Advisory on Potential Traps for the Unwary in New FCC Prerecorded Telemarketing Rules Updated with Announcement of Compliance Deadlines

By Ronald G. London Be sure to check out the update to our advisory that outlined the amended FCC automated/prerecorded telemarketing rules.  The update flags the October 16, 2012 Federal Register notice announcing that the revisions were approved by the Office of Management and Budget, thus setting effective dates for the new rules as follows:

• The requirement for prior written signed consent for prerecorded telemarketing (and elimination of established business relationships permitting some such calls), and for auto-dialed live-agent (and prerecorded) telemarketing calls to cell phones and telemarketing text-messages takes effect October 16, 2013.
• The requirement that prerecorded telemarketing calls must enable automated opt-outs will take effect January 14, 2013.
• The revisions to the FCC’s abandoned call rules take effect November 15, 2012.

As explained in our prior blog post highlighting the original advisory, the new FCC rules raise the bar for the type of consent needed for auto-dialed live-agent and other telemarketing to cell phones, and extend the automated opt-out mechanism required for prerecorded telemarketing to “abandoned” live-agent telemarketing calls.  Details of the rule changes appear in the advisory update, following the discussion of the effective dates for the various new rules.