[47
U.S.C.
227] R
ESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT
(a) D
EFINITIONS
.—As used in this section—
(1) The term “automatic telephone dialing
system” means equipment which has the
capacity—
(A) to store or produce telephone numb
ers to be called, using a random or
sequential number generator; and
(B) to dial such numbers.
(2) The term “established business relati
onship”, for purposes only of subsection
(b)(1)(C)(i), shall have the meaning given th
e term in section 64.1200 of title 47, Code of
Federal Regulations, as in eff
ect on January 1, 2003, except that—
(A) such term shall include a relation
ship between a person or entity and a
business subscriber subject to the same
terms applicable under such section to a
relationship between a person or entity
and a residential subscriber; and
B) an established business relationship
shall be subject to any time limitation
established pursuant to
paragraph (2)(G)).
(3) The term “telephone facs
imile machine” means equipmen
t which has the capacity (A)
to transcribe text or images, or both, from pa
per into an electronic signal and to transmit
that signal over a regular telephone line, or (B)
to transcribe text or
images (or both) from
an electronic signal received over a
regular telephone line onto paper.
(4) The term “telephone solicita
tion” means the initiation of
a telephone call or message
for the purpose of encouraging the purchase
or rental of, or i
nvestment in, property,
goods, or services, which is transmitted to any person, but such term does not include a
call or message (A) to any person with th
at person’s prior express invitation or
permission, (B) to any person with whom
the caller has an established business
relationship, or (C) by a ta
x exempt nonprofit organization.
(5) The term “unsolicited advertisement” m
eans any material advertising the commercial
availability or quality of any property, goods
, or services which is transmitted to any
person without that person’s prior express invitation or permission, in writing or
otherwise.
(b) R
ESTRICTIONS ON THE USE OF AUTOMATED TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT
.—
(1) P
ROHIBITIONS
.—It shall be unlawful for any person
within the United States, or any
person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States—
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(A) to make any call (other than a ca
ll made for emergency purposes or made
with the prior express cons
ent of the called party) using any automatic telephone
dialing system or an artifi
cial or prerecorded voice—
(i) to any emergency telephone line
(including any “911” line and any
emergency line of a hospital, medical
physician or service office, health
care facility, poison control center, or
fire protection or law enforcement
agency);
(ii) to the telephone line of any guest
room or patient room of a hospital,
health care facility, elderly home,
or similar establishment; or
(iii) to any telephone number assign
ed to a paging service, cellular
telephone service, specia
lized mobile radio serv
ice, or other radio
common carrier service, or any serv
ice for which the called party is
charged for the call;
(B) to initiate any tele
phone call to any resident
ial telephone line using an
artificial or prer
ecorded voice to deliver a messa
ge without the prior express
consent of the called party,
unless the call is initiated
for emergency purposes or
is exempted by rule or order by the Commission under paragraph (2)(B);
(C) to use any telephone facsimile machine,
computer, or other device to send, to
a telephone facsimile machine, an unso
licited advertisemen
t to a telephone
facsimile machine, unless—
(i) the unsolicited advertisement is
from a sender with an established
business relationship with the recipient;
(ii) the sender obtained the number
of the telephone facsimile machine
through—
(I) the voluntary communication
of such number, within the
context of such established business relationship, from the
recipient of the unsolicited advertisement, or
(II) a directory, advertisement, or
site on the Internet to which the
recipient voluntarily agreed to make available its facsimile number
for public distribution,
except that this clause shall not a
pply in the case of an unsolicited
advertisement that is sent based on
an established business relationship
with the recipient that
was in existence before July 9, 2005, if the sender
possessed the facsimile machine number of
the recipient before such date
of enactment; and
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(iii) the unsolicited advertisemen
t contains a notice meeting the
requirements under paragraph (2)(D),
except that the exception under
clauses (i) and (ii) shall
not apply with respect to
an unsolicited advertisement sent to a
telephone facsimile machine by a sender to
whom a request has been made not to send future unsolicited advertisements to
such telephone facsimile machine that
complies with the requirements under
paragraph (2)(E); or
(D) to use an automatic telephone dialing sy
stem in such a way that two or more
telephone lines of a multi-line busi
ness are engaged simultaneously.
