II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2569 

To amend section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the 

prohibition on junk fax transmissions. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 23 (legislative day, JUNE 22), 2004 

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 

to clarify the prohibition on junk fax transmissions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Junk Fax Prevention 

5 Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FAX TRANSMISSIONS CONTAINING 

7 UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENTS. 

8 (a) PROHIBITION.—Subparagraph (C) of section 

9 227(b)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

10 227(b)(1)(C)) is amended to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘(C) to use any telephone facsimile ma2 chine, computer, or other device to send, to a 

3 telephone facsimile machine, an unsolicited ad4 vertisement— 

5 ‘‘(i) to a person who has made a re6 quest to such sender that complies with 

7 the requirements under paragraph (2)(D), 

8 not to send future unsolicited advertise9 ments to a telephone facsimile machine; or 

10 ‘‘(ii) to a person not described in 

11 clause (i), unless— 

12 ‘‘(I) the sender has an estab13 lished business relationship (which 

14 term, for purposes of this subclause, 

15 shall have the meaning given the term 

16 in section 64.1200 of the Commis17 sion’s regulations, as in effect on Jan18 uary 1, 2003, except that such term 

19 shall apply to a business subscriber in 

20 the same manner in which it applies 

21 to a residential subscriber) with such 

22 person; and 

23 ‘‘(II) the unsolicited advertise24 ment contains a conspicuous notice on 
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1 the first page of the unsolicited adver2 tisement that— 

3 ‘‘(aa) states that the recipi4 ent may make a request to the 

5 sender of the unsolicited adver6 tisement not to send any future 

7 unsolicited advertisements to 

8 such telephone facsimile machine 

9 and that failure to comply, within 

10 the shortest reasonable time, as 

11 determined by the Commission, 

12 with such a request meeting the 

13 requirements under paragraph 

14 (2)(D) is unlawful; 

15 ‘‘(bb) sets forth the require16 ments for a request under para17 graph (2)(D); and 

18 ‘‘(cc) includes a domestic 

19 contact telephone and facsimile 

20 number for the recipient to 

21 transmit such a request to the 

22 sender, neither of which may be 

23 a number for a pay-per-call serv24 ice (as such term is defined in 

25 section 228(i)); any number sup-
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1 plied shall permit an individual 

2 or business to make a do-not-fax 

3 request during regular business 

4 hours; or’’. 

5 (b) REQUEST TO OPT-OUT OF FUTURE UNSOLIC6 ITED ADVERTISEMENTS.—Paragraph (2) of section 

7 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

8 227(b)(2)) is amended— 

9 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

10 the end; 

11 (2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period 

12 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

13 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub14 paragraphs: 

15 ‘‘(D) shall provide, by rule, that a request 

16 not to send future unsolicited advertisements to 

17 a telephone facsimile machine complies with the 

18 requirements under this subparagraph only if— 

19 ‘‘(i) the request identifies the tele20 phone number of the telephone facsimile 

21 machine to which the request relates; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the request is made to the tele23 phone or facsimile number of the sender of 

24 such an unsolicited advertisement provided 

25 pursuant to paragraph (1)(C)(ii)(II)(cc) or 
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1 by any other method of communication as 

2 determined by the Commission; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) the person making the request 

4 has not, subsequent to such request, pro5 vided express invitation or permission to 

6 the sender, in writing or otherwise, to send 

7 such advertisements to such person at such 

8 telephone facsimile machine; and 

9 ‘‘(E) may, in the discretion of the Commis10 sion and subject to such conditions as the Com11 mission may prescribe, allow professional trade 

12 associations that are tax-exempt nonprofit orga13 nizations to send unsolicited advertisements to 

14 their members in furtherance of the associa15 tion’s tax-exempt purpose that do not contain 

16 the notice required by paragraph (1)(C)(ii)(II), 

17 except that the Commission may take action 

18 under this subparagraph only by regulation 

19 issued after notice and opportunity for public 

20 comment in accordance with section 553 of title 

21 5, United States Code, and only if the Commis22 sion determines that such notice is not necessary 

23 to protect the right of the members of such trade 

24 associations to make a request to their trade as-
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1 sociations not to send any future unsolicited ad2 vertisements.’’. 

3 (c) UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENT.—Paragraph (4) 

4 of section 227(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

5 U.S.C. 227(a)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, in writing 

6 or otherwise’’ before the period at the end. 

7 (d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 270 days after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu9 nications Commission shall issue regulations to implement 

10 the amendments made by this section. 

