Client Alert

Commission Seeks Comments to Extend Do-Not-Call Registry Beyond 5-Year Limit

December 14, 2007

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Today's Federal Register contained the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC's") Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) addressing whether the Commission should amend its rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) to require numbers placed on the Do-Not-Call registry to be kept on the list beyond the current 5-year registration period. Today's publication sets the comment deadlines in this proceeding: initial comments are due on or before January 14, 2008 and reply to comments are due on or before January 28, 2008.

If adopted, customers will not be required to re-register their preferences to receive telemarketing calls because such registrations will not automatically expire. The NPRM proposes that telemarketers are obligated to honor the registrations either until the number is removed by consumers or the database administrator, due to disconnection or reassignment. The Commission seeks comment on this tentative conclusion and how to most effectively implement the proposed change.

Extension of the Do-Not-Call registry rules prolongs the tension between the Commission's existing Customer Proprietary Network Information ("CPNI") rules and telemarketing regulation. If a subscriber is listed on a Do-Not-Call registry, the carrier or marketer would not be permitted to contact that customer via telephone, even if contact is permissible under the existing CPNI regime.

If you would like to file comments in this docket, please contact Jennifer Kashatus (email).

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