FCC: Telemarketers must receive consent before robocalling

Federal Communications Commission is taking additional steps to reduce those annoying “robocalls” that can interrupt your dinner or disturb you at other times of the day.

Robocalls are automated phone solicitations or prerecorded phone messages that telemarketers make to your landline telephone or your cellphone.

On Feb. 15, FCC announced that telemarketers now must obtain written consent from a consumer before they can send automated calls.

The new rules eliminate businesses from using the “established business relationship” exemption, in which businesses could send telemarketing calls to customers, and requires businesses to receive written consent from a consumer with whom they have done business in the past.

In addition, all automated calls must include the option for you to decline future robocalls. Such “opt out” requirements likely will amount to you pushing a number on your phone’s keypad at the end of the call, which, unfortunately, means that you’ll have to listen to the entire robocall message.

The new rules also force telemarketers to limit their amount of so-called dead-air calls, in which a consumer receives no response when he/she answers a call.

FCC said telemarketers must comply with written consent, opt-out and dead-air-call regulations within 12 months, 90 days and 30 days, respectively.