FCC Expected to Issue New Rules Limiting Telemarketers : Regulations: But consumer advocates believe the changes will fail to adequately protect Americans from intrusive telephone solicitations.
The Federal Communications Commission is expected today to issue sweeping new rules governing the fast-growing telemarketing field, but consumer advocates said Wednesday that the anticipated FCC rules fall short of adequately protecting Americans from intrusive telephone solicitations.
Although the rules are expected to limit telemarketing calls to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. and restrict the use of computer-driven phone dialing, consumer group leaders say consumer interests were sacrificed significantly to protect the nation’s $60-billion-a-year telemarketing industry.
The central issue is the FCC’s refusal to create a nationwide registry of consumers who do not wish to receive any telemarketing calls. Instead of requiring a “do not call” database, the FCC is expected to allow consumers to make their preferences known only on a company-by-company basis, most likely at the time they are called by a telemarketing solicitor.
“What this means is that telemarketers have the right to call everyone at least once,” said a key congressional aide, who asked to remain anonymous.
Representatives of the telemarketing industry, who have made their positions widely known at the FCC, said Wednesday that they expect to be well treated by the new regulations.
“We expect a really good set of rules that will help the consumers,” said Richard Barton, senior vice president and chief lobbyist for the Direct Marketing Assn.
But John Barker of the National Consumers League was dejected. “We’re not anticipating anything that will give consumers any relief. Despite all the talk, consumers still can’t do anything to stop these calls except hang up.”
Congressional sources said the FCC’s lenient stance toward telemarketers could prompt a cry from privacy advocates, consumer groups and lawmakers for stiffer federal regulations on phone solicitors.
The potential for any new legislation hinges on whether the FCC rules will require that consumers be notified in some way of their right to put their names on a company’s “do not call” list. That question was still under intense debate late Wednesday night at the FCC, with at least two commissioners solidly in favor of it, sources said.
Congress required the FCC to issue these new regulations in a law passed late last year aimed at protecting consumers from the at-home intrusion caused by the growing use of unsolicited sales calls.
The law, sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), was initially opposed by the Bush Administration. But the President signed it last December, saying he was reassured that the law allowed the FCC ample latitude to preserve “legitimate business practices” of telemarketers and to regulate them “at the least possible cost to the economy.”
Initially, Markey, an outspoken critic of telemarketing practices, said the law could result in a national “don’t call me” registry or a move to give all telemarketers a single phone prefix that consumers not wanting these calls could block.
However, as the FCC held hearings on its proposed regulations over the last nine months, commissioners made their opposition to a national “do not call” registry known, in part because of its potential cost and because direct marketers objected to its sweeping “all-or-nothing” approach to phone solicitations.
However, an aide to Markey said the FCC position could trigger new legislation from the congressman.
“If (the) FCC requires consumers to be notified of their rights to get off a company’s phone list, then these regulations could be all right,” said a consultant to the House of Representative’s Telecommunications and Finance subcommittee headed by Markey. “But if not, then the intent of the law will have been gutted because its effect would be meaningless to the overwhelming number of Americans. . . . We may have to come back and revisit this issue.”
