FEDERAL AND STATE CHANGES
With the Trump Administration’ s focus on cost-cutting and deregulation, and with changes to federal agencies like the Federal Communications Commission( FCC), there has been uncertainty on whether there will be additional federal telemarketing and related regulations or a rollback of them.
But there appears to be two areas of new strong federal actions that will likely stand:
1. Consent Revocation. This package of new FCC rules, which was to come into effect April 11, 2025, but was postponed to April 11, 2026, requires calling / texting parties to honor consumer do-not-call and consent revocation( opt-out) requests within 10 business days.
Also, those that make package delivery notification robocalls and robotexts without consent honor opt-out requests within six business days.
The Consent Revocation requirement, made within the authority of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act( TCPA) and which codifies past FCC rulings, does away with requiring consumers to opt in. The problem with that model has been that some organizations make it very difficult for consumers to opt out after opting in.
The challenge still remains that“ one-to-many” exists. Namely that a consumer may find it difficult to find all the organizations they would have to opt out of.
2. AI-assisted calls. The FCC banned AI-generated voices in robocalls to stop fraud, doing so on the heels of a deepfake political robocall featuring a cloned voice of former President Biden urging New Hampshire voters to stay home during the 2024 primaries. The unanimously adopted rule also empowered states’ attorney generals to go after offenders.
26 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
... SOME OR- GANIZATIONS MAKE IT VERY DIFFICULT FOR CONSUMERS TO OPT OUT AFTER OPTING IN.
There are also efforts underway to tighten enforcement of existing FCC regulations. Senator Ben Ray Lujan( D-N. M.) has reintroduced the FCC Legal Enforcement Act, a bill that would accelerate the pace at which violators of TCPA are held financially accountable. Here are its key provisions:
• If the Department of Justice declines to act within 120 days of the FCC referring a case, the Commission can initiate and supervise its own court proceedings to collect penalties.
• The FCC will prioritize cases involving unpaid fines over $ 25 million.
• The Act would also clarify the FCC’ s authority to issue rules as it deems necessary“ to protect subscribers from unwanted calls ".
Beyond federal laws, some enterprises are also forced to navigate varying state-level regulations, which impose stricter limitations on outbound calling. This is not surprising; state governments have often taken the lead on issues like consumer protection in response to public outcry.
• Florida now restricts telemarketing calls to between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, a narrower window than the federal 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM allowance.
• In 2024 Washington State passed the " Robocall Scam Protection Act”, aligning state regulations with federal DNC rules while expanding protections against unauthorized automated solicitations.
• New York now requires telemarketers to identify themselves within the first 30 seconds to combat scams.
As enterprises comply with these strict rules and regulations, contact center professionals must rethink their outbound communication strategies to enhance engagement and maintain compliance.
CREATING A HOLISTIC VOICE CHANNEL STRATEGY
According to a recent survey of contact center decision-makers in our eBook,“ Fraud Prevention Insights for Outbound Contact Center Operations,” 89 % reported fraudsters spoofing their business’ s identity. But despite widespread concern over spam and fraud, 31 % of respondents indicated their company is not using tools to prevent spoofing.
NEW ONE-TO-ONE CONSENT RULE?
The FCC has been considering implementing a new rule, known as the One-to-One Consent Rule. Made under the authority of the TCPA, it would have aimed to close the " lead generator loophole " where consumers would consent to calls from one entity but then receive calls from numerous other entities.
Originally set to go into effect on January 27, 2025, the FCC postponed the implementation until January 2026 following several successful court challenges. In making its decision, the commission acknowledged the“ significant burdens” on companies’ ability to comply with the ruling by the effective date.