Brooklyn's Progress
November 2004

The Federal Communications Commission has issued an order that pushes back the implementation date of its new fax rule to June 30, 2005. The rule will require commercial faxers to get written permission from each fax recipient.

Businesses currently need only an existing business relationship with a customer or consumer to send a fax. The new FCC rule—which was issued along with other changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act on July 3, 2003—repeals the existing business relationship clause.

The new rule would require businesses and nonprofits to obtain written consent from their customers and members before sending faxes advertising goods, services, and memberships.

This is the second time the FCC has rescheduled the rule’s implementation. In August of last year, it delayed implementation to January 1, 2005, in response to concerns raised by businesses, industry groups and chambers of commerce.

In July of 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4600, the Junk Fax Prevention Act, which would overturn the written-permission rule. The Senate version, S. 2603, is out of committee but has not received a vote by the full Senate.  The existing business relationship standard will remain in place until the issue is resolved or the June 30, 2005, deadline is reached, the FCC said.

Click here to view a draft model consent form provided by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which we are linking to for your convenience and reference.