1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i What Is An Autodialer? A Lingering Robocall Enforcement Question February 13, 2020 On December 30, 2019, President Trump signed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterren
2、ce Act (TRACED Act) into law. The TRACED Act is Congresss latest effort to control the proliferation of unwanted automated telemarketing calls, commonly known as “robocalls.” The committee report accompanying the act notes that while existing law makes certain types of robocalls illegal, including t
3、hose made without the recipients consent, U.S. numbers continue to receive more of these calls each year. The TRACED Act enables the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enforce more aggressively the prohibitions on unwanted robocalls included in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). A
4、mong other things, the TRACED Act authorizes the FCC to seek forfeiture penalties for first-time violators and extends the statute of limitations for intentional violations to four years. However, one central enforcement issue remains unresolved: what exactly is a “robocall”? The TCPA makes it illeg