The Commission, in its Fourth Report and Order, took several steps to crack down on illegal robocalls. It recently published a set of guidelines to assist RLECs and other small carriers in complying with this important rulemaking to curb these calls.
Three affirmative obligations are required of all such voice service providers: First, they must respond to Commission traceback requests; second, they must take steps to effectively mitigate suspected illegal traffic when notified by the Commission; and third, they must take effective steps to prevent new customers from originating illegal calls.
Voice service providers are protected from liability if they block calls at the network level, without allowing consumers to opt out, if they meet certain criteria. These include a determination that the calls are part of a likely illegal call pattern, that sufficient human oversight is used to assure that blocking is working as intended, and that it is applied in a consistent and non-discriminatory manner.
There are also requirements for recordkeeping and reporting, covering results of investigations and mitigation steps taken.
A copy of the Fourth Report and Order is available at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-187A1.pdf
