(a) The commission may, by rule or order, establish procedures to allow telephone or telegraph corporations to apply for the exemption of certain telecommunications services from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495.
(b) The commission may, by rule or order, partially or completely exempt certain telecommunications services, except basic exchange service offered by telephone or telegraph corporations, from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 if either of the following conditions is met:
(1) The commission finds that the telephone corporation lacks significant market power in the market for that service for which an exemption from Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 is being requested. Criteria to determine market power shall include, but not be limited to, the following: company size, market share, and type of service for which an exemption is being requested. The commission shall promulgate rules for determining market power based on these and other appropriate criteria.
(2) The Commission finds that a telephone corporation is offering a service in a given market for which competitive alternatives are available to most consumers, and the commission has determined that sufficient consumer protections exist in the form of rules and enforcement mechanisms to minimize the risk to consumers and competition from unfair competition or anticompetitive behavior in the market for the competitive telecommunications service for which a provider is requesting an exemption from Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495. This paragraph does not apply to monopoly services for which the commission retains exclusive authority to set or change rates.
(c) Before implementing procedures to allow telephone corporations to apply for the exemption of certain telecommunications services from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495, and no later than September 30, 1996, the commission shall establish consumer protection rules for those exempted services that include, but are not limited to:
(1) Rules regarding the availability of rates, terms, and conditions of service to consumers.
(2) Rules regarding notices to consumers of rate increases and decreases, changes in terms and conditions of service, and change of ownership.
(3) Rules to identify and eliminate unacceptable marketing practices including, but not limited to, fraudulent marketing practices.
(4) Rules to assure that aggrieved consumers have speedy, low-cost, and effective avenues available to seek relief in a reasonable time.
(5) Rules to assure consumers that their right to informational privacy for services over which the commission has oversight.
(6) Rules to assure a telephone corporation’s cooperation with the commission investigations of customer complaints.
(d) Prior to granting every exemption from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495, the commission shall find that there is no improper cross-subsidization or anticompetitive behavior in connection with the service for which an exemption is requested.
(e) Nothing in this section shall require that the commission exempt any telecommunications service or telecommunications service provider from the requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495, nor shall this section limit the authority of the commission to require telephone corporations to provide it with contemporaneous information about the current terms, conditions, and prices under which telecommunications services that are exempted, in whole or in part, from Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 are being offered to subscribers.
(f) The commission, after notice and hearing if requested, may cancel, revoke, or suspend any exemption granted under subdivision (b) to any telephone corporation that fails to comply with any of the rules established by the commission pursuant to subdivision (c).
(g) Any telecommunications service exempted from the tariffing requirements of Sections 454, 489, 491, and 495 shall not be subject to the limitation on damages that applies to tariffed telecommunications services.
(h) The provisions of this section do not apply to commercial mobile services as defined by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66).
(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 745, Sec. 197. Effective October 12, 2001.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018