The Federal Communications Commission’s proposed change to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, specifically the one-to-one consent rule, has been suspended indefinitely.
In a surprising move, the FCC postponed the rule’s implementation for a year. At the same time, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the commission’s rule overstepped its statutory authority by imposing overly strict conditions on consumers giving consent to telemarketing robocalls.
These developments make the rule, which “posed an existential threat [to many] industries… effectively dead,” wrote Patrick Brenner, CEO of Southwest Public Policy Institute, in an email.
The FCC’s one-to-one consent rule, slated to go into effect Jan. 27, would’ve altered how companies contacted potential consumers, including banning the use of auto-dialers for calls or texts without prior consent.
This had the potential of significantly impacting operations of retail mortgage lenders that rely on buying leads to find new business, stakeholders previously said.
However, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the FCC overstepped by limiting outreach consent to one company at a time and requiring said consent be tied to a specific topic.
“The FCC has impermissibly exceeded its statutory authority by attempting to redefine ‘prior express consent’ to include the additional restrictions,” the appeals court ruled Jan. 24. “And exceeding statutory authority is a serious defect.”
The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Eric Troutman, an attorney specializing in TCPA compliance and head of consumer advocacy group R.E.A.C.H., called this a “big win” for the industry and common sense.
“But callers still need to be careful to assure they have consent that is ‘clearly and unmistakably stated’ in light of the court’s ruling,” he added. The FCC does have authority to define what “clear and unmistakable” means, Troutman posits, which may open the doors for future regulations.
Randall Boourgeious, founder of compliance firm InboundTCPA, said in a previous interview that his mortgage clients felt they needed “a little bit more time to plan and incorporate some changes,” before the now-moot January 27, 2025 deadline.There was also a deep-rooted fear that the one-to-one consent rule would amount to a tremendous drop in leads, Bourgeois said, so the longer the rule could be postponed from going into effect, the better.
“I think a lot of companies are trying to push this off as much as possible. But from the consumer perspective, there’s really no value in getting this rule stayed,” said Bourgeois.
