It was not that long ago that the FCC and FTC had conflicting regulations on several telemarketing related issues (such as call abandonment rules). But those days are past. In an effort to continue their collaboration on consumer protection matters, the FCC and FTC have signed a memorandum of understanding.

As the memorandum states “[w]hereas the FCC and FTC wish to continue working together to protect consumers and the public interest and, in so doing, avoid duplicative, redundant, or inconsistent oversight in these areas, building upon their long history of cooperation on matters of overlapping authority, including, for example, telemarketing enforcement… The FCC and the FTC will continue to work together to protect consumers from acts and practices that are deceptive, unfair, unjust and/or unreasonable…” The memorandum also indicated that the FCC will begin to share relevant consumer complaints with the Consumer Sentinel Network.

This increased collaboration should cause concern for the call center industry for two reasons. First, businesses should expect to see joint enforcement actions by the FCC and FTC. Having either the FTC or the FCC bring an enforcement action against you is bad enough. But to be hit by a collaborative action by both at the same time could be devastating to a company. Second, as the industry is well aware, the FCC has recently been interpreting the TCPA in increasingly radical ways. Should the FTC be influenced by the FCC’s interpretations, and begin to interpret the Telemarketing Sales Rule in a similar manner, it could make it even more difficult for companies to be compliant, and expose them to further potential liability.