FCC ‘Solicited Fax Rule’ Is Dead Nationwide, Second Circuit Says

A court ruling striking down the Federal Communications Commission’s ‘solicited fax rule’ was binding throughout the country, and the agency acted properly by repealing the rule in response, a federal appeals court in Manhattan ruled Friday.

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the FCC decision to withdraw the rule—which requires even faxes sent with permission to include instructions for opting out of future correspondence—after a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., found it unlawful in 2017.

Judge Dennis Jacobs, writing for the Second Circuit panel, acknowledged that appeals court rulings are generally only binding within ...