December 10, 2021 – The Federal Communications Commission has approved a Fourth Report And Order which revises the FCC’s robocall prevention rules for non-facilities-based small voice providers.[1] Specifically, “[t]o better protect Americans from illegally spoofed calls,” non-facilities-based small voice providers are now required to implement STIR/SHAKEN in the Internet Protocol (IP) portions of their voice networks by June 30, 2022.

Accordingly, non-facilities-based small voice service providers also must update their filings in the Robocall Mitigation Database within 10 business days of the effective date of the Fourth Report And Order to indicate they are no longer subject to a two-year extension and must implement STIR/SHAKEN by June 30, 2022 in the IP portions of their voice networks.

The existing June 30, 2023, STIR/SHAKEN extension for facilities-based small voice service providers remains in place.

Non-facilities-based small voice service providers, as well as other voice service providers, must also update their certifications and associated filings in the Robocall Mitigation Database within 10 business days of completion of STIR/SHAKEN implementation. The FCC also revised Section 64.6305(b)(5) of its rules to require voice service providers to update, within 10 business days of any change, all information originally submitted with its Robocall STIR/SHAKEN certification.

New Robocall Prevention Rule – Accelerated STIR/SHAKEN Implementation

Additionally, the FCC has adopted a new Robocall prevention tool for the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau that applies to small voice service providers:

Any small voice service provider that the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau suspects of originating illegal robocalls and that fails to mitigate such traffic upon Bureau notice or otherwise fails to meet its burden under section 64.1200(n)(2) of the FCC’s rules, must implement STIR/SHAKEN within 90 days of that determination unless sooner implementation is otherwise required.

**********

[1] Call Authentication Trust Anchor, WC Docket No. 17-97, Fourth Report And Order, FCC 21-122 (Dec. 10, 2021), https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-122A1.pdf.