United States of America: Federal Communications Commission expands call-blocking measures to combat fake government robocalls

On 27 February 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expanded call-blocking measures to combat fake government robocalls. The Report and Order (FCC 25-15) expands the use of "do-not-originate" lists to block calls that are highly likely to be illegal, such as government phone numbers that do not make outbound calls. This tool helps identify and block suspicious calls from unused, unassigned, or invalid numbers and requires all voice service providers to block such calls. The FCC also wants to ensure that legitimate callers are notified when their calls are blocked so that erroneous blocks can be corrected and consumers can receive the calls they want. To achieve this, the FCC has designated Session Initiation Protocol Code 603+ as the exclusive code for notifying callers of blocked calls on IP networks, consolidating several existing codes into one notification system.