B. Definitions

Agent

Any person, company, or entity, other than a billing telephone company:

(1) that represents or acts on behalf of a billing telephone company, billing agent, or vendor as those terms are defined in these rules; or

(2) that solicits, promotes, advertises, offers, or bills for, products or services that are billed for on a subscriber's telephone bill or included in the envelope containing any bill for telecommunications services; or

(3) whose function is to bring about or accept performance of contractual obligations between a consumer and either a billing telephone company or a vendor whose charge for products or services is billed for on a subscriber's telephone bill or included in the envelope containing any bill for telecommunications services.

Basic Service

A minimum level of telecommunications service that each carrier offering local exchange service is required to provide to all of its residential subscribers who request local exchange service. Also referred to as "basic exchange service." (See D.96-10-066.) Wireless service is not "basic service" unless the wireless service satisfies the definition of basic service provided in D.96-10-066 and subsequent Commission decisions.

Billing Agent

A company or other business entity that aggregates billing for telephone service providers and/or vendors and submits that billing to a telephone company for inclusion on subscribers' telephone bills, either directly or indirectly through one or more billing aggregators.

[Comment: Sections 2889.9 and 2890 use the term "billing agent." Billing agents are sometimes referred to as " billing aggregators." The FCC uses the term "clearinghouse" (see FCC Anti-Cramming Best Practices Guidelines).]

Billing Error

A charge made on a subscriber's telephone bill without proper authorization as required by statute and/or these rules (see definition of "unauthorized charge, below); a charge not identified as required by statute and/or these rules; a charge assessed on subscriber's telephone bill for products or services not accepted by the subscriber, or the subscriber's designee, or not delivered to or provided to the subscriber or the subscriber's designee as authorized; the billing telephone company's failure to mail or deliver a telephone bill to the subscriber's last known address if that address was received by the billing telephone company or the entity responsible for initiating the charge, in writing, at least 20 days before the end of the billing cycle for which the statement was required; a reflection on the subscriber's telephone bill of the billing telephone company's failure to credit properly a payment or other credit issued to the subscriber's account; a computational error or similar error of an accounting nature made by a telephone company or vendor; a reflection on a telephone bill of a charge inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the subscriber's service agreement (whether defined by tariff or by contract) or purchase agreement, whichever is applicable.

Billing Telephone Company

See Telephone Company

Clear and Conspicuous

A statement is clear and conspicuous if it is readily understandable and presented in a size, color, contrast, location, and audibility, compared to the other material with which it is presented, that make it readily noticed and understood. If a statement modifies, explains, or clarifies other information with which it is presented, it must be presented in close proximity to the information it modifies and in a manner that makes it as readily noticed and understood as the information it modifies, explains, or clarifies.

Commission

The California Public Utilities Commission.

Communications-related charges; Non-communications charges

Communications-related charges include, but are not limited to, charges for: services tariffed by telephone utilities; services permitting voice and data communications, including charges for installation of equipment and facilities; telecommunications equipment that is connected to a telecommunications network; wireless communications service; Internet access; video service; message service; information service, including pay-per-call service; and cable set top boxes. Any charge that is not communications-related, with the exception of taxes and mandatory charges for public purpose programs, is a non-communications charge.

[Comment: This list of communications-related charges is derived from Section 2890. The Commission recognizes that new communications-related products and services are being developed at a rapid pace; therefore, this list is not intended to be exclusive.]

Complaint (to a billing telephone company from a subscriber)

A communication, whether written or verbal, from a subscriber to the subscriber's billing telephone company disputing a charge on that subscriber's telephone bill.

A question about a charge is not necessarily a complaint; however, if the bill provides insufficient information to enable the subscriber to verify the charge, fails to identify clearly the source of the charge, includes incorrect information about the charge or the source of the charge, or in any way falls within the definition of a billing error, the question should be deemed a complaint.

