The TRACED Act implements a number of new regulations on robocalls, primarily by way of instructions to the FCC and other federal agencies and departments. Among the main provisions of the TRACED Act are the following:
The Pallone-Thune TRACED Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump on December 30, 2019. The act—whose name is an acronym for Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence—is sponsored by South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune and New Jersey Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone.
The TRACED ACT modifies sections of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which is itself an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934, codified as 47 U.S.C. § 227.
An autodialer with a prerecorded message (commonly referred to as a “robocall”) automatically dials a phone number and waits for a live answer. Upon answer, a prerecorded message will play. If the consumer is then prompted to interact with the system by pressing buttons, this is known as interactive voice response. There is normally a delay between the consumer answering and the connection to the prerecorded message.
Further Reading
The main provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) are as follows:
Calling Time Restrictions
Companies can contact residential consumers only between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM (recipient’s time zone).
Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems (ATDS)
The TCPA restricts autodialed marketing calls and texts to cell phones and other devices where the recipient might be charged for the call without written consent, and non-marketing autodialed calls without prior express consent.