HR 2601
12-11-07, House Agreed to Bill by Voice Vote
See S. 781, Which Became Public Law 110-188
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2601
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 12, 2007
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation
AN ACT
To extend the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to collect
fees to administer and enforce the provisions relating to the `Do-not-call'
registry of the Telemarketing Sales Rule.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Do-Not-Call Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007'.
SEC. 2. FEES FOR ACCESS TO REGISTRY.
Section 2, of the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 note) is
amended to read as follows:
`SEC. 2. TELEMARKETING SALES RULE; DO-NOT-CALL REGISTRY FEES.
`(a) In General- The Federal Trade Commission shall assess and collect an
annual fee pursuant to this section in order to implement and enforce the
`do-not-call' registry as provided for in section 310.4(b)(1)(iii) of title
16, Code of Federal Regulations, or any other regulation issued by the Commission
under section 3 of the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention
Act (15 U.S.C. 6102).
`(1) IN GENERAL- The Commission shall charge each person who accesses the
`do-not-call' registry an annual fee that is equal to the lesser of--
`(A) $54 for each area code of data accessed from the registry; or
`(B) $14,850 for access to every area code of data contained in the registry.
`(2) EXCEPTION- The Commission shall not charge a fee to any person--
`(A) for accessing the first 5 area codes of data; or
`(B) for accessing area codes of data in the registry if the person is
permitted to access, but is not required to access, the `do-not-call'
registry under section 310 of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations, section
64.1200 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any other Federal
regulation or law.
`(A) IN GENERAL- The Commission shall allow each person who pays the annual
fee described in paragraph (1), each person excepted under paragraph (2)
from paying the annual fee, and each person excepted from paying an annual
fee under section 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B) of title 16, Code of Federal Regulations,
to access the area codes of data in the `do-not-call' registry for which
the person has paid during that person's annual period.
`(B) ANNUAL PERIOD- In this paragraph, the term `annual period' means
the 12-month period beginning on the first day of the month in which a
person pays the fee described in paragraph (1).
`(1) IN GENERAL- The Commission shall charge a person required to pay an
annual fee under subsection (b) an additional fee for each additional area
code of data the person wishes to access during that person's annual period.
`(2) RATES- For each additional area code of data to be accessed during
the person's annual period, the Commission shall charge--
`(A) $54 for access to such data if access to the area code of data is
first requested during the first 6 months of the person's annual period;
or
`(B) $27 for access to such data if access to the area code of data is
first requested after the first 6 months of the person's annual period.
`(A) FISCAL YEAR 2009- The dollar amount described in subsection (b) or
(c) is the amount to be charged for fiscal year 2009.
`(B) FISCAL YEARS AFTER 2009- For each fiscal year beginning after fiscal
year 2009, each dollar amount in subsection (b)(1) and (c)(2) shall be
increased by an amount equal to--
`(i) the dollar amount in paragraph (b)(1) or (c)(2), whichever is applicable,
multiplied by
`(ii) the percentage (if any) by which the CPI for the most recently
ended 12-month period ending on June 30 exceeds the baseline CPI.
`(2) ROUNDING- Any increase under subparagraph (B) shall be rounded to the
nearest dollar.
`(3) CHANGES LESS THAN 1 PERCENT- The Commission shall not adjust the fees
under this section if the change in the CPI is less than 1 percent.
`(4) PUBLICATION- Not later than September 1 of each year the Commission
shall publish in the Federal Register the adjustments to the applicable
fees, if any, made under this subsection.
`(5) DEFINITIONS- In this subsection:
`(A) CPI- The term `CPI' means the average of the monthly consumer price
index (for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor).
`(B) BASELINE CPI- The term `baseline CPI' means the CPI for the 12-month
period ending June 30, 2008.
`(e) Prohibition Against Fee Sharing- No person may enter into or participate
in an arrangement (as such term is used in section 310.8(c) of the Commission's
regulations (16 CFR 310.8(c))) to share any fee required by subsection (b)
or (c), including any arrangement to divide the costs to access the registry
among various clients of a telemarketer or service provider.
`(1) IN GENERAL- The commission shall deposit and credit as offsetting collections
any fee collected under this section in the account `Federal Trade Commission--Salaries
and Expenses', and such sums shall remain available until expended.
`(2) LIMITATION- No amount shall be collected as a fee under this section
for any fiscal year except to the extent provided in advance by appropriations
Acts.'.
SEC. 3. REPORT.
Section 4 of the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended
to read as follows:
`SEC. 4. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
`(a) Biennial Reports- Not later than December 31, 2009, and biennially thereafter,
the Federal Trade Commission, in consultation with the Federal Communications
Commission, shall transmit a report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation and the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and
Commerce that includes--
`(1) the number of consumers who have placed their telephone numbers on
the registry;
`(2) the number of persons paying fees for access to the registry and the
amount of such fees;
`(3) the impact on the `do-not-call' registry of--
`(A) the 5-year reregistration requirement;
`(B) new telecommunications technology; and
`(C) number portability and abandoned telephone numbers; and
`(4) the impact of the established business relationship exception on businesses
and consumers.
`(b) Additional Report- Not later than December 31, 2009, the Federal Trade
Commission, in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission, shall
transmit a report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
and the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce that includes--
`(1) the effectiveness of do-not-call outreach and enforcement efforts with
regard to senior citizens and immigrant communities;
`(2) the impact of the exceptions to the do-not-call registry on businesses
and consumers, including an analysis of the effectiveness of the registry
and consumer perceptions of the registry's effectiveness; and
`(3) the impact of abandoned calls made by predictive dialing devices on
do-not-call enforcement.'.
SEC. 4. RULEMAKING.
The Federal Trade Commission may issue rules, in accordance with section 553
of title 5, United States Code, as necessary and appropriate to carry out
the amendments to the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act (15 U.S.C. 6101 note)
made by this Act.
Passed the House of Representatives December 11, 2007.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.
END
