The Robocall Mitigation Database — the FCC’s carrier roster, explained from the caller’s side

The Robocall Mitigation Database: What Outbound Callers Should Know

The Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD) is the FCC’s public certification database for phone companies — and if you run an outbound calling operation, the most important thing to know is that you don’t file in it. Providers do: every voice service provider, gateway provider, and non-gateway intermediate provider carrying U.S. calls must certify its STIR/SHAKEN status and robocall mitigation program there, and providers may not accept traffic directly from a domestic voice service provider that isn’t listed. Your stake is indirect but real — if any carrier in your call path gets removed, your calls stop completing. Here is how it works, as of July 2026.

This page is education, not legal advice. A dialer is a tool — compliance depends on how you use it. The RMD is a carrier-level obligation: nothing here is a filing your business needs to make, and no carrier listing or dialer feature makes your calling lawful — your lists, consent records, and habits do.

What the Robocall Mitigation Database Is

Under 47 C.F.R. § 64.6305, every provider filing in the RMD must do three things: certify to one of three STIR/SHAKEN statuses (complete implementation across its entire network, partial implementation, or none at all); describe a robocall mitigation program with “reasonable steps” to avoid originating or carrying illegal robocall traffic; and commit to responding fully and timely to traceback requests from the FCC, law enforcement, and the industry traceback consortium.

The filing is not one-and-done: under § 64.6305(h), every provider must recertify annually on or before March 1. The RMD is, in short, the FCC’s accountability roster for the U.S. phone network.

Who Files — and Why It Isn’t You

This is where most searchers land confused, so here is the clean split. Filing obligations attach to providers only: voice service providers under § 64.6305(d), gateway providers under § 64.6305(e), and non-gateway intermediate providers under § 64.6305(f). Since the Sixth Caller ID Authentication Order, all providers — including MVNOs and intermediates that cannot implement STIR/SHAKEN — had to be in the database by the February 26, 2024 filing deadline.

End-user calling businesses are not on that list. If your company buys dialer seats, uploads lists, and makes calls, there is no RMD filing with your name on it. Your compliance program lives in a different stack — registry scrubbing, consent records, calling hours, and identification rules, covered in TCPA for cold callers. What you inherit is exposure: every carrier between your dialer and the person you’re calling must be listed, or the call has no lawful path to complete.

The STIR/SHAKEN Connection

The RMD exists because STIR/SHAKEN — the caller ID authentication framework in which providers cryptographically sign the calls they originate — rolled out unevenly. The database is where each provider goes on record about how much of its network actually signs calls.

For a calling team, the certification level is only half the story: a fully-listed carrier can still sign your calls at different attestation levels depending on how well it knows you and your numbers. The mechanics of attestation A, B, and C — and what actually moves labels — are on the STIR/SHAKEN explained page.

The Rule With Teeth: Unlisted Providers Get Cut Off

The RMD would be paperwork without 47 C.F.R. § 64.6305(g). That subsection prohibits intermediate providers and voice service providers from accepting calls directly from a domestic voice service provider unless that provider’s filing appears in the database — with parallel prohibitions covering traffic from foreign, gateway, and non-gateway intermediate providers.

The voice-service-provider prohibition has been in force since September 28, 2021; the one covering non-gateway intermediate providers took effect May 28, 2024 under the Sixth Caller ID Authentication Report and Order. Either way, a provider removed from — or never listed in — the RMD is effectively disconnected from the U.S. phone network: everyone downstream must stop taking its calls.

Enforcement in 2025–2026: Removals Are Real

The FCC uses that lever regularly:

The pattern: deficient filings get providers removed, removal triggers mandatory blocking within days, and sweeps run into the hundreds of companies.

Why Your Carrier’s RMD Status Shows Up in Your Answer Rates

Two separate systems can stop your calls from being answered; the RMD is only one of them.

The first is network acceptance. If a provider in your call path is removed from the RMD, downstream providers must stop accepting that traffic — your dials return dead air, and a call that never rings cannot be answered. Teams riding cut-rate routes through layered intermediaries carry most of this risk, because every hop in the chain must hold a current listing.

The second is analytics. The FCC’s June 2019 Declaratory Ruling (FCC 19-51) allowed providers to block unwanted calls by default using reasonable analytics; the TRACED Act directed the FCC to create safe harbors; and FCC 20-96 adopted one for blocking based on reasonable analytics that incorporate STIR/SHAKEN information. This is the machinery behind spam labels and carrier-side blocking of legitimate high-volume campaigns — and a current RMD listing does not exempt you from it. Under the FCC’s Eighth Call Blocking Order, terminating providers that block on analytics must return an enhanced “SIP 603+” code identifying the block and a redress contact — a compliance deadline reported as March 25, 2026.

The practical reading: your carrier’s RMD status and attestation capability set the floor for whether calls complete; your day-to-day calling behavior determines what happens on top. The behavior side — number reputation, rotation, volume patterns — is covered in the caller ID optimization guide.

Three Questions to Ask Before You Trust a Calling Platform

You cannot file in the RMD, but you can choose whose network your calls ride on:

1. Which providers carry my traffic, and do they hold current RMD certifications? Ask for written confirmation — the annual recertification deadline is March 1, so “current” has a date attached.
2. What STIR/SHAKEN attestation will my numbers receive? A listed carrier that barely knows you may sign weakly; a direct relationship with numbers provisioned in your name supports stronger attestation.
3. Who watches number reputation after day one? Network acceptance is the floor; labels are the daily fight. Enzo provisions and manages every caller ID — 35 managed caller IDs per seat on Starter, 100 on Standard — with reputation monitoring and rotation handled upstream of your campaigns.

The Robocall Mitigation Database is one of the few compliance topics where the right amount of work for a calling business is close to zero — no filing, no form, no fee. What it demands is a decision: put your traffic on providers that are listed, current, and able to vouch for your numbers, because the FCC has shown it will disconnect the ones that aren’t. Then spend your energy on the list hygiene and calling behavior that regulators and analytics engines actually score.

See how managed caller IDs work in a real calling workflow — book a free discovery call.

Not legal advice. This guide is general information for outbound calling teams, not legal advice. Rules change and apply differently by state, industry, and call type — confirm your program with qualified telemarketing compliance counsel.

Rules and enforcement actions from 47 C.F.R. § 64.6305, FCC orders (FCC 19-51, FCC 20-96, the Eighth Call Blocking Order), FCC Enforcement Bureau removal orders, and attributed law-firm and trade-press reports, as of July 2026 — educational only, not legal advice.