revocation requirements.