Thanks to the efforts of many advocacy groups filing complaints against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a “stay” has been granted on the change to the regulations governing fax communications. The new rules DID NOT go into effect on August 25, as was previously announced by the FCC.

While the first battle is won, the war will go on. The FCC gave the association and business communities 16 months - until January 1, 2005 - to prepare for compliance. That is good news for your business and for AIC, since we won’t all have to scramble to implement infrastructure to support such regulations. We have, however, been forewarned for the future.

Here’s some background on the ruling and it’s possible ramifications

The FCC’s new rule about communicating via fax is far-reaching and will have a greater impact on business and day-to-day communications than many may realize, when it does go into effect. The key point in the new FCC rule is that the exemption has been eliminated that allowed organizations to fax communications with anyone or any company with which they had an “Existing Business Relationship.” The loss of this exemption impacts you as a business owner and if you’re involved with AIC, or another community organization and communicate by fax, you need to be informed to protect yourself.

The new rules mandate signed, written consent in order to send any fax that contains an “unsolicited advertisement” - even to association members or customers. This isn’t restricted to broadcast faxes nor to what might be considered “fax spam.” For instance, if a person were to call your company requesting to be faxed a price quote, you would be violating the rules, and be liable to severe penalties, if you faxed the documents without first obtaining a signed written consent. Past due notices or reminders, invitations to bid, invoices or any offer that states or strongly implies that a payment is required or requested would also be effected.

Plan Now for the Changes

Since we now have 16 months to deal with the new rules, organizations doing business by facsimile can take steps to obtain written permission to send faxes. For now, you can send faxes to intended recipients seeking their written consent. After January 1, 2005 doing this type of solicitation for permission by fax would violate the rules. It is extremely important that permission to receive facsimiles be received by someone authorized to act on behalf of the entity or organization providing permission, and said permission must include all fax numbers within an organization if faxing occurs to multiple parties within the same organization. As part of your planning, create an in-house fax management system and maintain a file of all written permissions including their company/organization name, their name (with representation that they are authorized to act on behalf of the company), and all fax numbers for which consent is being provided.

While the finer points on the fax rules are still being debated in legal circles following Jan. 1, 2005, there’s no doubt that noncompliance could be costly.

• FCC Extends the Effective Date of Amended FAX Advertising Rules Until January 1, 2005
• Order on Reconsideration