Reply Comments on Petition for Declaratory Ruling

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (“RILA”), through counsel, submits these reply comments in support of its Petition for Declaratory Ruling in the above referenced proceeding.1 Fundamentally, the ruling requested by RILA is based on the basic premise that if a consumer sends a request to a retailer via text message asking to receive a specific offer or other information through a text message, the retailer should be able to send a one-time response to the consumer with the information requested, without triggering liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). More specifically, RILA asks the Commission to confirm that the TCPA rules effective October 16, 2013, requiring a written agreement with particular disclosures in advance of initiating telemarketing messages or advertisements to a wireless number2 do not apply to isolated, immediate, one-time responses to consumer-initiated requests for text offers (“on demand text offers” or “on demand texts”), where such communications: (1) are proactively initiated by the consumer, not a telemarketer; (2) consist of an isolated, one-time only message sent immediately in response to a consumer’s specific request; and (3) contain the specific information requested by the consumer.3 The Commission has ample authority to clarify the rules in this regard, and can do so under a number of theories. As discussed in further detail below, the Petition has received overwhelming support in the record, and even the limited opposition suggests agreement under the narrow circumstances outlined by RILA.