**Proposed Commission Rules**

**for the**

**North American Numbering Plan Administrator and**

**Billing and Collection Agent**

**1. Add the following sentence to the end of section 52.7(b):**

Area Code Relief includes jeopardy planning where central office codes
may become exhausted before an area code relief plan can be implemented.

**2. Add a new section 52.7(f):**

**52.(7)(f).** The term *\"Billing & Collection Agent\" (\"B&C Agent\")*
refers to the entity responsible for the collection of funds from the
United States Telecommunications industry and NANP member countries.

**3. Add a new section 52.12 as follows:**

**52.12. North American Numbering Plan Administrator and B&C Agent**.
The North American Numbering Plan Administrator (\"NANPA\") and the
associated Billing and Collection Agent (\"B&C Agent\") will conduct
their respective operations in accordance with these rules. The NANPA
and the B&C Agent will conduct their respective operations with
oversight from the Federal Communications Commission (the
\"Commission\") with recommendations from the North American Numbering
Council (\"NANC\").

**52.12(a). Neutrality.** The NANPA and the B&C Agent shall be
non‑governmental entities that are impartial and not aligned with any
particular telecommunication industry segment.

Accordingly, while conducting their respective operations under these
rules, the NANPA and B&C Agent shall ensure that they comply with the
following neutrality criteria:

1\) the NANPA and B&C Agent may not be an affiliate of any
telecommunications service provider(s) as defined in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996. \"Affiliate\" is a person who controls,
is controlled by, or is under the direct or indirect common control with
another person. A person shall be deemed to control another if such
person possesses, directly or indirectly, (i) an equity interest by
stock, partnership (general or limited) interest, joint venture
participation, or member interest in the other person ten (10%) percent
or more of the total outstanding equity interests in the other person,
or (ii) the power to vote ten (10%) percent or more of the securities
(by stock, partnership (general or limited) interest, joint venture
participation, or member interest) having ordinary voting power for the
election of directors, general partner, or management of such other
person, or (iii) the power to direct or cause the direction of the
management and policies of such other person, whether through the
ownership of or right to vote voting rights attributable to the stock,
partnership (general or limited) interest, joint venture participation,
or member interest) of such other person, by contract (including but not
limited to stockholder agreement, partnership (general or limited)
agreement, joint venture agreement, or operating agreement), or
otherwise;

2\) the NANPA and B&C Agent, and any affiliate thereof, may not issue a
majority of its debt to, nor may it derive a majority of its revenues
from any telecommunications service provider. \"Majority\" shall mean
greater than 50 percent, and \"debt\" shall mean stocks, bonds,
securities, notes, loans or any other instrument of indebtedness; and

3\) notwithstanding the neutrality criteria set forth in 1) and 2)
above, the NANPA and B&C Agent may be determined to be or not to be
subject to undue influence by parties with a vested interest in the
outcome of numbering administration and activities. NANC may conduct an
evaluation to determine whether the NANPA and B&C Agent meet the undue
influence criterion.

Any subcontractor(s) that perform (1) NANP administration and central
office code administration, and/or (2) Billing and Collection functions,
for the NANPA or for the B&C Agent must also meet the neutrality
criteria described above.

**52.12(b). Term of Administration.** The NANPA shall provide numbering
administration, including central office code administration, for the
United States portion of the North American Numbering Plan (\"NANP\")
for an initial period of five (5) years. At any time prior to the
termination of the initial or subsequent term of administration, such
term may be renewed for up to five (5) years with the approval of the
Commission and the agreement of the NANPA.

The B&C Agent shall provide billing and collection functions for an
initial period of five (5) years. At any time prior to the termination
of the initial or subsequent term of administration, such term may be
renewed for up to five (5) years with the approval of the Commission and
the agreement of the B&C Agent.

**52.12(c). Changes to Regulations, Rules, Guidelines or Directives.**
In the event that regulatory authorities or industry groups (including
the Industry Numbering Committee ‑ INC) issue rules, requirements,
guidelines or policy directives which may affect the functions performed
by the NANPA and the B&C Agent, the NANPA and the B&C Agent shall,
within 10 business days from the date of official notice of such rules,
requirements, guidelines or policy directives, assess the impact on its
operations and advise the Commission of any changes required. NANPA and
the B&C Agent shall provide written explanation why such changes are
required. To the extent the Commission deems such changes are necessary,
the Commission will recommend to the NANP member countries appropriate
cost recovery adjustments, if necessary.

**52.12(d). Performance Review Process.** The NANC shall monitor the
performance of the NANPA and the B&C Agent. On at least an annual basis,
the NANC shall assess formally the performance of the NANPA and the B&C
Agent, and, at the direction of the Commission, shall implement any
remedial action necessary to correct identified problems, as deemed
necessary.

NANPA and the B&C Agent shall develop and implement an internal,
documented performance monitoring mechanism and shall provide such
performance review on request of the Commission on at least an annual
basis.

The annual assessment process will not preclude telecommunications
industry participants from identifying performance problems to the
NANPA, the B&C Agent and the NANC as they occur, and from seeking
expeditious resolution. If performance problems are identified by a
telecommunications industry participant, the NANC, B&C Agent or NANPA
shall investigate and report within 10 business days of notice to the
participant of corrective action, if any, taken or to be taken. The
NANPA, B&C Agent or NANC (as appropriate) shall be permitted reasonable
time to take corrective action, including the necessity of obtaining the
required consent of the Commission.

