80 FR 15688 - Cargo Airlines Association Petition for Expedited Declaratory Ruling

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 57 (March 25, 2015)

In this document, the Commission grants a request to exempt package delivery notifications from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's (TCPA) restrictions on autodialed and prerecorded calls and messages to wireless telephone numbers, as long as consumers are not charged and may easily opt out of future messages if they wish, among other pro-consumer conditions. Congress gave the Commission the authority to exclude from this prohibition calls and texts that are not charged to the called party, subject to conditions necessary to protect the called party's privacy rights. This action is necessary to allow wireless consumers to receive package delivery notifications that will be welcome both as a convenience and as a way to guard against package theft.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 25, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15688-15689]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-06709]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 1 and 64

[CG Docket No. 02-278; FCC 14-32]


Cargo Airlines Association Petition for Expedited Declaratory 
Ruling

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Exemption.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission grants a request to exempt 
package delivery notifications from the Telephone Consumer Protection 
Act's (TCPA) restrictions on autodialed and prerecorded calls and 
messages to wireless telephone numbers, as long as consumers are not 
charged and may easily opt out of future messages if they wish, among 
other pro-consumer conditions. Congress gave the Commission the 
authority to exclude from this prohibition calls and texts that are not 
charged to the called party, subject to conditions necessary to protect 
the called party's privacy rights. This action is necessary to allow 
wireless consumers to receive package delivery notifications that will 
be welcome both as a convenience and as a way to guard against package 
theft.

DATES: Effective March 25, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristi Lemoine, Consumer Policy 
Division, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, at (202) 418-2467 
(voice), or email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order, 
document FCC 14-32, adopted March 27, 2014 and released on March 27, 
2014, in CG Docket No. 02-278. An Erratum to document FCC 14-32, was 
released on May 12, 2014. The full text of these documents and copies 
of any subsequently filed documents in this matter will be available 
for public inspection and copying via ECFS, and during regular business 
hours at the FCC Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th 
Street SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. Document FCC 14-32 can 
also be downloaded in Word or Portable Document Format (``PDF'') at 
http://www.fcc.gov/document/cargo-airline-petition-declaratory-ruling. 
To request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities 
(Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email 
to [email protected] or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau 
at 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).

Final Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Analysis

    Document FCC 14-32 does not contain new or modified information 
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 
1995, Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain 
any new or modified information collection burden for small business 
concerns with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business 
Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(4).

Congressional Review Act

    The Commission will not send a copy of FCC 14-32 pursuant to the 
Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C 801(a)(1)(A), because the 
Commission adopted no rules therein. Rather than adopting rules, the 
Commission exercised its statutory authority to grant an exemption by 
Order. See 47 U.S.C. 227(b)(2)(C).

Synopsis

    The Commission grants the Cargo Airline Association's request to 
exempt, from the TCPA's restrictions, its proposed free-to-end-user 
package delivery notifications to consumers' wireless phones, subject 
to certain conditions. The TCPA prohibits making, without the prior 
express consent of the called party, any non-emergency call

[[Page 15689]]

using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or 
prerecorded voice to, among other recipients, any wireless telephone 
number. Specifically, the Commission adopts the following conditions 
applicable to each delivery notification (voice call or text message) 
made utilizing the exemption the Commission grants:
    (1) A notification must be sent, if at all, only to the telephone 
number for the package recipient;
    (2) notifications must identify the name of the delivery company 
and include contact information for the delivery company;
    (3) notifications must not include any telemarketing, solicitation, 
or advertising content;
    (4) voice call and text message notifications must be concise, 
generally one minute or less in length for voice calls and one message 
of 160 characters or less in length for text messages;
    (5) delivery companies shall send only one notification (whether by 
voice call or text message) per package, except that one additional 
notification may be sent to a consumer for each of the following two 
attempts to obtain the recipient's signature when the signatory was not 
available to sign for the package on the previous delivery attempt;
    (6) delivery companies relying on this exemption must offer parties 
the ability to opt out of receiving future delivery notification calls 
and messages and must honor the opt-out requests within a reasonable 
time from the date such request is made, not to exceed thirty days; 
and,
    (7) each notification must include information on how to opt out of 
future delivery notifications; voice call notifications that could be 
answered by a live person must include an automated, interactive voice- 
and/or key press-activated opt-out mechanism that enables the called 
person to make an opt-out request prior to terminating the call; voice 
call notifications that could be answered by an answering machine or 
voice mail service must include a toll-free number that the consumer 
can call to opt out of future package delivery notifications; text 
notifications must include the ability for the recipient to opt out by 
replying ``STOP.''
    The Commission's grant of the requested exemption, to the extent 
indicated herein, is limited to package delivery notifications to 
consumers' wireless phones either by voice or text and only applies so 
long as those calls are not charged to the consumer recipient, 
including not being counted against the consumer's plan limits on 
minutes or texts, and must comply with the conditions the Commission 
adopts. In addition to the limited context within which package 
delivery companies will be making autodialed or prerecorded package 
delivery notification calls to consumers' wireless numbers, the 
conditions adopted herein to protect consumers' privacy interests are 
critical to the Commission's exercise of the statutory authority to 
grant an exemption. Taken as a whole, the Commission finds that these 
conditions simultaneously fulfill the statutory obligation to protect 
consumers' privacy interest in avoiding unwanted calls while allowing 
package delivery companies a reasonable time in which to implement opt-
out elections. The Commission clarifies that, as required by the 
statute, except in an emergency or with the prior express consent of 
the consumer, any party who sends an autodialed or prerecorded package 
delivery notification to a wireless number that is not in full 
conformance with the requirements the Commission adopts today may not 
take advantage of this exemption and risks violating the TCPA.

Ordering Clause

    Pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j), and 227 of the Communications Act 
of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 227, and Sec. Sec.  1.2 
and 64.1200 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.2, 64.1200, that the 
Petition for Expedited Declaratory Ruling filed by Cargo Airline 
Association on August 17, 2012 is granted in part and is otherwise 
dismissed to the extent indicated herein.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-06709 Filed 3-24-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P