mbw@idis.lis.pittsburgh.edu (fac martin weiss) (04/11/89)
Attached is the text of HR 971, a bill submitted by Rep. Jim Cooper
(D-Tenn) regarding the AOS industry. I would like to make it available
to the telecom bulletin board. BTW - thanks for posting the text of
the FCC decision
--Martin Weiss
University of Pittsburgh
mbw@idis.lis.pittsburgh.edu
============================ Cut here 8< ============== 8< ============
101st Congress
1st Session
H.R. 971
To require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe rules to
protect consumers from unfair practices in the provision of operator
services, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 9, 1989
Mr. Cooper (for himself, Mr. Swift, and Mr. Leland) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
A BILL
To require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe rules to
protect consumers from unfair practices in the provision of operator
services, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This Act may be cited as the "Telephone Operator Service
Consumer Protection Act of 1989".
SEC. 2. FINDINGS
The Congress hereby finds that --
(1) the divestiture of AT&T and decision allowing open
entry for competitors in the telephone marketplace produced a
variety of new services and many new providers of existing
telephone services;
(2) the growth of competition in the telecommunications
market makes it essential to ensure that safeguards are in place to
assure fairness for consumers and service providers alike;
(3) a variety of providers of operator services now
compete to win contracts to provide operator services to hotels,
hospitals, airports, and other aggregators of telephone business from
consumers;
(4) the mere existence of a variety of service providers in
the operator services marketplace is significant in making that
market competitive only when consumers are able to make
informed choices from among those service providers;
(5) however, often consumers have no choices in selecting
a provider of operator services, and often customers' attempts to
reach their preferred long distance carrier by a telephone billing
card, credit card, or prearranged access number are blocked;
(6) a number of state regulatory authorities have taken
action to protect consumers using intrastate operator services;
(7) from January 1988 through February 1989, the Federal
Communications Commission received over 2000 complaints about
operator services;
(8) these consumers have complained that they are denied
access to the interexchange carrier of their choice, that they are
deceived about the identity of the company servicing their calls and
the rates being charged, that they lack information on what they
can do to complain about unfair treatment by an operator service
provider, and that they are, accordingly, being deprived of the free
choice essential to the operation of a competitive market; and
(9) a combination of industry self-regulation and
government regulation is required to ensure that competitive
operator services are provided in a fair and reasonable manner.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION
As used in this Act:
(1) The term "Commission" means the Federal
Communications Commission.
(2) The term "the Act" means the Communications Act of
1934.
(3) The term "consumer" means a person initiating any
interstate telephone call using operator services.
(4) The term "operator services" means any interstate
telecommunications service that includes, as a component, any
automatic or live assistance to a consumer to arrange for billing or
completion, or both, of an interstate telephone call through a
method other than automatic completion with billing to the
telephone from which the call originated.
(5) The term "aggregator" means any person, that, in the
ordinary course of its operations, makes telephones available to the
public or to transient users of its premises for interstate telephone
calls using a provider of operator services.
SEC. 4. RULEMAKING REQUIRED
(a) INITIATION OF PROCEEDINGS. - The Commission shall,
within 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, initiate a
proceeding pursuant to title II of the Act to establish regulations to protect
consumers whose use operator services to place interstate telephone calls
from unfair and deceptive practices and to ensure that consumers have the
opportunity to make informed choices in making such calls.
(b) TIMING AND CONTENTS OF REGULATION. - The
regulation required by subsection (a) shall --
(1) be prescribed not later than 180 days after the date of
enactment of this Act;
(2) contain provisions to implement each of the
requirements of section 5;
(3) for purposes of administration and enforcement, be
treated as regulations prescribed by the Commission pursuant to
title II of the Act; and
(4) take effect not later than 270 days after the date of
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
The regulations required by section 4 shall, at a minimum --
(1) require that the provider of the operator services
identify itself, audibly and distinctly, to the consumer prior to the
consumer incurring any charges and permit the consumer to
terminate the telephone call at no charge;
(2) require that the provider of operator services ensure, by
contract, that each aggregator post on or near the telephone
instrument, in plain view of consumers --
(A) the name, address, and toll-free telephone
number of the provider, and
(B) a written disclosure that consumers have a
right to obtain access to the interstate common carrier or
their choice and may contact their preferred interstate
common carriers for information on accessing that carrier's
service using that telephone;
(3) require that the provider of operator services disclose
immediately to the consumer upon request --
(A) a quote of its rates or charges for the call;
(B) methods by which such rates or charges will
be collected; and
(C) the methods by which complaints concerning
such rates, charges, or collection practices will be resolved;
(4) require that the provider of operator services --
(A) neither require nor participate in the blocking
of any consumer's access to the interstate common carrier
of the consumer's choice; and
(B) assure, by contract, that its aggregators neither
require nor participate in the blocking of access to such
interstate common carriers;
(5) require that the provider of operator services charge
rates which are just and reasonable as required by title II of the
Act, which requirement shall include, at a minimum --
(A) prohibiting the provider of operator services
for knowingly charging for uncompleted calls;
(B) ensuring that, in charging for distance, the
provider of operator services charge for no more than the
distance, in a straight line, between the points of
origination and termination of telephone calls; and
(C) ensuring that any consumer billing a telephone
call on a billing card provided by an interstate common
carrier is billed at the rate of that common carrier for that
call;
(6) establish minimum standards for providers of operator
services to use in the routing and handling of emergency telephone
calls; and
(7) establish a policy for requiring common carriers to
make public information about recent changes in operator services
and choices available to consumers in the market.
[Moderator's Note: Regrettably, I am not certain if this was the intended
ending of Martin's submission, or if it got truncated en-route. As Milton
Berle used to say, "...a funny thing happened on the way to the Telecom
mailbox today...." It seems an abrupt ending. Hopefully I got it all. PT]