FCC Establishes Reassigned Phone Number Database and New TCPA Safe Harbor
On December 12, 2018, the FCC announced that it adopted new rules to establish a reassigned numbers database that will enable any caller to verify whether a telephone number has been reassigned before calling that number.
According to the rule, telephone service providers are required to keep accurate and complete records associated with permanent disconnections of their subscribers on a going-forward basis. Providers with less than 100,000 domestic retail subscriber lines aggregated over all of the provider’s affiliates are given a six-month delay in the recordkeeping requirement. Once the database is established, providers must report each permanently disconnected number that has been disassociated with the subscriber on the 15th day of each month. The rule allows a 45 day aging period which ensures that each month’s permanent disconnects are reported to the database before a number is reassigned.
Callers may, if they choose, use the database to determine whether a telephone number has been permanently disconnected after a certain date. This allows the caller to determine if the number is no longer assigned to the party the caller wants to reach. Importantly, the rule also establishes an additional TCPA safe harbor to encourage callers to utilize the database. Callers shall be protected from TCPA liability for any calls to reassigned numbers resulting from database error.
The FCC press release can be found here and the Second Report and Order can be found here.
