Home > 108th Congressional Bills > S. 256 (is) To provide incentives for charitable contributions by individuals and businesses, to improve the public disclosure of activities of exempt organizations, and to enhance the ability of low-income Americans to gain financial security by building...S. 256 (is) To provide incentives for charitable contributions by individuals and businesses, to improve the public disclosure of activities of exempt organizations, and to enhance the ability of low-income Americans to gain financial security by building...
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2569
To amend section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the
prohibition on junk fax transmissions.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 23 (legislative day, June 22), 2004
Ms. Snowe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the
prohibition on junk fax transmissions.
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 ``Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FAX TRANSMISSIONS CONTAINING UNSOLICITED
ADVERTISEMENTS.
(a) Prohibition.--Subparagraph (C) of section 227(b)(1) of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(1)(C)) is amended to read
as follows:
``(C) to use any telephone facsimile machine,
computer, or other device to send, to a telephone
facsimile machine, an unsolicited advertisement--
``(i) to a person who has made a request to
such sender that complies with the requirements
under paragraph (2)(D), not to send future
unsolicited advertisements to a telephone
facsimile machine; or
``(ii) to a person not described in clause
(i), unless--
``(I) the sender has an established
business relationship (which term, for
purposes of this subclause, shall have
the meaning given the term in section
64.1200 of the Commission's
regulations, as in effect on January 1,
2003, except that such term shall apply
to a business subscriber in the same
manner in which it applies to a
residential subscriber) with such
person; and
``(II) the unsolicited
advertisement contains a conspicuous
notice on the first page of the
unsolicited advertisement that--
``(aa) states that the
recipient may make a request to
the sender of the unsolicited
advertisement not to send any
future unsolicited
advertisements to such
telephone facsimile machine and
that failure to comply, within
the shortest reasonable time,
as determined by the
Commission, with such a request
meeting the requirements under
paragraph (2)(D) is unlawful;
``(bb) sets forth the
requirements for a request
under paragraph (2)(D); and
``(cc) includes a domestic
contact telephone and facsimile
number for the recipient to
transmit such a request to the
sender, neither of which may be
a number for a pay-per-call
service (as such term is
defined in section 228(i)); any
number supplied shall permit an
individual or business to make
a do-not-fax request during
regular business hours; or''.
(b) Request to Opt-Out of Future Unsolicited Advertisements.--
Paragraph (2) of section 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 227(b)(2)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period at the end
and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
``(D) shall provide, by rule, that a request not to
send future unsolicited advertisements to a telephone
facsimile machine complies with the requirements under
this subparagraph only if--
``(i) the request identifies the telephone
number of the telephone facsimile machine to
which the request relates;
``(ii) the request is made to the telephone
or facsimile number of the sender of such an
unsolicited advertisement provided pursuant to
paragraph (1)(C)(ii)(II)(cc) or by any other
method of communication as determined by the
Commission; and
``(iii) the person making the request has
not, subsequent to such request, provided
express invitation or permission to the sender,
in writing or otherwise, to send such
advertisements to such person at such telephone
facsimile machine; and
``(E) may, in the discretion of the Commission and
subject to such conditions as the Commission may
prescribe, allow professional trade associations that
are tax-exempt nonprofit organizations to send
unsolicited advertisements to their members in
furtherance of the association's tax-exempt purpose
that do not contain the notice required by paragraph
(1)(C)(ii)(II), except that the Commission may take
action under this subparagraph only by regulation
issued after notice and opportunity for public comment
in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United
States Code, and only if the Commission determines that
such notice is not necessary to protect the right of the members of
such trade associations to make a request to their trade associations
not to send any future unsolicited advertisements.''.
(c) Unsolicited Advertisement.--Paragraph (4) of section 227(a) of
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(a)(4)) is amended by
inserting ``, in writing or otherwise'' before the period at the end.
(d) Regulations.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall
issue regulations to implement the amendments made by this section.
SEC. 3. FCC ANNUAL REPORT REGARDING JUNK FAX ENFORCEMENT.
Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227) is
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(g) Junk Fax Enforcement Report.--The Commission shall submit a
report to the Congress for each year regarding the enforcement of the
provisions of this section relating to sending of unsolicited
advertisements to telephone facsimile machines, which shall include the
following information:
``(1) The number of complaints received by the Commission
during such year alleging that a consumer received an
unsolicited advertisement via telephone facsimile machine in
violation of the Commission's rules.
``(2) The number of such complaints received during the
year on which the Commission has taken action.
``(3) The number of such complaints that remain pending at
the end of the year.
``(4) The number of citations issued by the Commission
pursuant to section 503 during the year to enforce any law,
regulation, or policy relating to sending of unsolicited
advertisements to telephone facsimile machines.
``(5) The number of notices of apparent liability issued by
the Commission pursuant to section 503 during the year to
enforce any law, regulation, or policy relating to sending of
unsolicited advertisements to telephone facsimile machines.
``(6) For each such notice--
``(A) the amount of the proposed forfeiture penalty
involved;
``(B) the person to whom the notice was issued;
``(C) the length of time between the date on which
the complaint was filed and the date on which the
notice was issued; and
``(D) the status of the proceeding.
``(7) The number of final orders imposing forfeiture
penalties issued pursuant to section 503 during the year to
enforce any law, regulation, or policy relating to sending of
unsolicited advertisements to telephone facsimile machines.
``(8) For each such forfeiture order--
``(A) the amount of the penalty imposed by the
order;
``(B) the person to whom the order was issued;
``(C) whether the forfeiture penalty has been paid;
and
``(D) the amount paid.
``(9) For each case in which a person has failed to pay a
forfeiture penalty imposed by such a final order, whether the
Commission referred such matter to the Attorney General for
recovery of the penalty.
``(10) For each case in which the Commission referred such
an order to the Attorney General--
``(A) the number of days from the date the
Commission issued such order to the date of such
referral;
``(B) whether the Attorney General has commenced an
action to recover the penalty, and if so, the number of
days from the date the Commission referred such order
to the Attorney General to the date of such
commencement; and
``(C) whether the recovery action resulted in
collection of any amount, and if so, the amount
collected.''.
SEC. 4. GAO STUDY OF JUNK FAX ENFORCEMENT.
(a) In General.--The Comptroller General of the United States shall
conduct a study regarding complaints received by the Federal
Communications Commission concerning unsolicited advertisements sent to
telephone facsimile machines, which shall determine--
(1) the number and nature of such complaints;
(2) the number of such complaints that result in final
agency actions by the Commission;
(3) the length of time taken by the Commission in
responding to such complaints;
(4) the mechanisms established by the Commission to
receive, investigate, and respond to such complaints;
(5) the level of enforcement success achieved by the
Commission and the Attorney General regarding such complaints;
(6) whether complainants to the Commission are adequately
informed by the Commission of the responses to their
complaints; and
(7) whether additional enforcement measures are necessary
to protect consumers, including recommendations regarding such
additional enforcement measures.
(b) Additional Enforcement Remedies.--In conducting the analysis
and making the recommendations required under paragraph (7) of
subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall specifically examine--
(1) the adequacy of existing statutory enforcement actions
available to the Commission;
(2) the adequacy of existing statutory enforcement actions
and remedies available to consumers;
(3) the impact of existing statutory enforcement remedies
on senders of facsimiles;
(4) whether increasing the amount of financial penalties is
warranted to achieve greater deterrent effect; and
(5) whether establishing penalties and enforcement actions
for repeat violators or abusive violations similar to those
established by section 4 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C.
7703) would have a greater deterrent effect.
(c) Report.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report on
the results of the study under this section to Committee on Energy and
Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
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