Prior Express Written Consent (PEWC) Explained: A TCPA Field Guide for Lead Buyers

What PEWC actually is

If you buy, sell, or call leads, "prior express written consent" (PEWC) is the phrase that keeps you out of trouble. It is the specific kind of consent the TCPA requires before you can send certain marketing calls and texts. It is not a checkbox you bury in a privacy policy, and it is not something you can assume because someone filled out a form. It is a defined legal standard, and the details matter.

The good news: once you understand the four pieces that make consent valid, it is straightforward to build a form that captures it and a system that keeps it. This guide walks through both.

When the TCPA requires PEWC

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act lives at 47 U.S.C. § 227. The part operators run into most is the restriction on autodialed and prerecorded calls to wireless numbers: under § 227(b)(1)(A)(iii), you generally cannot use an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice to call a cell phone without the prior express consent of the person you are calling. The FCC's rules, at 47 CFR § 64.1200, build on that and draw a sharper line for marketing.

Here is the practical rule of thumb:

• Marketing or telemarketing calls and texts to a cell phone, made with an autodialer or a prerecorded/artificial voice, require prior express written consent.
• Non-marketing informational calls (an appointment reminder, a delivery notice) sit under a lower "prior express consent" bar.

Text messages count as calls for TCPA purposes, so the same written-consent standard applies to autodialed SMS marketing.

The four elements of valid PEWC

The FCC defines prior express written consent at 47 CFR § 64.1200(f)(9). Strip out the legal language and it is an agreement that has to do four things:

• Be in writing and signed. It must be a written agreement bearing the signature of the person being called.
• Clearly authorize the specific seller. The agreement must clearly authorize the seller to deliver advertisements or telemarketing messages using an autodialer or a prerecorded/artificial voice, and it must identify the phone number the person is authorizing you to contact.
• Disclose what they are agreeing to — clearly and conspicuously. Under § 64.1200(f)(9)(i)(A), the agreement must disclose that, by signing, the person authorizes the seller to deliver telemarketing calls using an autodialer or prerecorded/artificial voice.
• State that consent is not a condition of purchase. Under § 64.1200(f)(9)(i)(B), the disclosure must tell the person they are not required to sign, or to agree, as a condition of buying any property, goods, or services.

That last one trips up a lot of funnels. You cannot force consent in exchange for a quote, a download, or a service. It has to be genuinely optional.

"Clear and conspicuous," by the way, is also defined. Under § 64.1200(f)(3) it means a notice that would be apparent to the reasonable consumer, separate and distinguishable from the advertising copy or other disclosures. In plain terms: don't hide it in gray six-point type at the bottom of the page.

Electronic signatures count

You do not need a wet-ink signature. The FCC's definition at § 64.1200(f)(9)(ii) says "signature" includes an electronic or digital form of signature, to the extent it is valid under applicable federal or state contract law. That ties into the federal E-SIGN Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7001, which says a signature or record cannot be denied legal effect just because it is electronic.

For most lead-gen operators, that means a checkbox plus a submit action on a web form can serve as a valid signature — provided the disclosure language meets the elements above and you capture proof of the agreement.

A note on "one-to-one" consent

You may have heard about a 2023 FCC rule that would have required consent to be given to a single, specific seller and limited to logically related topics — the so-called "one-to-one" rule. In Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC (11th Cir., Jan. 24, 2025), the Eleventh Circuit vacated that requirement, holding the FCC had exceeded its authority. So the one-to-one restriction is not in force. The core PEWC elements above, however, remain the law.

How to capture and keep PEWC

The goal is to be able to prove, for any given lead, exactly what they agreed to and when. Practical steps:

• Put the full disclosure right at the point of consent — clear, conspicuous, separate from your marketing copy, naming the seller(s) and stating consent is not required to buy.
• Use an unchecked, affirmative action the consumer takes themselves. Don't pre-check the box.
• Capture and store the proof: the exact disclosure language shown, a timestamp, IP address, the page URL, and the phone number authorized.
• Version your consent language so you can show what a given lead saw on the day they signed.
• Honor revocation and keep that record too. Consent can be withdrawn, and you need to act on it.
• Keep records for years, not weeks. TCPA exposure runs at $500 per violation, up to $1,500 for willful or knowing violations under § 227(b)(3) — and the burden of proving consent generally falls on you.

If you buy leads, demand this proof from your sources and store it. A lead is only as clean as the consent record behind it.