No-call law is fuzzy on some faxes
Posted on Thu, Aug. 14, 2003
KansasCity.com
By DIANE STAFFORD, Columnist

Is your office fax machine a bit quieter yet?

Generally overlooked in the hubbub about implementation of the national no-call telemarketing law was a Federal Communications Commission rule limiting facsimile communications.

As of Aug. 25, unless the FCC agrees to requests for a stay of implementation, new regulations will prohibit many routine faxes without the express written consent of the recipient.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Realtors and the American Society of Association Executives are among organizations seeking a stay. A chamber spokesman flat out says the new rule is "ludicrous."

The big issue for some associations is that they will be required to get written permission from their members in order to send "unsolicited advertisements."

While that sounds like a reasonable corollary to the no-call telemarketing law, the devil's in the interpretation details.

"One of the things the associations are asking, especially the nonprofit groups, is whether informational messages are counted as advertising," said FCC spokesman Dan Rumelt. "So far, there's no answer to that question."

Rumelt said FCC commissioners were wading through several hundred responses to the new regulations and a handful of stay requests. Among the questions under consideration:

"If there's a cost associated with the message, such as telling an association's membership about a luncheon that members have to pay for, would that be covered?" Rumelt said. "A lot of people are reading into the law that it would be. Others don't know."

Organizations -- for-profit and nonprofit -- say it will cost too much to contact all their business associates to get signed permissions to send faxes to them. Other organizations say it's a tempest in a teapot.

"Our association doesn't do mass faxing," said Rick Stroud, communications manager for the International Association of Administrative Professionals, based in Kansas City. "It's intrusive. After all, it's our members' paper and time that we're using. Years ago we used fax communications but received a lot of flak about it. We use other means of communication because we don't like getting a lot of faxes either."

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act defines unsolicited ads as "any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or services which is transmitted to any person without that person's prior express invitation or permission."

Previously, regulations allowed such messages if they were sent between people or entities that had an "established business relationship." The rules published this summer deleted the "established business relationship" permission slip.

Does it cost more for senders to obtain permissions to send fax messages than it does for recipients to handle paper, toner, time and labor expenses associated with getting faxes?

There isn't a solid answer to that.

But when regulators and regulated organizations don't even know what constitutes an unsolicited ad, it's clear this well-intended consumer protection effort still has some glitches to overcome.

Diane Stafford writes about workplace issues on Thursdays and Sundays. To reach her, write the business desk at 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64108; send e-mail to stafford@kcstar.com; or call (816) 234-4359.