In a drive to harmonize its enforcement activity under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA) with that of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amended and revised a number of do-not-call and do-not-fax restrictions on July 3, 2003, effective August 25, 2003. Restrictions regarding unsolicited commercial fax messages are of particular interest to nonprofit organizations. Action alerts, legislative updates, event announcements (without fee notices), and member updates are all exempt from the amended rules. Banned messages include sponsorship requests for an entity or specific activities, solicitations for new memberships or renewals, requests for proposals for for-fee services, or messages mixing information with any form of commercial appeal. Violators may face up to $1500 as a result of actions filed by recipients through state lawsuits, FCC actions, and private lawsuits. The National Council of Nonprofit Associations has issued a set of suggested guidelines to assist nonprofits in understanding the impact and complying with the revised rules. On July 23, 2003 the American Society of Association Executives hosted a July 23, 2003 forum regarding the impact of the revised rules, and has provided a set of background materials, including an overview of the prior rules and a sample consent form. Previous rules banned unsolicited commercial advertisements distributed by fax, including messages promoting goods, products, and services that entailed any fee. An exception was granted for instances in which express permission was granted by the recipient of such messages. Entities could meet that standard by demonstrating a prior established business relationship, usually by targeting messages to previous customers or event attendees or previous communication between recipients and an organization. The burden was placed on recipients to consciously "opt out" from receiving further communications. The amended rules, however, no longer allow an established business relationship to satisfy express permission for unsolicited commercial fax advertisements:

• Organizations and business must now actively seek "opt in" permission in the form of signed written consent from potential fax message recipients, stating the specific number that can receive faxes. Recipients can revoke consent at any time. Requests for consent may be sought and collected via direct mail, e-mail, or web technology; and potential recipients can send consent via fax at any time. Entities, ironically, can only request consent via fax until the rules go into effect.
• Communications must clearly identify the date and time at which the fax was sent, the name of the actual author (not the sender) of the message, the official business name of the sending organization, and the telephone number of the sender/sending machine.
• Faxes include those sent between any combination of standalone fax machines, fax-servers, and direct modem connections (with the exclusion of fax messages sent or received as e-mail).
• Third party entities and broadcast fax services are liable if they supply the recipient fax numbers, are involved in any way with the content, or demonstrate a "high degree of involvement" in sending the fax in question.

Issues left without clarification by the rules include:

• what parties can grant consent for an organization and if organizations can grant blanket consent or denial for all of its stakeholders.
• whether consent is fixed only to an individual or an organization, in the event staff changes.
• whether consent given to a national entity automatically extends to state or local chapters or affiliates.
• whether written consent expires with an individual's term of membership.
• standardization with respect to either a printed or electronic consent form.
• type and degree of recordkeeping involved.
• additional specific types of existing nonprofit communications are exempt or permissible, including "save the date" notices, charitable solicitations, membership record updates, information-only messages directing recipients to online or third-party destinations that may entail a fee.

Both NCNA and ASAE are currently filing letters of clarification before the rules take effect. ASAE is also steering an FCC petition drive requesting a stay of the rules. TCPA is enforced through regulations under both the FCC (which is responsible for activity conducted across the broad telecommunications spectrum including television, telephone, radio, television, cable, satellite, and wireless), and the FTC (which overseas antitrust and consumer protection measures, including deceptive commercial practices). Though the FTC developed and implemented the recently launched Do-Not-Call Registry, it is administered in conjunction with the FCC, which has broader regulatory authority over telemarketing activity.