MRA Fights Cell Phone Research Proposals

In the US, the Marketing Research Association (MRA) has filed official comments objecting to new proposed regulations which would add restrictions to market research calls made to cell phones.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Proposed Rule - which on the surface only deals with telemarketing automated calls known as 'robocalls' - is also requiring that anyone dialling a cell phone using an automated dialing system, must obtain respondent consent first.

This proposed rule would require a 'clear and specific written agreement', signed by the cell phone user to receive calls from researchers using an autodialler.

MRA's Director of Government Affairs, Howard Fienberg, expressed concern on behalf of the survey and opinion research profession: 'With the 'cell phone only' and 'cell phone mostly' populations totaling 40% of American households, researchers need to be able to include cell phone users in their studies in order to have viable samples.'

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) currently requires express prior consent for any autodialed call to a cell phone, and Fienberg says that these latest FCC proposals to make the TCPS's restrictions even tighter, 'threatens the integrity of survey and opinion research'.

Web site: www.mra-net.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.