CUNA and other trade organizations followed up a meeting with the Federal Communications Commission last week with a letter sent Tuesday asking for error correction in the agency’s December 2020 Telephone Consumer Protection Act Report and Order.

The FCC exempted from the TCPA’s prior express consent certain informational calls in earlier orders. The December 2020 order limits the number of calls that may be placed under the Informational Calls Exemption to three calls within any consecutive 30-day period.

The organizations note, however, that in making the change the FCC amended a section of federal regulations in a manner that “appears to inadvertently” impose a prior express written consent requirement on informational calls made outside of the Informational Calls Exemption.

“Imposing a written consent requirement was clearly in error as it conflicts directly with the text of the Order and other codified regulations in Section 64.1200,” the organizations note. “The Order applies a prior express consent standard for calls that exceed the informational call limits and states that such consent could be obtained during exempted telephone calls.”

CUNA asks the FCC to issue an Erratum that removes the word “written” from the relevant section and  adds a new paragraph that applies the prior express written consent requirement to telemarking prerecorded or artificial voice calls to residential lines.