11 SEC. 3. FCC ANNUAL REPORT REGARDING JUNK FAX EN12 FORCEMENT. 

13 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

14 U.S.C. 227) is amended by adding at the end the following 

15 new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(g) JUNK FAX ENFORCEMENT REPORT.—The Com17 mission shall submit a report to the Congress for each 

18 year regarding the enforcement of the provisions of this 

19 section relating to sending of unsolicited advertisements 

20 to telephone facsimile machines, which shall include the 

21 following information: 

22 ‘‘(1) The number of complaints received by the 

23 Commission during such year alleging that a con24 sumer received an unsolicited advertisement via tele-
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1 phone facsimile machine in violation of the Commis2 sion’s rules. 

3 ‘‘(2) The number of such complaints received 

4 during the year on which the Commission has taken 

5 action. 

6 ‘‘(3) The number of such complaints that re7 main pending at the end of the year. 

8 ‘‘(4) The number of citations issued by the 

9 Commission pursuant to section 503 during the year 

10 to enforce any law, regulation, or policy relating to 

11 sending of unsolicited advertisements to telephone 

12 facsimile machines. 

13 ‘‘(5) The number of notices of apparent liability 

14 issued by the Commission pursuant to section 503 

15 during the year to enforce any law, regulation, or 

16 policy relating to sending of unsolicited advertise17 ments to telephone facsimile machines. 

18 ‘‘(6) For each such notice— 

19 ‘‘(A) the amount of the proposed forfeiture 

20 penalty involved; 

21 ‘‘(B) the person to whom the notice was 

22 issued; 

23 ‘‘(C) the length of time between the date 

24 on which the complaint was filed and the date 

25 on which the notice was issued; and 
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1 ‘‘(D) the status of the proceeding. 

2 ‘‘(7) The number of final orders imposing for3 feiture penalties issued pursuant to section 503 dur4 ing the year to enforce any law, regulation, or policy 

5 relating to sending of unsolicited advertisements to 

6 telephone facsimile machines. 

7 ‘‘(8) For each such forfeiture order— 

8 ‘‘(A) the amount of the penalty imposed by 

9 the order; 

10 ‘‘(B) the person to whom the order was 

11 issued; 

12 ‘‘(C) whether the forfeiture penalty has 

13 been paid; and 

14 ‘‘(D) the amount paid. 

15 ‘‘(9) For each case in which a person has failed 

16 to pay a forfeiture penalty imposed by such a final 

17 order, whether the Commission referred such matter 

18 to the Attorney General for recovery of the penalty. 

19 ‘‘(10) For each case in which the Commission 

20 referred such an order to the Attorney General— 

21 ‘‘(A) the number of days from the date the 

22 Commission issued such order to the date of 

23 such referral; 

24 ‘‘(B) whether the Attorney General has 

25 commenced an action to recover the penalty, 
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1 and if so, the number of days from the date the 

2 Commission referred such order to the Attorney 

3 General to the date of such commencement; and 

4 ‘‘(C) whether the recovery action resulted 

5 in collection of any amount, and if so, the 

6 amount collected.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. GAO STUDY OF JUNK FAX ENFORCEMENT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

9 United States shall conduct a study regarding complaints 

10 received by the Federal Communications Commission con11 cerning unsolicited advertisements sent to telephone fac12 simile machines, which shall determine— 

13 (1) the number and nature of such complaints; 

14 (2) the number of such complaints that result 

15 in final agency actions by the Commission; 

16 (3) the length of time taken by the Commission 

17 in responding to such complaints; 

18 (4) the mechanisms established by the Commis19 sion to receive, investigate, and respond to such 

20 complaints; 

21 (5) the level of enforcement success achieved by 

22 the Commission and the Attorney General regarding 

23 such complaints; 
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1 (6) whether complainants to the Commission 

2 are adequately informed by the Commission of the 

3 responses to their complaints; and 

4 (7) whether additional enforcement measures 

5 are necessary to protect consumers, including rec6 ommendations regarding such additional enforce7 ment measures. 

8 (b) ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT REMEDIES.—In 

9 conducting the analysis and making the recommendations 

10 required under paragraph (7) of subsection (a), the Comp11 troller General shall specifically examine— 

12 (1) the adequacy of existing statutory enforce13 ment actions available to the Commission; 

14 (2) the adequacy of existing statutory enforce15 ment actions and remedies available to consumers; 

16 (3) the impact of existing statutory enforcement 

17 remedies on senders of facsimiles; 

18 (4) whether increasing the amount of financial 

19 penalties is warranted to achieve greater deterrent 

20 effect; and 

21 (5) whether establishing penalties and enforce22 ment actions for repeat violators or abusive viola23 tions similar to those established by section 4 of the 

24 CAN–SPAM Act of 2003 (15 U.S.C. 7703) would 

25 have a greater deterrent effect. 
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1 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

3 submit a report on the results of the study under this sec4 tion to Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

5 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

6 Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 

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