FCC to streamline process for robocall reporting

The FCC adopted rules last week to establish a streamlined process for private entities to report suspected robocall and spoofing violations. Here’s an overview.

Existing robocall reporting

The FCC already has arrangements to receive complaints about suspected robocall violations:

• Individuals can file a complaint in the FCC’s Consumer Complaint Center. The form only has four fields and a way to add file attachments. It’s very streamlined. Complaints go to the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.
• Law enforcement and government agencies can report robocall and spoofing violations to the FCC. They are encouraged to report them to the Robocall Traceback Consortium.
• The Robocall Traceback Consortium can report suspected violations to the FCC.

What’s new

This new order for a streamlined process was required by Section 10 of the TRACED Act. Here’s what this order adds to the existing robocall reporting mechanisms listed above:

• It provides a way for private entities to report suspected robocall violations.
  • An “entity” is an organization, not an individual.
  • A “private” entity excludes government organizations.
• It is not intended for use by individuals. They already have the Consumer Complaint Center. (However, if an individual uses the new portal for private entities, their complaint will be forwarded to the Consumer Complaint Center.)

Like the Consumer Complaint Center, the new robocall complaint portal for private entities will prompt for minimal information, such as:

• Name of the private entity
• Contact information
• Caller ID information displayed
• Phone numbers called
• Dates and times of the calls
• Entity’s service provider
• Description

So, it isn’t as streamlined as the Consumer Complaint Center, but it’s minimal.

What’s next

1. The rules in this order will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
2. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will review new information collection requirements.
3. The Enforcement Bureau will announce the effective date for information collection after the OMB review.
4. The FCC Enforcement Bureau will respond to complaints received from private entities

The FCC order establishing the robocall reporting portal for private entities is available online.

Industry impact

We expect that this new complaint portal will have the following effects on the telephone services industry:

1. Accelerate the investigation of unlawful robocall and spoofing activity.
2. Put further pressure on voice service providers to mitigate the origination of robocalls on their network.
3. Provide additional incentives to deploy SHAKEN call authentication sooner rather than later, despite any extensions that may be available, to help mitigate unlawful spoofing.

TransNexus solutions

We offer STIR/SHAKEN and robocall mitigation solutions in our ClearIP and NexOSS software platforms. We can make your STIR/SHAKEN deployment a smooth process.

In addition, we help service providers with all aspects of STIR/SHAKEN deployment, including registering with the Policy Administrator and filing their certification with the FCC.

Contact us today to learn more.