N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC) will take comments April 18 and ...
N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC) will take comments April 18 and replies May 9 on proposed rules to supplement FCC’s prohibitions against slamming and cramming. NCUC last year signed on to become enforcement agent for FCC’s slamming rules after realizing…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
state had no law or rule explicitly banning slamming or cramming. NCUC in Doc. P-100, Subsec. 148 said penalties prescribed by FCC rules were too small to have deterrent effect on repeat slammers who viewed such penalties as cost of business. Proposed rule for both local and interexchange services would allow NCUC to impose penalties beyond those of FCC, including additional compensatory refunds on intrastate calls, and fine of $1,000 per slammed customer for each day unauthorized service was available. Rule would place burden of proof on new carrier to show switch was authorized. It also would require carrier to provide, on request, letter spelling out rates, terms and conditions of service offer before it made switch. Cramming ban would apply to any unauthorized service added to phone bill, including nontelecom services, with fine of $1,000 for each day unauthorized service was made available to customer. Proposed rule also would require specific consumer disclosures be made in any advertising, direct mail or telemarketing solicitation. NCUC said 37 states ban slamming by law and 7 by commission rule.