A coalition of financial services and consumer advocacy organizations wrote to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging the agency to reconsider portions of its 2024 “revoke all” rule, which restricts robocalls and robotexts without prior express consent or a recognized exemption.
The American Bankers Association, ACA International (formerly the American Collectors Association) and the National Consumer Law Center reiterated concerns about the rule’s perceived lack of clarity regarding “reasonable methods of revocation” and “prior express consent.”
“The proposed revisions allow the caller to interpret a revocation request as applying only to the category of messages to which the revocation was directed, while also requiring the caller to provide notice of how revocation will be construed and a means for the consumer to revoke consent with respect to all messages requiring consent,” the organizations wrote. “The revisions also allow a caller to designate a prescribed list of exclusive, reasonable means of revocation in the message sent to the called party.”
The organizations noted they support the rule’s underlying principles aimed to “strengthen consumers’ ability to revoke consent so that it is simple and easy.”
Among the proposed revisions is language intended to clarify the “exclusive means” of revoking consent, which callers or senders would be required to “clearly and conspicuously” disclose to a contacted party. For example, a consumer contacted via text would be notified that they could revoke consent by responding with specific words or phrases, such as “stop,” “quit” or “end.”
The organizations recommended allowing callers or senders to designate a website or another method for consumers to determine how they will receive communications from the caller or sender. They also suggested allowing callers or senders to specify the scope of calls and text messages to which a revocation will apply, provided the caller or sender informed the recipient of an option, including in a separate call or message, to revoke consent with respect to all calls and text messages requiring consent.
Additionally, they suggested the revocation rule stipulate that “[a]ll requests to revoke prior express consent or prior express written consent made following the procedures described … must be honored within seven business days from receipt of such request, unless the caller demonstrates that processing a revocation beyond seven business days is reasonable.”
Originally set to take effect April 11, 2025, the FCC has pushed back its implementation twice amid similar concerns from stakeholders and legal challenges.
In February, the FCC issued an order delaying the effective date to Jan. 31, 2027. The agency said the delay was “to allow the commission to fully assess the record compiled in response to this request for comment on this matter.”
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals offered a legal interpretation of “prior express consent” – another point of contention with respect to the revocation rule – as defined by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in a Feb. 25 ruling in favor of a pest control company that used automated messaging tools to contact customers.