The Federal Communications Commission issued an Order on Reconsideration regarding its Report and Order that revised many of its telemarketing and facsimile advertising rules pursuant to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. The effective date has been extended until Jan. 1, 2005 by which an established business relationship will no longer be sufficient to show that an individual or business has given express permission to receive unsolicited fax advertisements. The FCC also extended to Jan. 1, 2005 the deadline for senders of fax advertisements to obtain from the recipient a signed, written statement that includes the fax number to which any advertisements may be sent and which clearly indicates the recipient's consent to receive such faxed advertisements from the sender.
About 1,300 trade associations including the National Association of Wholesalers (NAW), the American Supply Association (ASA), the Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), the Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) had petitioned the FCC for a stay or repeal of the new regulations governing fax usage, which were to become effective Aug. 25.