§7712 — Title 15 Commerce and Trade | U.S. Code

Summary

The Federal Communications Commission, with help from the Federal Trade Commission, must make rules within 270 days to protect people from unwanted commercial messages sent to mobile devices. The rules must let subscribers avoid getting those messages unless they gave clear permission, let recipients opt out electronically so they won’t get future messages from the same sender, and explain how senders can follow the rules given the technical limits of phones and other wireless devices. The FCC must also consider whether senders can tell a message is a mobile service commercial message. If the FCC decides mobile service providers do not need the prior permission rule, those providers still must let subscribers opt out when they sign up and on any bill. Nothing here overrides the applicability of section 227 of title 47 or rules under section 6102 of this title. A "mobile service commercial message" means a commercial electronic mail message sent directly to a wireless device used by a commercial mobile service subscriber.

Title 15, §7712

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to preclude or override the applicability of section 227 of title 47 or the rules prescribed under section 6102 of this title.

(b)The Federal Communications Commission, in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission, shall promulgate rules within 270 days to protect consumers from unwanted mobile service commercial messages. The Federal Communications Commission, in promulgating the rules, shall, to the extent consistent with subsection (c)—

(1)provide subscribers to commercial mobile services the ability to avoid receiving mobile service commercial messages unless the subscriber has provided express prior authorization to the sender, except as provided in paragraph (3);

(2)allow recipients of mobile service commercial messages to indicate electronically a desire not to receive future mobile service commercial messages from the sender;

(3)take into consideration, in determining whether to subject providers of commercial mobile services to paragraph (1), the relationship that exists between providers of such services and their subscribers, but if the Commission determines that such providers should not be subject to paragraph (1), the rules shall require such providers, in addition to complying with the other provisions of this chapter, to allow subscribers to indicate a desire not to receive future mobile service commercial messages from the provider—

(A)at the time of subscribing to such service; and

(B)in any billing mechanism; and

(4)determine how a sender of mobile service commercial messages may comply with the provisions of this chapter, considering the unique technical aspects, including the functional and character limitations, of devices that receive such messages.

(c)The Federal Communications Commission shall consider the ability of a sender of a commercial electronic mail message to reasonably determine that the message is a mobile service commercial message.

(d)In this section, the term “mobile service commercial message” means a commercial electronic mail message that is transmitted directly to a wireless device that is utilized by a subscriber of commercial mobile service (as such term is defined in section 332(d) of title 47) in connection with such service.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b)(3), (4), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 108–187, Dec. 16, 2003, 117 Stat. 2699, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 7701 of this title and Tables.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Jan. 1, 2004, see section 16 of Pub. L. 108–187, set out as a note under section 7701 of this title.

§7712 Application to Wireless