I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4600

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

prohibition on junk fax transmissions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 16, 2004

Mr. UPTON (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. DINGELL, 

Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. TERRY, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. JOHN, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. 

ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. BUYER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. WYNN, Mr. GORDON, 

Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mrs. BONO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 

STEARNS, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. BURR, Mr. 

SHIMKUS, and Mr. GONZALEZ) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

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’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON FAX TRANSMISSIONS CONTAINING 

2 UNSOLICITED ADVERTISEMENTS. 

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

4 227(b)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

5 227(b)(1)(C)) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(C) to use any telephone facsimile ma7 chine, computer, or other device to send, to a 

8 telephone facsimile machine, an unsolicited ad9 vertisement—

10 ‘‘(i) to a person who has made a re11 quest to such sender that complies with 

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

13 not to send future unsolicited advertise14 ments to a telephone facsimile machine; or 

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

16 clause (i), unless—

17 ‘‘(I) the sender has an estab18 lished business relationship (which 

19 term, for purposes of this subclause, 

20 shall have the meaning given the term 

21 in section 64.1200 of the Commis22 sion’s regulations, as in effect on Jan23 uary 1, 2003, except that such term 

24 shall include a relationship between a 

25 person or entity and a business sub26 scriber subject to the same terms ap-
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1 plicable under such section to a rela2 tionship between a person or entity 

3 and a residential subscriber) with 

4 such person; and 

5 ‘‘(II) the unsolicited advertise6 ment contains a conspicuous notice on 

7 the first page of the unsolicited adver8 tisement that—

9 ‘‘(aa) states that the recipi10 ent may make a request to the 

11 sender of the unsolicited adver12 tisement not to send any future 

13 unsolicited advertisements to 

14 such telephone facsimile machine 

15 and that failure to comply, within 

16 the shortest reasonable time, as 

17 determined by the Commission, 

18 with such a request meeting the 

19 requirements under paragraph 

20 (2)(D) is unlawful; 

21 ‘‘(bb) sets forth the require22 ments for a request under para23 graph (2)(D); and 

24 ‘‘(cc) includes a domestic 

25 contact telephone and facsimile 
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1 number for the recipient to 

2 transmit such a request to the 

3 sender, neither of which may be 

4 a number for a pay-per-call serv5 ice (as such term is defined in 

6 section 228(i)); any number sup7 plied shall permit an individual 

8 or business to make a do-not-fax 

9 request during regular business 

10 hours; or’’. 

11 (b) REQUEST TO OPT-OUT OF FUTURE UNSOLIC12 ITED ADVERTISEMENTS.—Paragraph (2) of section 

13 227(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

14 227(b)(2)) is amended—

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

16 the end; 

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

18 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub20 paragraphs: 

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

22 not to send future unsolicited advertisements to 

23 a telephone facsimile machine complies with the 

24 requirements under this subparagraph only if—
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1 ‘‘(i) the request identifies the tele2 phone number of the telephone facsimile 

3 machine to which the request relates; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the request is made to the tele5 phone or facsimile number of the sender of 

6 such an unsolicited advertisement provided 

7 pursuant to paragraph (1)(C)(ii)(II)(cc) or 

8 by any other method of communication as 

9 determined by the Commission; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) the person making the request 

11 has not, subsequent to such request, pro12 vided express invitation or permission to 

13 the sender, in writing or otherwise, to send 

14 such advertisements to such person at such 

15 telephone facsimile machine; and 

16 ‘‘(E) may, in the discretion of the Commis17 sion and subject to such conditions as the Com18 mission may prescribe, allow professional trade 

19 associations that are tax-exempt nonprofit orga20 nizations to send unsolicited advertisements to 

21 their members in furtherance of the associa22 tion’s tax-exempt purpose that do not contain 

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

24 except that the Commission may take action 

25 under this subparagraph only by regulation 
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1 issued after notice and opportunity for public 

2 comment in accordance with section 553 of title 

3 5, United States Code, and only if the Commis4 sion determines that such notice is not nec5 essary to protect the right of the members of 

6 such trade associations to make a request to 

7 their trade associations not to send any future 

8 unsolicited advertisements.’’. 

