Agents, Brokers May Sue Over Do Not Call Regs
Washington
The Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America may go to court to try to overturn new Federal Communications Commission regulations subjecting the insurance industry to "do not call" telemarketing requirements.
"We are fully prepared to file a lawsuit if necessary," said Maria Berthoud, senior vice president of federal affairs for the Alexandria, Va.-based IIABA.
Currently, she said, IIABA is looking at the possibility of a legislative solution. Agents are forming a coalition with realtors and other professionals who are affected by the FCCs do-not-call regulation, Ms. Berthoud said.
In addition, she said, IIABA is launching a grassroots effort, asking agents to contact their members of Congress to express their opposition to the regulation.
FCCs version of a do-not-call requirement was outlined in a final rule published in the Federal Register on Friday, July 25. The do-not-call list is similar to the one developed by the Federal Trade Commission, except that unlike the FTCs list, the FCCs list affects the insurance industry.
Thus, under the FCCs do-not-call requirement, insurance agents would have to check the do-not-call list before trying to contact a prospect with whom the agent does not have a business relationship.
Moreover, under the FCCs rule, a referral is not considered a business relationship. Thus, even if an agent has a referral, he or she would have to check the list and would not be allowed to make a call if the prospect is listed.
Also, the FCCs rule is more expansive than the FTCs rule. While the FTCs do-no-call requirements only affect interstate calls, the FCCs rule applies to all calls.
In addition, under the FCCs rule, agents who have a business relationship with a client would have to maintain their own do-not-call lists. If the client subsequently decides that he or she does not want to receive any more calls from the agent, the agent would have to put the former client on the do-not-call list.
Ms. Berthoud noted that in addition to the requirement that agents and others affected by the new regulation check a "do not call" list before contacting a prospect with whom there is no prior business relationship, the FCC also establishes a "do not fax" requirement.
The "do not fax" provision, she said, is at least as important to agents as the "do not call" provision.
In its final rule, the FCC declined to include a "de minimis" exemption for small businesses that make a limited number of calls. FCC said in the regulation that it does not believe the costs of checking a national database will be unreasonable for a small business.
As for the insurance industry specifically, the FCC rejected formal comments filed by the Washington-based American Council of Life Insurers arguing that because the business of insurance is regulated by the states under the McCarran-Ferguson Act the regulation should not apply to the insurance industry.
FCC said the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not operate to exempt insurance companies wholesale from the do-not-call requirement. Indeed, FCC said, the legislation that established the do-not-call requirement, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, is compatible with state regulatory interests.
Moreover, FCC said, uniform application of a national do-not-call registry best serves the goals of the legislation.
"To exempt the insurance industry from liability under TCPA would likely confuse consumers and interfere with the protections provided by Congress through the TCPA," FCC said.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, August 11, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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