Media Contact: 
Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509
will.wiquist@fcc.gov
For Immediate Release
FCC CHAIRMAN APPLAUDS 25 YEARS OF 
CONSUMER ROBOCALL & TELEMARKETING PROTECTIONS
Telephone Consumer Protection Action Empowers and Protects Consumers 
  --
WASHINGTON, December 21, 2016 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom 
Wheeler today expressed his strong support for the consumer protections provided by the 
Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Twenty-five years ago this week, President George H.W. 
Bush signed this landmark legislation into law, providing American consumers with rights to 
determine the calls they receive and those they do not.
“Consumers want and deserve control over the calls and texts they receive. The TCPA remains 
the best legal tool we have to protect and empower consumers,” said Chairman Wheeler. “With 
strong rules, vigilant enforcement and support for new tools like robocall blocking, the FCC plays 
a vital role in ensuring that this law protects and empowers consumers as it was intended.”
The TCPA authorizes the FCC to establish strong rules against telemarketing and other unwanted 
robocalls that can be intrusive and at times harmful.  Under the law, consumers have strong 
protections against telemarketing calls to landline phones – such as the Do Not Call registry – and 
broad protections against robocalls to mobile phones. The Commission has also made clear that 
consumers have the same protections against robotext messages that they have for robocalls.
In recent years, the Commission has renewed its commitment to a strong, pro-consumer reading 
of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act as it has become cheaper than ever to bombard 
consumers with unwanted calls and texts.  The FCC has closed loopholes that would allow more 
unwanted calls to reach consumers. As unwanted calls – including telemarketing and robocalls –
remain the number-one consumer complaint to the agency, the FCC has made sure that consumers 
have all the rights possible to control the calls they receive. 
In its 2015 ruling, the Commission reiterated the Act’s definition of an “autodialer” as any 
technology with the capacity to dial random or sequential numbers, thus ensuring new technology 
is not used to work around the law’s consumer protections. The FCC also made clear that a phone 
number being reassigned does not open up a loophole for unwanted robocalls and that consumers 
have the right to revoke their permission to be robocalled.
In addition, the Commission has provided limited, common sense exceptions to the rules. For 
example, utility companies can contact their own customers about possible power 
outages. Schools can contact parents if a student does not show up at school. Your bank can 
contact you about possible fraud on your account. And emergency communications are always 
exempted. 
To read more about consumers’ robocall rights, visit https://www.fcc.gov/robocalls
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Office of Media Relations: (202) 418-0500
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www.fcc.gov/office-media-relations
This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order 
constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).