Communications Director Tom Hymes attributes the backlog to an “overwhelming response” from adult companies wanting to sign up with the FSC for protection against enforcement of the new regulations, pending the outcome of the Free Speech Coalition vs. Gonzales.
The case is currently being considered by U.S. District Court Judge Walker D. Miller, who is expected to decide on whether to grant the FSC and its members a preliminary injunction against 2257 enforcement.
“The organization was simply not prepared for that level of membership signups in its history and so when it happened, we had to react really quickly,” Hymes said. Consequently, a call center was set up, although there were problems associated with that which have since been worked out.
“It has taken time for the office to clear up confusion and deal with the paperwork,” Hymes said. “We just figured that it would be better to let people know where we are with all of this.”
According to Hymes, 50 percent of all new members already have received notification and 80 percent will be processed with notifications sent by Friday, Aug. 19. Only 20 percent will be held over for an Oct. 1 processing and notification deadline, unless incorrect or incomplete credit card information was provided during signup.
“We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the industry for its patience and support during a time when our energies have been divided between ongoing 2257 litigation, membership issues and many other projects,” Hymes said.
The FSC assures new members that all applications submitted before the June 25 deadline were included on the master list submitted to the Justice-appointed Special Master. Those applications received after the deadline will eventually make it onto the list, and until that point, the same protections against amended 2257 law, should the FSC win its injunction, will protect new members from record keeping enforcement and inspection, Hymes said.
Additionally, the FSC is encouraging new members who haven’t already submitted complete lists of their DBAs to do so as soon as possible in order to hasten the application process.
The FSC’s members area will remain disabled until the application process is completed. However, the rest of the FSC website is still accessible.