(2) R
EGULATIONS
;
EXEMPTIONS AND OTHER PROVISIONS
.—The Commission shall
prescribe regulations to implement the requi
rements of this subsection. In implementing
the requirements of this
subsection, the Commission—
(A) shall consider prescribing regulations
to allow businesses to avoid receiving
calls made using an artificial or prerecor
ded voice to which they have not given
their prior express consent;
(B) may, by rule or order, exempt from
the requirements of paragraph (1)(B) of
this subsection, subject to such conditi
ons as the Commission may prescribe—
(i) calls that are not made for a commercial purpose; and
(ii)
such classes or categories of calls
made for commercial purposes as
the Commission determines—
(I) will not adversely affect the privacy rights that this section is
intended to protect; and
(II) do not include the transmission of any unsolicited
advertisement;
(C) may, by rule or order, exempt from
the requirements of paragraph (1)(A)(iii)
of this subsection calls to a telephone nu
mber assigned to a cellular telephone
service that are not charged
to the called party, subject
to such conditions as the
Commission may prescribe as necessary in th
e interest of the pr
ivacy rights this
section is intended to protect;
(D) shall provide that a notice contained
in an unsolicited advertisement complies
with the requirements under this subparagraph only if—
(i) the notice is clear and conspic
uous and on the first page of the
unsolicited advertisement;
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S . § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(ii) the notice states that the recipien
t may make a request to the sender of
the unsolicited advertisement not to send any future unsolicited
advertisements to a telephone facsim
ile machine or machines and that
failure to comply, within the shortest reasonable time, as determined by
the Commission, with such a request meeting the requirements under
subparagraph (E)
is unlawful;
(iii) the notice sets forth the requir
ements for a request under subparagraph
(E);
(iv) the notice includes—
(I) a domestic contact telephone a
nd facsimile machine number for
the recipient to transmit such a request to the sender; and
(II) a cost-free mechanism for a
recipient to transmit a request
pursuant to such notice to
the sender of the unsolicited
advertisement; the Commission shall by rule require the sender to
provide such a mechanism and may, in the discretion of the
Commission and subject to such
conditions as the Commission
may prescribe, exempt certain classes of small business senders,
but only if the Commission determines
that the costs to such class
are unduly burdensome given the revenue generated by such small
businesses;
(v) the telephone and facsimile m
achine numbers and the cost-free
mechanism set forth pursuant to clau
se (iv) permit an individual or
business to make such a request at
any time on any day of the week; and
(vi) the notice complies with the
requirements of subsection (d);
(E) shall provide, by rule
, that a request not to
send future unsolicited
advertisements to a telep
hone facsimile machine complies with the requirements
under this subpara
graph only if—
(i) the request identifie
s the telephone number or
numbers of the telephone
facsimile machine or machines
to which the request relates;
(ii) the request is made to the teleph
one or facsimile number of the sender
of such an unsolicited
advertisement provided pursuant to subparagraph
(D)(iv) or by any other method of
communication as determined by the
Commission; and
(iii) the person making the request ha
s not, subsequent to such request,
provided express invitation or permi
ssion to the sender, in writing or
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(A) an action based on a violation of
the regulations prescribed under this
subsection to enjoin such violation,
(B) an action to recover for actual moneta
ry loss from such a violation, or to
receive up to $500 in damages for each such violation, whichever is greater, or
(C) both such actions.
It shall be an affirmative defense in a
ny action brought under this paragraph that the
defendant has established and implemented,
with due care, reasonable practices and
procedures to effectively prevent telephone so
licitations in violation of the regulations
prescribed under this subsect
ion. If the court finds that
the defendant willfully or
knowingly violated the regulati
ons prescribed under this s
ubsection, the court may, in its
discretion, increase the amount of
the award to an amount equal to not more than 3 times
the amount available under subpara
graph (B) of this paragraph.
(6) R
ELATION TO SUBSECTION
(b).—The provisions of this subsection shall not be
construed to permit a communicatio
n prohibited by subsection (b).
