Exemptions

In July 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Omnibus Declaratory Ruling and Order that overhauled and updated a number of aspects of the statute. Among the changes was a debt exemption that permitted automated calls to cellphones when the calls were for the collection of government-backed debt such as a student loan. 

Purely informational texts follow the same implied consent rules as delivery and service notifications. However, if any part of your informational text could be considered marketing and you are using a device that meets the current standards for what constitutes an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS), you would need express written consent. Therefore, best practices are to get express written consent even for informational texts.

Political campaigns get a small amount of wiggle room when making calls or sending texts using an Automatic Telephone Dialing System (ATDS). Calls to landlines numbers do not require consent and it is not required to suppress numbers against the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry. However, calls or texts to wireless numbers require prior express consent.

Further Reading

• TCPA Risks for Political Campaigns

So long as consumers are not charged and can easily opt-out, delivery companies are exempt from obtaining consent under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) when sending delivery notifications. Standard non-marketing and opt-out rules apply.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allows two exemptions under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for healthcare providers. 

Healthcare Messages (The “Health Care Rule”) 
Healthcare providers are allowed to make calls to residential landlines from an entity covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), including its business associates, using an artificial or prerecorded message to deliver a healthcare-related message without the consent of the called party. 

Financial institutions are sometimes exempt from the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) prohibition on the use of Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems (ATDS) when they send time-sensitive, voice or text messages which address financial issues related to the customer’s account, so long as no part of the message could be considered marketing.

In order to exercise the exemption for financial institutions, some basic rules must also be followed:

Yes. These exemptions cause much confusion in the industry, leading to devastating fines and settlements. In the face of these exemptions, the vagueness of whether Business-to-Business (B2B) calls are covered under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TPCA) often leads reasonable people to think they are not.

In certain circumstances, utilities are exempt from following the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) usual consent requirements. Namely, they are allowed to use the less stringent standard of implied consent if they are a bona fide non-profit or when sending non-marketing messages. Examples of such messages would be information about such topics as emergencies, circumstances where services will be shut off, and service notifications.

In certain circumstances, schools are exempt from following the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) usual consent requirements. Namely, they are allowed to use the less stringent standard of implied consent if they are a bona fide non-profit or when sending non-marketing messages. Examples of such messages would be information about such topics as emergencies, school closures, and unexpected absences.

No. While there are exemptions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that may apply to some non-profit organizations depending on the content of the messages, there is no blanket exemption. Non-profits are still required to abide by the strictures of the TCPA.