The most significant part of the FCC’s TCPA regulations concern commercial solicitation calls made to residences. Those making the calls are required to:

• Limit the calls to the period between 8 A.M. and 9 P.M.
• Maintain a “do not call list” and honor any request to not be called again. The FCC amended its rules in 2003 so that organizations use the FTC National Do Not Call List Registry process. (See https://www.donotcall.gov/) When such a do not call request is received, the requester may not be called again on behalf of the business for whom the solicitation is made. One error is allowed in a twelve-month period. Subsequently, the soliciting companies are subject to penalties. A person’s name must be kept on the “do not call list” indefinitely.
• Have a clearly written policy, available to anyone upon request.
• Have a clearly defined training program for their personnel making the telephone solicitations.
• If you are a service bureau, forward all requests to be removed from a list to the company on whose behalf you are calling. It is that company that is legally liable under the TCPA, not the service bureau. The “do not call” request must also be honored by any affiliate or subsidiary of the company if there is a reasonable expectation on the part of the consumer that there request would apply also to the affiliate or subsidiary.

A call is exempt from the TCPA if the call:

• Is made on behalf of a tax-exempt nonprofit organization.
• Is not made for a commercial purpose.
• Does not include an unsolicited advertisement, even if it is made for a commercial purpose.

Other important provisions of the TCPA include:

• A ban on sending unsolicited advertisements by auto-dialer, prerecorded voice
  message, or fax to anyone without prior express consent.
• A ban on auto-dialers and artificial or prerecorded voice messages programmed to call any emergency phone lines (including 911 numbers, hospital emergency lines, physicians or medical service lines, health care facilities, poison control centers, fire protection or law enforcement agencies), pagers or cellular phones, or a call for which a charge is made to the calling party.
• A prohibition against the use of an auto-dialer to engage two or more lines of a multi-line business.
• A requirement that anyone using an auto-dialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice message to call any number state the identity of the caller at the beginning of the message and give the address and phone number of the caller during the call.
• Customers must be able to opt-out of future robocalls during a robocall. If there is an opt out requested, the call must be disconnected immediately and no future calls can be made to that consumer by that organization.

The TCPA can be enforced in at least three different ways:

• The individual who receives a call after a name removal request has been given to the caller is granted a private right of action in a local court and may sue for damages for each violation. In some cases, the courts can levy triple damages. Similar suits may be filed for violations of the TCPA’s provisions regarding faxes, auto-dialers, and artificial or prerecorded messages.
• States may initiate civil action against offending companies on behalf of their citizens.
• Complaints may be filed with the Federal Communications Commission, which has the power to assess penalties against parties in violation of the TCPA.