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FCC Issues Small Business Compliance Guide
The small business guide confirms texts are subject to DNC protection. No person or entity shall send a solicitation or marketing text to a consumer with a wireless number in the National DNC Registry without the consumer’s prior express invitation or permission before sending, as detailed in section II.C.
Excerpts from the Order:
{***] In any civil or administrative action against a small entity for a violation of rules, the content of the Small Entity Compliance Guide may be considered as evidence of the reasonableness or appropriateness of proposed fines, penalties or damages. Interested parties are free to file comments regarding this Guide and the appropriateness of its application to a particular situation. The FCC will then consider whether the recommendations or interpretations in the Guide are appropriate in that situation. The FCC may decide to revise this Guide without public notice to reflect changes in the FCC’s approach to implementing a rule, or it may clarify or update the text of the Guide. Direct your comments and recommendations, or calls for further assistance, to the FCC’s Consumer Center. {***]
In the new document the FCC summarizes the requirements of the one-to-one rule for small businesses.
In the Second Report and Order, Commission revised the “prior express written consent” definition to make it clear that the consent must be from the called or texted party to each seller/caller, on a one-to-one basis, and that the calls and texts must be logically and topically associated with the website or other interaction when consent was obtained.
- Prior express written consent requires:
- A written agreement,
- Signed by the person called or texted, and
- The agreement clearly and conspicuously authorizes no more than one identified seller to deliver, or cause to be delivered to the person called or texted, advertisements or telemarketing messages using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice.
- The agreement must identify the telephone number to which the signatory authorizes such advertisements or telemarketing messages to be delivered.
- Calls and texts must be logically and topically associated with the interaction that prompted the consent.
Text Blocking Second Report & Order (09/10/2024)
Notifications of Illegal Texts in EB Docket No. 23-418 are available at: here.
Other information on combatting robocalls and texts can be found on the Commission’s website at: here.
DA/FCC #: DA-23-910
Docket Nos. 02-278, 21-402 and 17-59
