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A NAFCU-supported Federal Communications Commission's notice of proposed rulemaking regarding scam robocalls and malicious spoofing was published in today's Federal Register.

"NAFCU commends the FCC for targeting the truly bad actors that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act was meant to target, not those entities – such as credit unions – that act in good faith to keep consumers informed on important information and developments affecting their accounts," said NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel Ann Kossachev.

The FCC voted to issue this notice of proposed rulemaking during an open meeting in March attended by NAFCU. During the meeting, FCC Commissioner Michael O'Reilly said the commission's 2015 declaratory ruling and order interpreting the TCPA has harmed businesses and their customers due to legitimate calls being deemed in violation of the act.

O'Reilly also said consumers have been deprived of important information due to the FCC's order. He also mentioned the order's burdensome standard for calls to reassigned numbers and noted that a change must be made. These are all concerns NAFCU has previously raised with the FCC.

He added that he hopes the commission will promulgate better TCPA interpretations that target bad actors without sweeping in innocent parties, and that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will make the "right" decision in the ACA International v. FCC lawsuit, which challenges the validity of the 2015 order.

NAFCU joined this lawsuit in September 2015. Oral arguments were heard in the case in October; the court could issue a decision at any time.