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. (a) A telephone bill may only contain charges for products or
services, the purchase of which the subscriber has authorized.
(b) When a person or corporation obtains a written order for a
product or service, the written order shall be a separate document
from any solicitation material. The sole purpose of the document is
to explain the nature and extent of the transaction. Written orders
and written solicitation materials shall be unambiguous, legible, and
in a minimum 10-point type. Written or oral solicitation materials
used to obtain an order for a product or service shall be in the same
language as the written order. Written orders may not be used as
entry forms for sweepstakes, contests, or any other program that
offers prizes or gifts.
(c) The commission may only permit a subscriber's local telephone
service to be disconnected for nonpayment of charges relating to the
subscriber's basic local exchange telephone service, long-distance
telephone service within a local access and transport area
(intraLATA), long-distance telephone service between local access and
transport areas (interLATA), and international telephone service.
(d) (1) A billing telephone company shall clearly identify, and
use a separate billing section for, each person, corporation, or
billing agent that generates a charge on a subscriber's telephone
bill. A billing telephone company may not bill for a person,
corporation, or billing agent, unless that person, corporation or
billing agent complies with paragraph (2).
(2) Any person, corporation, or billing agent that charges
subscribers for products or services on a telephone bill shall do all
of the following:
(A) Include, or cause to be included, in the telephone bill the
amount being charged for each product or service, including any taxes
or surcharges, and a clear and concise description of the service,
product, or other offering for which a charge has been imposed.
(B) Include, or cause to be included, for each entity that charges
for a product or service, information with regard to how to resolve
any dispute about that charge, including the name of the party
responsible for generating the charge and a toll-free telephone
number or other no cost means of contacting the entity responsible
for resolving disputes regarding the charge and a description of the
manner in which a dispute regarding the charge may be addressed. Each
telephone bill shall include the appropriate telephone number of the
commission that a subscriber may use to register a complaint.
(C) Establish, maintain, and staff a toll-free telephone number to
respond to questions or disputes about its charges and to provide
the appropriate addresses to which written questions or complaints
may be sent. The person, corporation, or billing agent that generates
a charge may also contract with a third party, including, but not
limited to, the billing telephone corporation, to provide that
service on behalf of the person, corporation or billing agent.
(D) Provide a means for expeditiously resolving subscriber
disputes over charges for a product or service, the purchase of which
was not authorized by the subscriber. In the case of a dispute,
there is a rebuttable presumption that an unverified charge for a
product or service was not authorized by the subscriber and that the
subscriber is not responsible for that charge. With regard to direct
dialed telecommunications services, evidence that a call was dialed
is prima facie evidence of authorization. If recurring charges arise
from the use of those subscriber-initiated services, the recurring
charges are subject to this section.
(e) If an entity responsible for generating a charge on a
telephone bill receives a complaint from a subscriber that the
subscriber did not authorize the purchase of the product or service
associated with that charge, the entity, not later than 30 days from
the date on which the complaint is received, shall verify the
subscriber's authorization of that charge or undertake to resolve the
billing dispute to the subscriber's satisfaction.
(f) For purposes of this section, "billing agent" is the
clearinghouse or billing aggregator.
(g) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2001.