FCC Adopts New TCPA Rules Changing Business Opt-Out Duties
The FCC's Sept. 30, 2026 Report and Order (FCC 26-67) rewrites how businesses must handle consumer requests to stop autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts under the TCPA.
On September 30, 2026, the FCC adopted a Report and Order (FCC 26-67) amending how businesses must respond to consumer requests to stop autodialed and prerecorded calls and texts under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The available reporting describes the order as giving businesses greater control over opt-out handling, shifting implementation from a prescribed default toward a framework businesses manage themselves — though the excerpt does not set out the operative mechanics, the effective date, or any comment or waiver window, so those details need confirmation against the released text.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: the audience is not just telecom. Banks, insurers, lenders, health systems, and consumer brands all run outbound calling and messaging programs, and consent language, opt-out keywords, suppression timing and scope, and vendor-dialer workflows are now measured against a revised federal standard rather than the prior one. Existing consent records and opt-out processes may need re-drafting, and outsourced dialer or messaging vendors may need to be re-papered.
Concrete next steps: pull FCC 26-67 and map current campaign-level consent and suppression processes against it; inventory third-party dialing and messaging vendors against the new standard; and track the docket for effective-date filings, petitions for reconsideration, and any judicial challenge, which commonly follow FCC orders of this type.