(d) T
ECHNICAL AND PROCEDURAL STANDARDS
.—
(1) P
ROHIBITION
.—It shall be unlawful for any
person within the United States—
(A) to initiate any communi
cation using a telephone f
acsimile machine, or to
make any telephone call using any automa
tic telephone dialing system, that does
not comply with the technical and proce
dural standards pres
cribed under this
subsection, or to use any
telephone facsimile machin
e or automatic telephone
dialing system in a manner that does not comply with such standards; or
(B) to use a computer or other electr
onic device to send any message via a
telephone facsimile machine unless such person clearly marks, in a margin at the
top or bottom of each transmitted page of
the message or on the first page of the
transmission, the date and time it is sent and an identification of the business,
other entity, or individua
l sending the message and th
e telephone number of the
sending machine or of such busine
ss, other entity, or individual.
(2) T
ELEPHONE FACSIMILE MACHINES
.—The Commission shall revise the regulations
setting technical and procedur
al standards for telephone facs
imile machines to require
that any such machine which is manufactur
ed after one year after December 20, 1991
clearly marks, in a margin at the top or bo
ttom of each transmitted page or on the first
page of each transmission, the date and time se
nt, an identification of the business, other
entity, or individual sending the message
, and the telephone number of the sending
machine or of such business, other entity, or individual.
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(3) A
RTIFICIAL OR PRERECORDED VOICE SYSTEMS
.—The Commission shall prescribe
technical and procedural standa
rds for systems that are used to transmit any artificial or
prerecorded voice message via telephone.
Such standards shall require that—
(A) all artificial or prerecorded telephone
messages (i) shall, at the beginning of
the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity
initiating the call, and (ii) shall, during
or after the message, state clearly the
telephone number or address of such bus
iness, other entity, or individual; and
(B) any such system will automatically release the called party’s line within 5
seconds of the time notification is transm
itted to the system that the called party
has hung up, to allow the called party’s line to
be used to make or receive other
calls.
(e) E
FFECT ON
S
TATE LAW
.—
(1) S
TATE LAW NOT PREEMPTED
.—Except for the standards pr
escribed under subsection
(d) and subject to paragraph (2) of this s
ubsection, nothing in this
section or in the
regulations prescribed under th
is section shall preempt any
State law that imposes more
restrictive intrastate requirements or
regulations on, or which prohibits—
(A) the use of telephone facs
imile machines or other
electronic devices to send
unsolicited advertisements;
(B) the use of automatic
telephone dialing systems;
(C) the use of artificial or
prerecorded voice messages; or
(D) the making of telephone solicitations.
(2) S
TATE USE OF DATABASES
.—If, pursuant to subsecti
on (c)(3), the Commission
requires the establishment of
a single national database of telephone numbers of
subscribers who object to receiving telephone so
licitations, a State or local authority may
not, in its regulation of telephone solicitations
, require the use of a
ny database, list, or
listing system that does not include the part of
such single national data
base that relates to
such State.
(f) A
CTIONS BY
S
TATES
.—
(1) A
UTHORITY OF
S
TATES
.—Whenever the attorney general of
a State, or an official or
agency designated by a State, has reason to
believe that any pers
on has engaged or is
engaging in a pattern or practi
ce of telephone calls or other tr
ansmissions to residents of
that State in violation of this
section or the regulations pr
escribed under th
is section, the
State may bring a civil action on behalf of its
residents to enjoin su
ch calls, an action to
recover for actual monetary loss or receive
$500 in damages for each violation, or both
such actions. If the court finds the defenda
nt willfully or knowingly violated such
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
regulations, the court may, in its discretion,
increase the amount of the award to an
amount equal to not more than 3 times
the amount available under the preceding
sentence.
(2) E
XCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF FEDERAL COURTS
.—The district courts of the United
States, the United States courts of any terr
itory, and the District
Court of the United
States for the District of Co
lumbia shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all civil actions
brought under this subsection. Upon proper appl
ication, such courts shall also have
jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus, or
orders affording like relief, commanding the
defendant to comply with the provisions of
this section or regulations prescribed under
this section, including
the requirement that the defendant take such action as is necessary
to remove the danger of such violati
on. Upon a proper showing, a permanent or
temporary injunction or restraining
order shall be granted without bond.
