Truth-in Billing Update
The FCC has announced that expanded “Truth-in Billing” requirements for wireline and wireless telecom carriers, adopted in March 2005, have become effective.
Under the new rules, wireless as well as wireline providers must provide billing descriptions that are brief, clear, non-misleading and in plain language. In addition, carriers in their bills may not represent discretionary line item charges in any manner that suggests such line items are taxes or government mandated charges. The burden rests upon the carrier to demonstrate that any line item that purports to recover a specific governmental or regulatory program fee conforms to the amount authorized by the government to be collected. The FCC also clarified that state regulations requiring or prohibiting the use of line items for wireless bills constitute rate regulation and are preempted.
Several other proposed truth-in-billing requirements remain under consideration in the Second FNPRM issued in this proceeding, and could be adopted by the FCC in the first half of 2006. In this phase, the FCC is seeking comment in part on whether it should reverse its prior holding permitting states to enact and enforce carrier-specific TIB rules and whether it should preempt inconsistent state regulation.
On Jan. 23, 2006, a group of PUC commissioners from 10 states and the District of Columbia filed an ex parte supporting the adoption of national TIB rules. The commissioners cautioned that the rules must be “flexible enough to ensure clear billing disclosures without mandating the exact format and wording each carrier’s billing statements must contain.” The Commissioners also emphasized that states must continue to enforce generally applicable state consumer protection and anti-fraud laws. The signatory commissioners were from Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and South Dakota.