Fraudulent Authorization

An authorization (written, verbal, or electronic) is fraudulent if it is inauthentic (not given by the subscriber) or was obtained from the subscriber based on false or misleading information.

Legal name (of a business entity that is not a telephone company)

Name of company as registered with the California Secretary of State.

Signature

Signature includes an electronic signature as defined by the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Civil Code § 1633.2(h), provided, however, that an oral communication or a recording of an oral communication shall not constitute an electronic signature.

Solicitation

An offer, tentative or otherwise, by a telephone company or agent of a telephone company, or a vendor, to a consumer or consumers, or to the public generally, to provide a product or service for compensation. Proposed sales agreements and contracts are solicitations. Sales pitches of all types are solicitations, and telephone companies' interactions with existing or prospective subscribers to set up new services generally include multiple solicitations. Product- or service-specific advertising and other promotional materials fall within the definition of solicitation, whereas brand-name or image advertising generally would not.

Subscriber

Any individual or business that subscribes to any telecommunications service subject to Commission jurisdiction. For purposes of these rules, "subscriber" also includes individuals who use the subscriber's telecommunications service with the permission of the subscriber of record.

Telephone Company; Billing Telephone Company

A telephone company is any telephone corporation (as defined in Public Utilities Code § 234) operating within California. This term includes resellers and wireless telephone service providers. A billing telephone company is a telephone company that also provides billing services to any third party, including its own affiliate, or that bills for non-communications-related products and services on its own behalf. Telephone companies are responsible for their agents' compliance with these rules and liable for their agents' violation of these rules.

Unauthorized charge

In the context of billing for non-communications-related products or services on a subscriber's telephone bill, an unauthorized charge is a non-communications-related charge included on a subscriber's bill when the subscriber (1) has not authorized the billing telephone company, directly, to include non-communications-related charges on that subscriber's bill; or (2) has not authorized that particular charge. A charge placed on the subscriber's bill by a person who does not have actual, implied, or apparent authority to place such a charge, and which confers no benefit upon the subscriber, is an unauthorized charge.

Vendor

Any person, company or entity that offers or provides non-communications-related products or services billed on a subscriber's telephone bill. Vendors are responsible for their agents' compliance with Section 2890 and these rules.

[Comments:

(1) As used in these rules, "vendor" refers to the entity that makes the sale to a California subscriber, attempts to make the sale, or sets in motion the process of placing a charge on a subscriber's bill. In the Commission's view, "entity responsible for generating a charge" as that term is used in Section 2890, i.e., is synonymous. Some telephone companies have argued, however, that the "entity responsible for generating a charge" could include billing agents. To eliminate this ambiguity, we will use the term "vendor" to refer to entities that set in motion the process of placing a charge on a subscriber's bill, not to billing agents acting as an intermediary between seller and billing telephone company. In the event that a billing entity is responsible for setting the process in motion, i.e., is responsible for generating a charge on behalf of no one but itself, it would be subject to the Commission's jurisdiction as provided by Section 2890, as are vendors. Note that if a billing telephone company sells non-communications-related products and services directly to subscribers, it is a vendor as well.

(2) Vendors are not necessarily public utilities, nor are they necessarily California corporations, though they sell or offer to sell to California subscribers.]

Written; In Writing

"Written" describes material intended to be read, either in the form of hardcopy (including fax) or transmitted through electronic media. "In writing" similarly describes (1) written material in hardcopy document form, and (2) messages intended to be read that are sent electronically. For purposes of these rules, however, whenever anything is required to be done in writing, the requirement must be satisfied in the form of hardcopy unless the subscriber agrees to having the required information (disclosure, notice, confirmation etc.) provided electronically.

[Comment: This definition of "Written; In Writing" will be interpreted consistent with the provisions of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, Cal. Civil Code §§ 1633 et seq., and with the Electronic Signatures Act, 15 USCA §§ 7001 et. seq., subject to the limitation on the definition of "signature" as defined in these rules.]