Government Contractor Groups Asks FCC to Tweak TCPA Ruling
The Professional Services Council (PSC) asked the FCC to revise language in its recent declaratory ruling (see 1607060013) providing an exception to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for federal and federal contractor debt collection. The FCC, apparently by mistake, used…
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language that would mean less relief than intended, PSC said. The council took issue with one phrase, the finding that the TCPA prohibitions don't include calls by "the federal government or agents acting within the scope of their agency under common-law principles of agency." The problem is “government contractors are routinely not considered to be agents of the government, and in many instances government contracts contain express language to this effect,” PSC said in the petition for reconsideration in docket 02-278. The FCC instead should provide relief for government contractors “acting on behalf of the federal government, in accordance with their contract's terms and the government's directives, without regard to whether a common-law agency relationship exists,” PSC said. Consumer groups, led by the National Consumer Law Center, asked for changes in the other direction, saying the ruling provides too much relief for government debt collectors (see 1607260039). The PSC represents companies in the government technology and professional services industry.