Fulfilling an obligation in Section 14(c) of the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) yesterday announced the formation of a new federal advisory committee – the Hospital Robocall Protection Group. As the Commission noted:

“The TRACED Act requires the Commission to establish the Group, for the purpose of issuing best practices regarding the following: 

1. How voice service providers can better combat unlawful robocalls made to hospitals.

2. How hospitals can better protect themselves from such calls, including by using unlawful robocall mitigation techniques.

3. How the Federal Government and State governments can help combat such calls.

The Commission also seeks nominations for membership on and a Chairperson to the Group.  The Commission intends to establish the Group by June 2020 consistent with the requirements of the TRACED Act and anticipates holding the first meeting of the group in July 2020.  As required by the TRACED Act, it is anticipated that the Group will complete its work of developing best practices within 180 days of its establishment.  Nominations for membership to the Hospital Robocall Protection Group should be submitted to the FCC no later than May 1, 2020.”

The FCC’s Public Notice can be found here (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-333A1.pdf).