Like the National Association of Realtors, the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) is also having difficulty with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new FAX regulations, which prohibits FAXes that include advertising without prior written permission from the recipient.

The ASAE is composed of 25,000 members of trade organizations and associations representing as many as 207 million people who belong to the associations. ASAE members include many association officers from the NAR, the American Medical Association, the National Restaurant Association and the AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons) among many others.

Chris Vest, assistant director of public relations for the ASAE, says the association objects to the FCC proposal which "eliminates the prior “established business relationship” language, no longer making membership in an association sufficient enough to send a FAX that contains advertisements for products or services."

"We are asking for an extension so that we can ask members for their consent," says Vest.

Vendor participation and support is a primary way in which tax-exempt organizations control costs. On a broader note, consumers are fed up with FAX junk mail, solicitation calls and SPAM, the next frontier to be controlled by the FCC and Federal Trade Commission (FTC.) Since June 27th, the first day that consumers could sign up to take advantage of the FTC no-call rules, over 28 million consumers have signed up to keep telemarketers from interrupting dinner and family time.

This is causing the baby to be thrown out with the bathwater, cry some organizations, which view the FCC's and FTC's zeal to stop unsolicited communications as grandstanding heroics before an election year, at best. At worst, they say, the FCC and FTC rules will eliminate jobs for millions of people and substantially increase operating costs for many organizations, two things a floundering economy doesn't need.

Among those objecting to increased costs are the NAR and the ASAE, which can no longer send FAXes subsidized by advertisers to members without their written consent.

"It's not like we're sending these FAXes to the general public," says Vest, "they are being sent to our members who presumably joined our organization to get this information among other benefits."

The ASAE is gearing up to fight the FCC, inspired by the actions of the American Teleservices Association, which filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission in January to stop the no-call lists from being made, and has now filed against the FCC.

The ATA said in a press release that the no-call rules were a case of "regulatory overkill." Noteworthy are the exemptions which include charities, pollsters, calls on behalf of politicians and customers who have bought, leased or rented from the company in the past 18 months or made an inquiry within the past three months.

Vest would like to see reasonable exemptions for the FAX rules, too, and he is looking ahead to what the FCC and FTC will do regarding e-mail.

"E-mail is being addressed in Congress right now," he warns. "We understand the FCC's intent to ride what is a wave of consumer sentiment against junk mail, phone solicitations and Internet Spam, but the unintended consequence has been to create a severe administrative burden that impedes the marketing and communication strategy of associations. In order to communicate by FAX with our own members, we are going to have to go out to thousands of people and seek their signed written consent before we send them a FAX. What the law said before is that as long as there was an established business relationship in the case of associations, (members joining the association established that relationship) that gave us permission to give members a FAX about programs we want them to know about. The new rule gets rid of that."

What the ASAE is now attempting to do is file a petition for stay with the FCC. "Their new regulations have not gone into effect, but they have been posted in the Federal Register, which means we have 30 days until they are effective. We are filing a petition that the FCC stay their implementation and enforcement to reconsider whether association activities that are consistent with their tax-exempt purposes and inherently noncommercial should be covered by these rules," says Vest.

"At the same time, we want Congress to take note of the issue and the fact that this is just bad for business at a time when the nation doesn't need to hamper its economic drivers any further," he says.

Published: July 30, 2003

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.