Part 3: Rules Governing Billing for Non-communications-Related Charges

Cramming, the submission or inclusion of unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges for products or services on subscribers' telephone bills, has become a serious problem in California in recent years. In an effort to address the problem, the Legislature enacted Sections 2889.9 and 2890, which contain provisions designed to deter cramming, and authorized the Commission to adopt rules needed to accomplish the consumer protection purpose of those statutes.

On July 12, 2001 we issued D.01-07-030 adopting a set of interim rules governing the inclusion of non-communications-related charges on telephone bills. We stated that those rules, possibly with some modifications, would be incorporated into and superseded by the new general order we adopt in this decision. The D.01-07-030 rules, now no longer interim, are Part 3, Rules Governing Billing for Non-communications-Related Charges, of new General Order ___.

In the D.01-07-030 interim rules, we indicated in Section J, Penalties, our intent not to preclude district attorneys, the Attorney General, or other law enforcement agencies from obtaining injunctive relief, civil penalties, and other relief permitted by law against a billing telephone company, billing agent, or vendor that violates the rules. We have made a minor revision in Part 3, Section J, to make it clear that we intend that same provision apply to violations of state law. The only other changes are minor, non-substantive changes to promote consistency with the remainder of the general order. As we noted in D.01-07-030, after the Part 3 rules have been in effect for approximately 18 months we may revisit this topic to assess how effective our rules have been in protecting consumers, and consider at that time whether changes are needed.