495.7
. (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).