The House Commerce Committee approved a prepaid calling card bill...
The House Commerce Committee approved a prepaid calling card bill by voice vote at a Wednesday markup. HR-3993, sponsored by Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., would require disclosure of provider information, the card’s number of minutes or dollar value, per-minute rates,…
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fees and charges, time period limits and expiration dates, and refund and recharge policies. It would also require the FTC to prosecute violations. A manager’s amendment passed by voice vote Wednesday makes a technical edit to give the FTC “flexibility to limit the required disclosures on advertising and promotional material,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. “Many calling cards today have numerous hidden costs and fail to deliver the full number of advertised minutes.” The bill is the result of bipartisan work and would “prevent fraud and abuse in the prepaid calling card industry” and “provide consumers with accurate and understandable information about rates, fees, terms, and conditions,” he said. Ranking Member Joe Barton, R-Texas, backed the bill: “Consumers should not have to draw a flow chart to know how many minutes they'll actually get on a prepaid calling card.”