Associations Win Big Under New Federal Fax Law

JULY 12, 2005 -- Washington -- President Bush signed a bill over the weekend that allows organizations to send faxes to their members and clients without first obtaining written approval.

The so-called "established business relationship" provision to the Junk Fax Prevention Act represents a major victory for associations, which feared that previous federal regulations would stymie their efforts to communicate with members via fax about membership renewal and convention registration.

Those regulations contained what is commonly called an opt-in requirement, in which fax recipients must first provide written approval before organizations can send them unsolicited faxes that could be considered commercial in nature.

The new law instead requires that such faxes contain an opt-out method, with information contained on the first page of the fax that instructs the recipient on a free, 24-hour way to inform the sender to remove the recipient's name from the fax distribution list.

"This bill is good for business and, with the opt-out requirement, it also protects consumer interests," said John Graham IV, chief executive of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
For some two years, associations, led by ASAE, have fought Federal Communications Commission regulations that would require organizations to receive signed written consent from recipients before sending them unsolicited faxes.

The commission twice delayed enforcing the regulations while a new bill worked its way through Congress, which finally passed the bill late last month and sent it to the president.

The new law requires that fax numbers be obtained either directly from recipients or from a public source to which recipients give their fax numbers for publication, such as a website or directory. It also allows groups to send faxes to recipients whose fax numbers they possessed prior to the law's enactment.

Despite the more lenient, opt-out standards under the new federal law, organizations may still face obstacles in sending unsolicited faxes to their members. The new law specifically does not prohibit states from adopting stricter requirements.