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Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA)

Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA)
InvestingLaws and Regulations

What Is the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA)?

The Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) is a U.S. law made in response to consumer concerns about telemarketing. The act sets guidelines for telemarketing practices, puts more prominent limitations on the utilization of automated telephone equipment, and expects that elements causing telephone solicitations to keep up with don't call records.

The TCPA was a response to grievances directed at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in regards to the utilization of telephones for solicitation of business. It was endorsed into law by President George H. W. Bush.

Understanding the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA)

The Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 limits the utilization of various telemarketing gadgets and practices. They incorporate prerecorded messages, artificial (robo) messages, auto-dialing systems, instant messages, and fax machines. The TCPA additionally specifies that auto-dialing and voice informing equipment, as well as fax machines, must pass on the identification and contact data of their client in their messages.

Regardless of the TCPA's rules, the number of robocalls has soar over the past couple of years. In the U.S., telephone users received 3.8 billion robocalls in November 2020, or around 127 million calls each day. The FCC received 232,000 objections about undesirable calls in 2018, which included robocalls and telemarketing calls.

Sadly, the incentive to take part in robocalling is too big and the cost of doing it remains exceptionally low. Moreover, software helps mask callers' characters, and voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) calling allows numerous robocallers to work overseas — a long way from the scope of U.S. specialists.

The full text of the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 can be found in Title 47, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, Part I, Section 227 of the U.S. Code. A summary can be found on the FCC's TCPA Rules page.

Provisions of the TCPA

Phone salespeople/specialists who have not gotten prior consent from call or message beneficiaries are limited under the following TCPA provisions:

  • Phone salespeople and specialists may not call homes by utilizing a recording or artificial voice.
  • They may not call homes outside of the hours of 8 a.m. furthermore, 9 p.m. neighborhood time.
  • They must give their name, who they are calling for, and a telephone number or address for that person or entity.
  • Phone salespeople are disallowed from settling on any automated decisions or those utilizing an artificial or prerecorded voice to emergency telephone lines (911 or hospital), specialists' offices, mobile telephones, or whatever other beneficiary who will be charged for the call.
  • Auto dialing at least two lines of a similar business is likewise restricted.
  • They may not send spontaneous faxes highlighting advertising.
  • Phone salespeople and specialists are expected to keep up with organization explicit don't call arrangements of beneficiaries who don't wish to be called and to respect that rundown for a very long time, as well as to respect the National Do Not Call Registry.

The TCPA additionally recommends punishments for disregarding such rules. For instance, a subscriber might sue for $500 for every violation or recover damages, look for an injunction, or sue for both. In instances of a persistent violation of the TCPA, subscribers can claim treble damages for each occurrence. For more, see the FCC's page on Telemarketing and Robocalls.

Updates to the TCPA

In 2003, as a follow-up to the TCPA, the Federal Trade Commission and the FCC teamed up to lay out a cross country don't call library to additionally reduce the number of undesirable calls received by families. Also, in 2012, the FCC updated its TCPA rules with the following provisions expecting phone salespeople to:

  • Get prior express written consent from consumers before robocalling them.
  • Cease utilizing an "laid out business relationship" to abstain from getting consent from consumers while calling their home telephones.
  • Give an automated, interactive opt-out mechanism during each robocall so consumers can promptly tell the phone salesperson to stop calling.

A key decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in March 2018 (ACA International v. Federal Communications Commission) inclined toward the telemarketing industry as it agreed with offended parties who claimed that the TCPA punished responsible businesses. At issue was the definition of "automated telephone dialing framework" and the significance of "called party" in certain unique situations.

Features

  • The law puts certain limitations on the utilization of automated telephone dialers and requires the maintenance of enforceable don't call records.
  • The Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) is a piece of U.S. federal legislation that set guidelines for telemarketing practices in response to consumer protests directed at FCC.
  • The TCPA limits the utilization of various telemarketing gadgets and practices, including the utilization of prerecorded messages, artificial (robo) messages, auto-dialing systems, and instant messages.