STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
Re: In the Matter of Implementation of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 
2012; Establishment of a Public Safety Answering Point Do-Not-Call Registry, CG Docket No. 
12-129
We all know robocalls can be seriously irritating.  But the fact is there are times when robocalls 
go far beyond just being a nuisance.  They become life-threatening. 
Some robocallers tie up phone lines at emergency response centers, meaning that 9-1-1 callers get 
busy signals. In emergency situations, minutes – even seconds—matter.   Robocalls to emergency 
response centers put lives at risk and are beyond unacceptable.  This order would bring this appalling 
practice to a stop.  
With this action, we implement an important feature of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 
Creation Act of 2012 by establishing a specialized Do-Not-Call registry for telephone numbers used 
by Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to provide emergency services.
We empower PSAPs to decide which of their lines are critical for emergency response and allow 
them to add these numbers to a registry modeled on the successful National Do-Not-Call registry that 
protects more than 200 million residential numbers from unwanted telemarketing calls.
To send a clear signal to robocallers that we take this threat seriously and will not tolerate these 
calls, we are implementing the large penalty amounts that Congress established.  
Now that our rules are in place, we will begin the next phase: setting up the registry, and getting 
the word out, both to emergency service providers and to users of robocallers.
Today’s order is another step in the Commission’s important work to help strengthen and 
modernize our emergency response system, which includes our work on NG911 and emergency 
alerts. 
Thank you to my fellow Commissioners and to the Commission staff for their hard work to date 
and going forward.  I also want to thank the public safety community for their partnership in this 
effort as well as Congresswoman Eshoo and Congressman Shimkus for their leadership on this 
important issue.