FCC Proposes Action, Seeks Input To Address Robocalls To Reassigned Phone Numbers

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a proposal to move forward in an effort to reduce calls placed by businesses and other legitimate callers to numbers that are no longer assigned to the consumers who consented to receive those calls. The FCC is proposing that one or more databases be made available to give businesses the information they need to avoid making such calls, and thus reduce the number of unwanted calls to reassigned numbers. The Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking  proposes and seeks comment on ways to address this reassigned numbers problem. Specifically, the Further Notice:

• Proposes to ensure that one or more databases are available to provide callers with the comprehensive and timely information they need to avoid calling reassigned numbers.
• Seeks comment on the information that callers who choose to use a reassigned numbers database need to avoid calling a reassigned number.  Seeks feedback on three alternative ideas for service providers to report that information: (1) requiring service providers to report reassigned number information to a single, FCC-designated database; (2) requiring service providers to report that information to one or more commercial data aggregators; or (3) allowing service providers to report that information to commercial data aggregators on a voluntary basis.
• Seeks comment on whether and, if so, how the Commission should adopt a safe harbor from liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for those callers that choose to use a reassigned numbers database.