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

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

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

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

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

14 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu15 nications Commission shall issue regulations to implement 

16 the amendments made by this section. 

17 SEC. 3. FCC ANNUAL REPORT REGARDING JUNK FAX EN18 FORCEMENT. 

19 Section 227 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

20 U. S.C. 227) is amended by adding at the end the fol21 lowing new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(g) JUNK FAX ENFORCEMENT REPORT.—The Com23 mission shall submit a report to the Congress for each 

24 year regarding the enforcement of the provisions of this 

25 section relating to sending of unsolicited advertisements 
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1 to telephone facsimile machines, which shall include the 

2 following information: 

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

4 Commission during such year alleging that a con5 sumer received an unsolicited advertisement via tele6 phone facsimile machine in violation of the Commis7 sion’s rules. 

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

9 during the year on which the Commission has taken 

10 action. 

11 ‘‘(3) The number of such complaints that re12 main pending at the end of the year. 

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

14 Commission pursuant to section 503 during the year 

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

16 sending of unsolicited advertisements to telephone 

17 facsimile machines. 

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

19 issued by the Commission pursuant to section 503 

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

21 policy relating to sending of unsolicited advertise22 ments to telephone facsimile machines. 

23 ‘‘(6) For each such notice—

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

25 penalty involved; 
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1 ‘‘(B) the person to whom the notice was 

2 issued; 

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

4 on which the complaint was filed and the date 

5 on which the notice was issued; and 

6 ‘‘(D) the status of the proceeding. 

7 ‘‘(7) The number of final orders imposing for8 feiture penalties issued pursuant to section 503 dur9 ing the year to enforce any law, regulation, or policy 

10 relating to sending of unsolicited advertisements to 

11 telephone facsimile machines. 

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

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

14 the order; 

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

16 issued; 

17 ‘‘(C) whether the forfeiture penalty has 

18 been paid; and 

19 ‘‘(D) the amount paid. 

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

21 to pay a forfeiture penalty imposed by such a final 

22 order, whether the Commission referred such matter 

23 to the Attorney General for recovery of the penalty. 

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

25 referred such an order to the Attorney General—
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1 ‘‘(A) the number of days from the date the 

2 Commission issued such order to the date of 

3 such referral; 

4 ‘‘(B) whether the Attorney General has 

5 commenced an action to recover the penalty, 

6 and if so, the number of days from the date the 

7 Commission referred such order to the Attorney 

8 General to the date of such commencement; and 

9 ‘‘(C) whether the recovery action resulted 

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

11 amount collected.’’. 

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

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

14 United States shall conduct a study regarding complaints 

15 received by the Federal Communications Commission con16 cerning unsolicited advertisements sent to telephone fac17 simile machines, which shall determine—

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

19 (2) the number of such complaints that result 

20 in final agency actions by the Commission; 

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

22 in responding to such complaints; 

23 (4) the mechanisms established by the Commis24 sion to receive, investigate, and respond to such 

25 complaints; 
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1 (5) the level of enforcement success achieved by 

2 the Commission and the Attorney General regarding 

3 such complaints; 

4 (6) whether complainants to the Commission 

5 are adequately informed by the Commission of the 

6 responses to their complaints; and 

7 (7) whether additional enforcement measures 

8 are necessary to protect consumers, including rec9 ommendations regarding such additional enforce10 ment measures. 

11 (b) ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT REMEDIES.—In 

12 conducting the analysis and making the recommendations 

13 required under paragraph (7) of subsection (a), the Comp14 troller General shall specifically examine—

15 (1) the adequacy of existing statutory enforce16 ment actions available to the Commission; 

17 (2) the adequacy of existing statutory enforce18 ment actions and remedies available to consumers; 

19 (3) the impact of existing statutory enforcement 

20 remedies on senders of facsimiles; 

21 (4) whether increasing the amount of financial 

22 penalties is warranted to achieve greater deterrent 

23 effect; and 

24 (5) whether establishing penalties and enforce25 ment actions for repeat violators or abusive viola-
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1 tions similar to those established by section 4 of the 

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

3 have a greater deterrent effect. 

4 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after the date 

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

6 submit a report on the results of the study under this sec7 tion to Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

8 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 

9 Science, and Transportation of the Senate.

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