Why It Matters
The Federal Communications Commission will let consumers revoke consent for specific categories of robocalls while keeping others they want, and will make it easier for banks to warn customers about account fraud, under a final rule effective November 25.
The FCC says the current "revoke all" requirement "is overinclusive and may lead to unintended consequences that do not align with the consumer's actual intent," for example, a consumer revoking consent to payment reminders could inadvertently stop fraud alerts, multi-factor authentication messages, appointment reminders, or utility outage calls.
The effective date supersedes a prior delayed effective date for the consent-revocation provision that had been extended to January 31, 2027; the FCC declined a request to push the date out by up to 12 months after Federal Register publication, stating it wants "callers to begin utilizing the modernized consent methods as soon as possible."
A broad range of commenters representing various industries and consumer groups agreed that the prior "revoke all" rule "does not align with consumer expectations and poses significant risks to the delivery of essential information," the FCC said. One party filed an ex parte submission arguing the revisions "make compliance more complex"; the FCC said it found "industry and consumer group support is persuasive evidence that it does not."
The Broader Context
Today, 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(10) requires callers to honor revocation requests made "using any reasonable method" and expressly prohibits designating an exclusive revocation channel. After November 25, the revised paragraph permits callers to designate one of three listed methods as the exclusive means to revoke consent: an automated voice or key-press opt-out on a call, a reply text using one of seven standardized words, or a website or telephone number the caller designates. The chosen method must be "clearly and conspicuously" disclosed on the call or in the text, and callers that designate an exclusive method are not required to process revocations made by any other means.
For informational calls and texts (those that contain no advertising or telemarketing), callers may interpret a revocation request as "applying only to the specific category of informational robocalls and text messages to which the revocation was directed and not to all communications." That category-limiting option does not extend to every message.
Revocation requests made in response to calls or texts that contain an advertisement or constitute telemarketing continue to revoke consent to all future advertising and telemarketing calls or texts from that caller; no category-limiting is permitted for those messages.
A single confirmation text sent after a consumer revokes consent does not violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) rules, provided it contains no marketing content; if sent within five minutes of the revocation request, it is presumed to fall within the consumer's prior express consent.
The rule also expands the financial institution exemption at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(a)(9)(iii)(A), which today limits calls and texts to the single wireless number the customer directly provided to that institution. The new text allows calls to wireless numbers "obtained from a reliable source," defined as a number supplied by a spouse or other authorized family member, obtained when the customer calls the institution, or included in records obtained from another financial institution. The FCC granted the American Bankers Association's 2015 petition for reconsideration to the extent it requested revisiting the "provided number" condition.
The Bottom Line
The document imposes no new compliance obligations on any of the approximately 34.75 million small businesses in the U.S. it identifies. The FCC says the benefits of the rule modifications "substantially outweigh any costs" but provides no dollar estimates.
The FCC is seeking further comment in a separately published Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on whether to require callers to provide a single-step option to revoke consent to all robocalls at once.
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