The FCC expanded the federal consumer protection rules that apply to consumers’ wireless phone bills. Specifically, the Commission:
- Removed the existing exemption for Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) carriers from the rules requiring that billing descriptions be brief, clear, non-misleading and in plain language;
- Held that it is misleading to represent discretionary line item charges in any manner that suggests such line items are taxes or government mandated charges;
- Clarified that 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;
- Clarified that state regulations requiring or prohibiting the use of line items for CMRS constitute rate regulation and are preempted.
- Sought comment on the distinction between government “mandated” and other charges;
- Tentatively concluded that, where carriers choose to list charges in separate line items on their customers’ bills, government mandated charges must be placed in a section of the bill separate from all other charges;
- Sought comment on whether it is unreasonable to combine federal regulatory charges into a single line item;
- Tentatively concluded that carriers must disclose the full rate, including any non-mandated line items and a reasonable estimate of government mandated surcharges, to the consumer at the point of sale; and
- Tentatively concluded that the Commission should preempt inconsistent state regulation of telecommunications carrier-specific truth-in-billing rules. The Commission emphasized, however, that no such action would limit states’ ability to enforce their own generally applicable consumer protection laws.
http://www.fcc.gov