(3) R
IGHTS OF
C
OMMISSION
.—The State shall serve prior wr
itten notice of any such civil
action upon the Commission and provide the Commission with a copy of its complaint,
except in any case where such prior notice is
not feasible, in whic
h case the State shall
serve such notice immediately upon instituti
ng such action. The Commission shall have
the right (A) to intervene in the action, (B)
upon so intervening, to be heard on all matters
arising therein, and (C) to file petitions for appeal.
(4) V
ENUE
;
SERVICE OF PROCESS
.—Any civil action brought unde
r this subsection in a
district court of the United States may be br
ought in the district wh
erein the defendant is
found or is an inhabitant or
transacts business or wherein
the violation occurred or is
occurring, and process in such cases may be se
rved in any district in which the defendant
is an inhabitant or wher
e the defendant may be found.
(5) I
NVESTIGATORY POWERS
.—For purposes of bringing
any civil action under this
subsection, nothing in this secti
on shall prevent the attorney
general of a State, or an
official or agency designated by a State,
from exercising the powers conferred on the
attorney general or such official by the laws
of such State to conduct investigations or to
administer oaths or affirmations or to
compel the attendance of witnesses or the
production of documentary and other evidence.
(6) E
FFECT ON STATE COURT PROCEEDINGS
.—Nothing contained in
this subsection shall
be construed to prohibit an authorized State o
fficial from proceeding
in State court on the
basis of an alleged violation of any general
civil or criminal statute of such State.
(7) L
IMITATION
.—Whenever the Commission has institute
d a civil action for violation of
regulations prescribed unde
r this section, no State may, during the pendency of such
action instituted by the Commission, subseque
ntly institute a civi
l action against any
defendant named in the Commission’s compla
int for any violation as alleged in the
Commission’s complaint.
(8) D
EFINITION
.—As used in this subsection, the term
“attorney general” means the chief
legal officer of a State.
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(g)
JUNK FAX ENFORCEMENT REPORT
.—The Commission shall submit an annual report to
Congress regarding the enforcement
during the past year of the provi
sions of this section relating
to the sending of unsolicited advertisements to
telephone facsimile mach
ines, which report shall
include—
(1) the number of complaints received by th
e Commission during such year alleging that
a consumer received an unso
licited advertisement via telephone facsimile machine in
violation of the Commission’s rules;
(2) the number of citations i
ssued by the Commission pursu
ant to section 503 during the
year to enforce any law, regulation, or
policy relating to sending of unsolicited
advertisements to telephone facsimile machines;
(3) the number of notices of apparent liab
ility issued by the Commission pursuant to
section 503 during the year
to enforce any law, regulation,
or policy relating to sending of
unsolicited advertisements to telephone facsimile machines;
(4) for each notice referred
to in paragraph (3)—
(A) the amount of the proposed forfeiture penalty involved;
(B) the person to whom the notice was issued;
(C) the length of time between the date
on which the complaint was filed and the
date on which the not
ice was issues; and
(D) the status of the proceeding;
(5) the number of final orders imposing forfe
iture penalties issues
pursuant to section 503
during the year to enforce any
law, regulation, or policy relati
ng to sending of unsolicited
advertisements to telephone facsimile machines;
(6) for each forfeiture order re
ferred to in paragraph (5)—
(A) the amount of the pena
lty imposed by the order;
(B) the person to whom
the order was issued;
(C) whether the forfeiture
penalty has been paid; and
(D) the amount paid;
(7) for each case in which a person has failed to
pay a forfeiture penalty imposed by such
a final order, whether the Commission referred
such matter for recovery of the penalty;
and
This summary of the Telephone Consumer Protec
tion Act (47 U.S.C. § 2
27) is provided for
convenience only. Individuals should also refer to the United States Code at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov
.
(8) for each case in which the Commission
referred such an order for recovery—
(A) the number of days from the date th
e Commission issued such order to the
date of such referral;
(B) whether an action has been commenced
to recover the penalty, and if so, the
number of days from the date the Commi
ssion referred such order for recovery to
the date of such commencement; and
(C) whether the recovery ac
tion resulted in collection
of any amount, and if so,
the amount collected.