Last month the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to pass the new One-To-One Consent requirements. To read our full breakdown of what was discussed you can read our article here, but to make it short the new mandate was put in place in an attempt to protect consumers against unwarranted robocalls and robotexts. The proposed FCC ruling brings significant changes to the lead generation landscape. It clarifies that texters and callers must obtain a consumer's prior express written consent from a single seller at a time. This rule aims to close the lead generator loophole that allows consumers to receive robocalls and robotexts from numerous sellers simultaneously.

How this will affect lead generators is not quite clear yet. The ruling presents some significant challenges from both a tech standpoint and an operational standpoint in order to stay compliant, which we have discussed in the past. Since the ruling, though, the implementation date has been moved first to 6 months, and then to 12 months, giving the FCC until roughly February 2025 to determine exactly what the mandate will require from lead generators. Additionally, a very interesting point is that the FCC has re-opened comments on the bill, which means that businesses such as YOU can now speak up to argue against one-to-one consent.

TCPAWorld.com last week released an article going over exactly what the FCC’s Public Notice Comment Period means, and how you can help. The new deadline for comment is February 26, 2024, so if you want to get your comments in, you have to act fast.

What Should Your Comment Include?

The FCC is going to take seriously any comment where you can clearly outline how the ruling will negatively impact small business owners, including lead generators but more importantly the small mom-and-pop service providers around the U.S. who rely on leads purchased by lead generators when they may not have a budget that allows for the marketing and sales required for successful internal lead generation. A great example of a FCC comment for the one-to-one consent ruling comes from Blue Ink Digital who put out a great release that you can find here.

Troutman from TCPAWorld.com has a great breakdown of Blue Ink Digital's FCC Comments, and how to use these comments as a template for your own comments, that you can read here - https://www.natlawreview.com/article/coming-and-going-blue-ink-digital-just-filed-incredible-comment-hammering-new-fcc

It is a great overview of how your comments can help make a difference with the FCC, and how the Blue Ink Digital FCC comments are a great jumping off point for how you can and should word your comments if you so choose to submit them. TCPAWorld also has a great page of resources on all things related to the FCC filing that you can find here: https://tcpaworld.com/lead-gen-resources/

For more insight on what to include in your comment, you can follow TCPAWorld / Troutman for their insight on the best way to craft a comment for the FCC and help combat the new rulings. Remember you only have until February 1st to submit your comments, so act fast!

How To File A Comment To The FCC

Expressing a comment on the FCC’s Anti-Robocalling ruling, and any ruling, is a fairly easy process. To express a comment online, use this link to get to the filing submission page on the FCC’s website. On this page you will need to fill out information about which proceeding you are expressing a comment for and your personal information to confirm that you are the one who is expressing a comment. Here is what you need to include when filing your comment:

Docket Number

You can include one, two or all three of the docket numbers that relate to the Anti-Robocalling Ruling. These docket numbers are: 21-402, 02-278, 17-59

Each one of these individual docket numbers are for the following sections of the FCC’s ruling:

• 21-402 “Targeting and Eliminating Unlawful Text Messages”
• 02-278 “Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991”
• 17-59 “In the Matter of Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls”

Personal Information

As you can see in the filing page, personal info is needed in order to express a comment. Be sure to include the name(s) of those persons or entities whose views the filing represents, an address, state and zip code.

Brief Comment

Here is where you submit your comment. Look back at the “What Should Your Comment Include?” section above if you need any suggestions on how to shape your submission. Be sure to remember that all the information submitted in your comment, including your names and addresses, will be publicly available on the web.

For more information on what is needed to submit a comment, and how to submit a comment in paper format, use this page on the FCC’s official website: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/how-comment