In a previous blog post, we reported on the FCC’s new pro-consumer TCPA ruling. On July 10, 2015, the FCC officially released the Declaratory Ruling and Order, which became effective immediately. The ruling creates new and increased compliance and litigation challenges for businesses. A more detailed analysis of these changes can be found in our previous blog post.

Recapping the highlights of the new ruling:

• Telephone service providers may now offer robocall-blocking services to their customers
• Consumers may revoke their consent to receive robocalls or robotext messages “in any reasonable way at any time”
• Businesses must stop calling reassigned numbers after one call
• The FCC expounded on the TCPA’s definition of “autodialer,” siding with those courts which have held that potential capacity is sufficient to satisfy the TCPA’s definition
• Text messages are subject to the same consent-based restrictions as voice calls to wireless numbers

ACA International, the national association representing credit and collection professionals, already filed a lawsuit seeking judicial review of the Order and future appeals of certain aspects of the ruling are expected to be filed.  In the interim, businesses should evaluate how to comply with the FCC’s new interpretations of the TCPA.