A MoFo Privacy Minute Q&A: New TCPA Requirements For Informational Robo Calls

This is A MoFo Privacy Minute, where we will answer the questions our clients are asking us in sixty seconds or less.

Question: My company makes informational calls using pre-recorded messages or artificial voices. The federal regulation that regulates these calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) has been amended, and the new rules become effective on July 20, 2023. What are the new requirements for these kinds of calls?

Answer: The amendments to the TCPA regulations impose additional requirements for informational (non-promotional) calls made to residential numbers using pre-recorded messages or artificial voices. They require that businesses that make these kinds of calls:

• Make no more than three such calls to each residential number in a 30-day period, absent prior express consent from the called person;
• At the beginning of the call, identify the business and, during the call, provide the name of the individual caller and the business’s phone number (which cannot be a 900 number or any other number that incurs charges that exceed local or long-distance charges) that can be used to make do-not-call requests during regular business hours;
• Provide an automated, interactive voice- and/or key press-activated opt-out mechanism for the called person to make a do-not-call request during the call, with instructions on how to use the mechanism, within two seconds of identifying the business. The mechanism, if used by the called party, must automatically record the request and immediately terminate the call;
• If the business leaves a message on an answering machine or voicemail service, the message must provide a toll-free number that the called party can use to connect directly to the automated, interactive voice- and/or key press-activated opt-out mechanism;
• Maintain a business-specific do-not-call list for these kinds of informational calls, including a written policy, training of personnel who make such calls, and record-keeping; and
• Honor do-not-call requests within a reasonable time not to exceed 30 days. A do-not-call request must be honored for five years from the time the request is made.

In addition to these new requirements, the rules that have already applied to informational and promotional calls remain intact, and the TCPA continues to require that informational auto-dialed or pre-recorded or artificial voice calls made to wireless phone numbers can only be made if the called party has provided their prior express consent. Special rules apply to certain kinds of calls, such as emergency calls and health-related calls. Some states may have laws with additional requirements.

If your business makes informational calls using pre-recorded messages or artificial voices, you should review the TCPA’s amendments so that you can incorporate the new requirements into your practices by the July 20, 2023 deadline.