Telephone Consumer Protection Act
47 U.S.C. § 227The Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricts unsolicited calls, robocalls, prerecorded messages, and text messages, with special protections for cell phones and residential lines. It requires prior express consent for most marketing communications and gives consumers the right to revoke that consent at any time.
Reviewed by Carl Rausa, Esq.
What It Covers
The TCPA is the primary federal law regulating telephone and text marketing. It applies to calls and text messages placed using an automatic telephone dialing system, calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice, and marketing to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. The consent requirements are strictest for cell phones, where prior express written consent is required for most marketing calls and texts.
The TCPA also regulates live telemarketers who call numbers listed on the Do Not Call Registry, calls that fail to provide required identification, and calls made outside the permitted 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM window. The Federal Communications Commission implementing rules at 47 C.F.R. Section 64.1200 fill in the operational details, including the consent disclosures and the do-not-call list obligations. The FCC consent-revocation rule (89 Fed. Reg. 15756) took effect April 11, 2025 in the portion requiring callers to honor revocation submitted by any reasonable method within 10 business days. The companion "revoke-all" provision in 47 C.F.R. Section 64.1200(a)(10), which would treat a single revocation as applying across unrelated calls and texts from the same caller, has been delayed by FCC waiver and, as of FCC Order DA 26-12 (January 6, 2026), is scheduled to take effect January 31, 2027.
The statute's enforcement mechanism is its most important feature for consumers. It provides a private right of action with statutory damages of $500 per violation, tripled to $1,500 per violation for willful or knowing conduct. Because each call or text is its own violation, damages scale quickly, which is why the TCPA has become one of the most commonly litigated consumer statutes in federal court.
Key Provisions
- § 227(b)(1)(A) Restricts autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts to cell phones absent prior express consent.
- § 227(b)(1)(B) Restricts prerecorded marketing calls to residential telephone lines absent prior express written consent.
- § 227(b)(3) Private right of action for technology-based violations: $500 per violation, up to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations.
- § 227(c) Authorizes the National Do Not Call Registry and rules protecting residential telephone subscribers from unwanted solicitations.
- § 227(c)(5) Private right of action for Do Not Call Registry violations: up to $500 per violation, up to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations.
- 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 FCC implementing rules, including the reasonable-method consent-revocation requirement and 10-business-day compliance window effective April 11, 2025. The "revoke-all" / cross-channel portion of paragraph (a)(10) is delayed to January 31, 2027 by FCC Order DA 26-12.