FCC Must Enforce Existing Regulations to Stop the Sale and Transfer of “Consent,” a Driving Force in the Robocall Epidemic

June 6, 2023 — Press Release

The Commission should issue guidance confirming that its current regulations limit the sale or transfer of agreements for prior express consent to calls 

WASHINGTON – Today, advocates at the National Consumer Law Center and nine other national consumer and privacy groups urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue guidance to confirm that the only valid consent agreements for telemarketing calls to lines listed on the Do-Not-Call Registry are those entered into directly with the seller, and that lead generators cannot obtain these consent agreements and cannot sell or transfer them to others.

“The FCC should issue guidance confirming that its current regulations already limit the sale and sharing of consents by lead generators,” said Margot Saunders, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Insisting on compliance with existing TCPA regulations will significantly reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls.” 

In Reply Comments filed in response to a proposal by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) the groups also noted that longstanding and routinized flouting of current regulations under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) does not justify continuing to allow telemarketers to ignore the clear language and intent of regulations the Commission issued 20 years ago. 

The comments reiterate the groups’ position espoused in earlier comments that the FCC should not amend its regulations as proposed in this proceeding. Additionally, in response to the comments from telemarketers and lead generators that consumers would be harmed by prohibiting their current practice of selling and reselling consumer consents to telemarketing calls, the groups point out that lead generators are responsible for a substantial portion of the billion-plus telemarketing calls made every month to U.S. telephone lines. No American consumers will complain about receiving fewer unwanted calls, the groups assert.