United States of America: Adopted Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls

On 12 December 2022, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted the "Advanced Methods To Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls", which sets out new obligations on telecommunications providers on accepting foreign-originating calls with US numbers to prevent robocalls. This includes the problem of illegal robocalls gaining access to US-based networks through gateway providers. Gateway providers, defined as intermediate providers in the US that transmit foreign calls to further US-based providers, will have to submit mitigation plans describing their robocall mitigation practices and certifications; respond to all traceback requests within 24 hours; block illegal traffic upon notification by the FCC; and ensure that the gateway provider’s immediate foreign providers are not using them to transmit high volumes of illegal robocalls onto their US networks. These new obligations will come into force on 11 January 2023.