An upcoming change to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) will impact how businesses handle consumer consent for calls and texts. Starting April 11, 2025, the timeframe for honoring revocations of consent will be reduced from 30 days to just 10 business days. It is crucial that businesses stay up to date on changing regulations to ensure compliance.
What’s Changing?
Under the new rule, consumers can revoke their consent to receive calls and texts through any reasonable means, and businesses must honor these requests within 10 business days – a significant reduction from the previous 30-day period.
How Can Consumers Revoke Consent?
The FCC has provided clear guidance on what constitutes reasonable means for revoking consent. This includes:
- Text Messages: replying to a text with “stop,” “quit,” “end,” “revoke,” “opt out,” “cancel,” and “unsubscribe”
- Websites or Phone Numbers: Submitting requests through designated websites or phone numbers set up to process revocations
- Voicemail or Email: Leaving a voicemail or sending an email to a non-designated number or address, as long as the consumer can reasonably expect the company to receive it
- Do Not Call List: If a consumer makes a request to be placed on the company’s Do Not Call list after providing prior consent, that action will revoke the prior consent provided
- Marketing Campaign Revocations: A revocation received during a marketing campaign also opts the consumer out of all informational calls or texts that require consent unless the consumer specifies otherwise
- Revocation Scope: A consumer request to revoke consent for calls will also revoke consent for texts (and vice-versa) unless the consumer specifies otherwise
What Should Businesses do to Prepare?
- Process Updates: Ensure that proper processes are in place to honor revocation requests within the new 10-business-day timeframe.
- Employee Training: Educate your team on the new regulations and the importance of promptly handling revocation requests.
- Review Opt-Out instructions: Review your opt-out instructions to ensure they are clear and accessible.
- Consistent Consent Management: Ensure that call and text systems properly communicate revocations with each other.
- Regular Audits: Conduct regular audits of your marketing and informational campaigns to ensure compliance with TCPA regulations.
Consequences of Noncompliance
Failing to comply with these new TCPA rules can lead to considerable penalties, including fines and legal action. It’s essential to take these changes seriously and ensure your business is fully prepared to meet the new requirements.
Questions about how these revocation of consent changes and other regulatory requirements apply to your call and text initiatives? We can help.
*Tori Geller contributed to this article.
Michele is the Managing Partner at M&S and former Chief of the Ohio Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Section. Bringing more than two decades of experience in the consumer protection arena, she advises highly regulated businesses on a wide range of telemarketing, privacy, and other consumer protection matters.