FCC Substantially Revises TCPA Consent Revocation Rules Set to Take Effect January 2027

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) released a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Report and Order”) (FCC-CIRC 2609-05) that substantially revises the consent-revocation rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) that were set to take effect January 31, 2027. The rulemaking has several significant implications for businesses subject to the TCPA, a federal law that regulates certain telemarketing communications, both in the form of immediate regulatory changes and areas still open for comment.

I. Background

Over the years, a key struggle for the FCC when it comes to robocalls and robotexts is consent and revocation. The FCC has attempted to address these concepts, with the most recent action being in February 2024 when it issued a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“2024 Report and Order”), as discussed in our prior advisory here. The 2024 Report and Order was intended to strengthen consumers’ ability to revoke consent so that it is simple and easy, codify previously adopted protections that make it simpler for consumers to revoke consent, and require that callers and texters implement requests in a timely manner.

The 2024 Report and Order established a broad "revoke all" standard under which any reasonable revocation request wiped out consent for all calls and texts from a caller, regardless of purpose. Financial institutions voiced concerns with the 2024 Report and Order, suggesting that it could have the effect of accidentally silencing fraud alerts and security-breach notifications when a consumer only intended to opt out of calls for a different purpose, such as debt collection. As a result, the “revoke-all” consent provision set forth in the 2024 Report and Order has been delayed twice — first to April 2026, and then to January 31, 2027 — as the FCC signaled it would revise the framework.

The FCC issued this Report and Order on September 9, 2026 in response to those concerns and in an effort to revise the rules in a meaningful way based on the feedback it has received.

II. Key Changes in the Report and Order

A. Category-Specific Revocation

The Report and Order now establishes two revocation standards: one for informational/non-marketing calls and texts, and a second for marketing calls and texts. The Report and Order modifies the rules to allow callers to interpret a revocation request as applying only to the specific category of informational robocalls to which the revocation was directed and not all robocalls. Accordingly, a consumer who opts out of one category of informational calls (e.g., debt collection) does not automatically opt out of other categories such as fraud alerts or appointment reminders. However, for telemarketing, a single revocation request made in response to robocalls that contain an advertisement or constitute telemarketing revokes consent to all future robocalls containing an advertisement or constituting telemarketing from that caller.

B. Designated Exclusive Revocation Method

The Report and Order modifies the rules to allow callers to designate an exclusive means by which consumers may revoke consent instead of requiring callers to honor all revocation requests made “using any reasonable method,” as currently provided by the 2024 Report and Order. There are three specified methods that may be used as the exclusive means of revocation so long as the caller clearly and conspicuously discloses the designated method for revoking consent on the call or in the text: (1) an automated, interactive voice or key-press mechanism, (2) specific standardized words in response to text messages, and (3) a website or telephone number. Callers who designate an exclusive method are not required to process revocations made by any other means. Conversely, callers who do not designate an exclusive method must continue to honor "any reasonable means" of revocation, with a rebuttable presumption of revocation once the consumer produces evidence of a request.

C. Expanded Fraud Alert Exemption for Financial Institutions

Under the existing TCPA framework, financial institutions benefit from a narrow exemption allowing certain fraud-alert calls and texts, but only to numbers the customer provided directly. The Report and Order expands this exemption so that financial institutions may send exempt fraud-related calls and texts to wireless numbers obtained from "reliable sources" and not just numbers provided directly by the customer. A “reliable source” in this context includes a telephone number: (i) supplied by a spouse or other family member who is authorized to be on the account; (ii) obtained when the customer calls the institution; or (iii) included in the records obtained from another financial institution. Financial institutions must still honor opt-out requests and comply with the existing numerical cap of no more than three messages per event over three days per affected account.

III. Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Included in the Report and Order is a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which seeks further comment on additional revisions the FCC believes can ensure the rules continue to evolve with changes in technology and industry practices:

• Reducing the maximum timeframe for honoring revocation requests from ten to seven days.
• Eliminating the one-way texting protocol exception by requiring two-way texting functionality so consumers can revoke consent via reply.
• Mandating a “revoke all” method as a condition of allowing callers to use category-specific revocation.
• Clarifying treatment of affiliates, separate lines of business, and divisions.
• Reducing the list of standardized revocation words.
• Allowing confirmation calls after revocation within a reasonable time (not to exceed the end of the next business day).

Comments to the foregoing are due thirty (30) days after publication in the Federal Register.

IV. Effective Date

The revised rules in the Report and Order become effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Federal Register. The FCC has circulated the Report and Order for tentative consideration ahead of a scheduled vote to take place on September 30, 2026. Once the FCC votes and finalizes the Report and Order, it will be published in the Federal Register.

Once finalized and published, the rule modifications will supersede the delayed effective date of the relevant “revoke-all” consent portion of the rule that was previously extended to January 31, 2027, giving less time to prepare for compliance than originally anticipated.

This advisory is a general overview of the Report and Order and is not intended as legal advice. The Report and Order is very detailed and should be reviewed in its totality. If you have any questions about the Report and Order, please feel free to contact Joseph D. Simon at (516) 357-3710 or via email at jsimon@cullenllp.com, Elizabeth A. Murphy at (516) 296-9154 or via email at emurphy@cullenllp.com, David Curatolo at (516) 357-3773 or via email at dcuratolo@cullenllp.com, or Gabriela Morales at (516) 357-3850 or via email at gmorales@cullenllp.com.