Definition
Prior express consent is the permission a person gives, before a call is placed, to receive autodialed or artificial- or prerecorded-voice calls at a given number, and it is the main legal basis for automated calls under the TCPA.
The TCPA distinguishes between informational calls and telemarketing. For informational calls, such as appointment reminders or post-discharge check-ins, prior express consent can be given orally or by providing the number for a related purpose; FCC guidance has treated a patient giving their number to a healthcare provider as consent to calls closely related to the reason it was given. For telemarketing calls using an artificial or prerecorded voice, the FCC's rules have long required prior express written consent.
That written-consent requirement is now contested. In February 2026 the Fifth Circuit held in Bradford v. Sovereign Pest Control that the TCPA's text does not require written consent for marketing calls, and a Maryland district court followed a month later. Courts outside those jurisdictions may still apply the FCC rule, so the safe operating assumption is uneven law across the country.
Because the FCC treats AI-generated voices as "artificial" under the TCPA, an AI voice call needs the same consent basis as a prerecorded call. Consent is also not permanent: under the FCC's revocation rule, a patient can withdraw it by any reasonable means, and the caller must honor that within 10 business days.
How Consig handles it
Consig treats consent as part of the calling infrastructure: its compliance engine enforces the applicable federal and state rules on every call rather than leaving them to a binder reviewed once a quarter.