Buchanan: FCC must ensure federal law is implemented to end robocalls

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) requested that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ensure that U.S. telecommunication companies fully implement anti-spam technology mandated by law to help stop robocalls.

“Complete industry compliance enforced by the FCC is required by law and anything short of that will not adequately protect Americans from being further targeted by bad actors,” Rep. Buchanan wrote in an Oct. 14 letter sent to Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.

In 2019, Congress passed the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act to crack down on illegal robocalls and penalize scammers with fines up to $10,000 per call, according to Rep. Buchanan’s letter, which noted that the law also requires phone companies to upgrade their caller ID systems to notify customers if a call is coming from a legitimate number.

The FCC gave telecom companies a June 30 deadline to comply with TRACED Act requirements and to then report to the FCC by Sept. 28. Companies with less than 100,000 customers have until June 2023 to upgrade their technology.

“Without widespread compliance by domestic telecommunication companies, these scam calls will continue unfettered and will remain a nuisance going forward,” wrote Rep. Buchanan.

The congressman cited a September report released by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund showing that just 17 percent of the 3,063 service providers that reported their status to the FCC by Sept. 3 had fully implemented the anti-robocall technology required by the TRACED Act law, while only 27 percent had partially implemented the technology and 56 percent had not implemented the technology at all.

“Our senior citizens are high priority targets for scam artists and unscrupulous actors,”  Rep. Buchanan said in a related statement. “It’s critical we do everything in our power to protect seniors from fraudulent robocalls.” 

The congressman requested that Rosenworcel answer several questions, including what actions the FCC will take moving forward to ensure bad actors do not further exploit the telecom companies that are unable or unwilling to implement the anti-spam technology required by the TRACED Act.

“If… a majority of telecommunication companies have yet to fulfill important TRACED Act requirements, it is imperative that the FCC immediately address this issue and take swift, appropriate action to enforce compliance,” he wrote.