FCC TO ROBOCALLERS: THERE WILL BE NO MORE WARNINGS

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Media Contact:
Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509
will.wiquist@fcc.gov
For Immediate Release


FCC TO ROBOCALLERS: THERE WILL BE NO MORE WARNINGS
Agency Drops Citation Requirement and Extends Statute of Limitations
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-364109A1.pdf



WASHINGTON, May 1, 2020—The Federal Communications Commission today issued an
order that will end the practice of warning most robocallers before issuing penalties for
violating the law and for harassing consumers with unwanted robocalls. Such warnings were
previously required by law until the TRACED Act was enacted in December 2019.

Under the prior statutory requirement, the Commission had to issue robocallers that did not
otherwise fall within its jurisdiction warnings—formally called citations—related to their
alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (by, for example, robocalling cell
phones without prior consumer consent) before the agency was able to move forward with an
enforcement action. In addition, prior to the TRACED Act, any fine the Commission proposed
for TCPA violations by robocallers could be based on violations that occurred only after the
warning had been issued. While caller ID spoofing violations—namely, the use of spoofing to
scam consumers—did not require warnings, the act of illegal robocalling by these scammers
did.

“Robocall scam operators don’t need a warning these days to know what they are doing is
illegal, and this FCC has long disliked the statutory requirement to grant them mulligans,” said
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “We have taken unprecedented action against spoofing violations in
recent years and removing this outdated ‘warning’ requirement will help us speed up
enforcement to protect consumers. With strong enforcement and policy changes like
mandating STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication and authorizing robocall blocking, we are
making real progress in our fight against fraudsters.”

In addition, today’s FCC action extends the statute of limitations during which robocallers can
be fined for TCPA and for spoofing violations. Until now, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau had
either one or two years, respectively, from the day a violation took place to propose a fine, and
only the violations that took place within that timeframe could be included when calculating
the proposed forfeiture. With today’s change, the Commission has four years to propose a fine
for spoofing and intentional robocall violations. The Order also increases the maximum fines
for intentional robocall violations.

Under Chairman Pai, the FCC has taken unprecedented enforcement actions against spoofed
robocallers under the Truth in Caller ID Act. These included a $120 million fine against a
Florida-based time-share marketing operation, an $82 million fine against a North Carolina
based health insurance telemarketer, and a $37.5 million proposed fine of an Arizona
marketer—all three of which were also issued citations for TCPA violations. The Enforcement
Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission also recently pushed gateway providers to stop their
suspected facilitation of COVID-19-related scam robocalls. Within 24 hours, those gateway
providers stopped carrying those scam robocalls.


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Media Relations: (202) 418-0500
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TTY: (888) 835-5322
Twitter: @FCC
www.fcc.gov


This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.
Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes officialaction.
See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).