S. 781
12-17-07, Senate Passed Bill by Unanimous Consent
2-6-08, House Agreed to Bill by Voice Vote
2-15-08, Became Public Law 110-188
One Hundred Tenth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
the third day of January, two thousand and eight
An Act
To extend the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to
collect Do-Not-Call Registry fees to fiscal years after fiscal year
2007.
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 C.F.R. 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.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
END
