The United States Congress voted for passage of S. 714, with the Senate passing the bill on June 24 and the House following suit on June 27th, just four days before the FCC's restrictive fax rules were to go into effect. The bill, which restores the existing business relationship (EBR) exemption for commercial faxing, must be signed by President Bush before becoming effective. The President is expected to sign the bill without hesitation, but the matter is not yet concluded.
Following Congressional passage, the FCC issued an immediate six-month stay on their pending regulations that would have eliminated the EBR exemption for unsolicited advertising faxes altogether. So, even if the legislation is not signed, the FCC rules will not take effect until next year.
PIA did seek clarification as to whether the EBR exemption for faxes would be subject to a time limitation as the telephone EBR currently is. At this point, the FCC has confirmed that there is no time limit on a fax EBR, meaning that the EBR does not cease to exist after some arbitrary amount of time. However, after three months of the bill's passage, the FCC has to ability to regulate the EBR provisions in some respects - if they feel there has been a significant abuse of faxes sent under the EBR exception - and set up a time limit for faxing not unlike the telephone limitations. However, in a conversation with the FCC, no confirmation could be obtained as to whether or not such regulation would progress. PIA will continue to monitor this aspect of the issue.
While S. 714 restores the EBR exception, it also requires that unsolicited commercial faxes include an opt-out provision on the first page of the fax, providing a cost-free, 24/7 means for the recipient to request removal from the fax distribution list.
It is important to note, however, that S. 714 has no effect on the current Do-Not-Call rules, which still preclude an agent from calling a current client beyond an 18-month period from the date of the original contract (insurance carriers are permitted to contact the client for the life of the relationship). PIA continues to petition the FCC to change this ruling, and urges all members to do the same. The Do-Not-Fax victory is a step in the right direction, and hopefully its momentum will help provide a stronger voice to the FCC to allow agents the same rights to contact their customers as carriers enjoy.
It should also be noted that neither the passage of S. 714 nor the FCC stay relieves agents of compliance with individual state statutes in the states that have state do-not-call or do-not fax laws. State laws governing fax and telephone communications are only preempted by federal law if they provide less protection than the federal law. It is imperative that all PIA members check with the laws of every state in which they operate to make sure they are not violating communication laws.
What It Means to Agents: The passage of S. 714 signals a major win for PIA's grassroots campaign, which was launched to prevent agents from having to modify their current fax practices. In addition, Congress has now recognized the importance of applying the EBR exemption to all means of communication with one standard set of rules.
PIA will continue to provide members with up-to-date reports as this issue continues to progress.
To read the text of S. 714 as it passed the U.S. Senate, click on the link below and conduct a search for S. 714.
http://thomas.loc.gov