Skip to main content
Menu Icon
Close

InfoBytes Blog

Financial Services Law Insights and Observations

FCC acts to stop international robocalls

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance FCC Robocalls STIR/SHAKEN State Issues State Attorney General

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance

On May 19, the FCC unanimously adopted proposed rules to ensure gateway providers that channel international call traffic comply with STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication protocols and validate the identity of the providers whose traffic they are routing to help weed out robocalls. As part of the agency’s robocall mitigation efforts, the proposed rules would require gateway providers to (i) “develop and submit traffic mitigation plans to the Robocall Mitigation Database”; (ii) “apply STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication to all unauthenticated foreign-originated Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) calls with U.S. North American Numbering Plan (NANP) numbers”; and (iii) “respond to traceback requests in 24 hours, block calls where it is clear they are conduits for illegal traffic, and implement ‘know your upstream provider’ obligations.”

“Gateway providers serve as a critical choke-point for reducing the number of illegal robocalls received by American consumers,” the FCC stated in its announcement. “The new rules require gateway providers to participate in robocall mitigation, including blocking efforts, take responsibility for illegal robocall campaigns on their networks, cooperate with FCC enforcement efforts, and quickly respond to efforts to trace illegal robocalls to their source.” Non-compliance may cause a gateway provider to lose its ability to operate. The FCC also announced it is requesting further comments on a proposal to expand robocall mitigation requirements to intermediate providers in the U.S. and not just gateway providers. The agency will also decide whether anti-robocall and spoofing rules should also apply to these intermediate providers, as they are currently not required to certify with the Robocall Mitigation Database.

Requiring domestic entry points to use STIR/SHAKEN, register in the Robocall Mitigation Database, and comply with traceback requests from the FCC and law enforcement will help the agency “figure out where these junk calls are originating from overseas,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “These measures will help us tackle the growing number of international robocalls. Because we can’t have these scam artists multiplying abroad and hiding from our regulatory reach. We also can’t have them hiding from our state counterparts.” To aid efforts, the FCC announced that to date 36 states have signed memoranda of understanding with the agency to share resources and information to reduce robocalls.