**52.12(e). Termination.** If the Commission determines at any time that
the NANPA or the B&C Agent fails to comply with the neutrality criteria
set forth in section 52.12(a) above or substantially or materially
defaults in the performance of its obligations, the Commission shall
advise immediately the NANPA or the B&C Agent of said failure or
default, request immediate corrective action, and permit the NANPA or
B&C Agent reasonable time to correct such failure or default. If the
NANPA or B&C Agent is unwilling or unable to take corrective action, the
Commission may, in a manner consistent with the requirements of the
Administrative Procedure Act, take any action that it deems appropriate,
including termination.

**52.12(f). Dispute Resolution.** The NANC shall adopt and utilize
dispute resolution procedures. Such procedures shall provide disputants,
regulators and the public notice of the matters at issue, a reasonable
opportunity to make oral and written presentations, a reasoned
recommended resolution, and a written report summarizing the
recommendation and the reasons therefore.

**52.12(g). Required and Optional Enterprise Services.** Enterprise
Services may be offered with prior approval of the Commission.

**52.12(g)(1). Required Enterprise Services.** At the request of a code
holder, the NANPA shall, in accordance with industry standards and at
the fees specified by the Commission enter certain routing and rating
information, into the industry‑approved database(s) for dissemination of
such information. This task shall include reviewing the information and
assisting in its preparation.

**52.12(g)(2). Optional Enterprise Services.** The NANPA may, subject to
prior approval and at the fees specified by the Commission, offer
\"Optional Enterprise Services\" which are any services not described
elsewhere in these Rules.

**52.12(g)(3). Annual Report.** NANPA shall identify and record all
direct costs associated with providing enterprise services separately
from the costs associated with the non‑enterprise NANPA functions. The
NANPA shall submit an annual report to the NANC summarizing the revenues
and costs for providing each enterprise service. NANPA shall be audited
by an independent auditor after the first year of operations and every
two years thereafter, and submit the report to the Commission for
appropriate review and action.

**4. Substitute the following for section 52.13(b).**

**52.13(b).** The NANPA shall perform all of the functions and services
identified in the NANC Requirements Document, Public Notice, CC 97‑8
(February 20, 1997), as amended, and Commission Orders and Rules related
to NANP Administration, as amended. The NANPA shall:

1\. ensure that the interests of all NANP member countries are
considered.;

2\. assess fairly requests for assignments of NANP numbering resources
and ensure the assignment of numbering resources to appropriate service
providers;

3\. develop, operate and maintain the computer hardware, software
(database) and mechanized systems required to perform the NANPA and CO
Code Administration functions;

4\. manage projects such as NPA relief (area code relief) planning and
the Central Office Code Utilization Survey (COCUS);

5\. facilitate NPA relief planning meetings;

6\. participate in appropriate industry activities;

7\. manage proprietary data and competitively sensitive information and
maintain the confidentiality thereof;

8\. act as an information resource for the industry concerning all
aspects of numbering (i.e., knowledge and experience in numbering
resource issues, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Recommendation E.164, the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), NANP
Administration, INC, NANP area country regulatory issues affecting
numbering, number resource assignment guidelines, central office code
administration, relief planning, international numbering issues, etc.);
and

9\. ensure that any action taken with respect to number administration
is consistent with this part.

**5. Add a new section 52.13(c), as follows:**

**52.13(c)**. The NANPA shall administer numbering resources in an
efficient and non‑discriminatory manner, in accordance with the
appropriate industry numbering resource guidelines, including, but not
limited to:

a\) Numbering Plan Area (NPA) codes

b\) Central Office codes for the 809 area

c\) International Inbound NPA 456 NXX codes

d\) (NPA) 500 NXX codes

e\) (NPA) 900 NXX codes

f\) N11 Service codes

) 855‑XXXX line numbers

h\) 555‑XXXX line numbers

i\) Carrier Identification Codes

j\) Vertical Service Codes

k\) ANI Information Integer (II) Digit Pairs

l\) Non Dialable Toll Points

m\) New numbering resources as may be defined

**6. Add a new section 52.13(d) as follows:**

**52.13(d). Relationships with Other NANP Member Countries\'
Administrators and Authorities.** The NANPA shall address policy
directives from other NANP member countries\' governmental and
regulatory authorities and coordinate its activities with other NANP
member countries\' administrators, if any, to ensure efficient and
effective management of NANP resources.

**7. Add a new section 52.13(e) as follows:**

**52.13(e). Transition Plan.** The NANPA shall implement a transition
plan, subject to Commission approval, leading to its assumption of NANPA
functions within 90 days of its selection.

**8. Add a new section 52.13(f) as follows:**

**52.13(f).** The NANP Administrator shall make available any and all
intellectual property and associated hardware including, but not limited
to, systems, software, interface specifications and supporting
documentation, generated by or resulting from its performance as NANP
Administrator and make such property available to whoever NANC directs
free of charge. The entity or entities designated by the Commission to
serve as NANP Administrator shall specify any property it proposes to
exclude from the foregoing based on the existence of such property prior
to its selection as NANP Administrator.

**9. Add a new section 52.15(c) as follows:**

**52.15(c). Central Office (CO) Code Administration Functional
Requirements.** The NANPA shall manage the U.S. CO code numbering
resource, including CO code request processing, NPA code relief and
jeopardy planning and industry notification functions. Until such time
as the Commission adopts further rules and regulations governing the
allocation and administration of numbering resources, the NANPA shall
perform its CO Code Administration functions in accordance with the
published industry numbering resource administration guidelines set
forth below as these may be modified or replaced from time to time.

1\. Central Office Code (NXX) Assignment Guidelines (INC 95‑0407‑008)
(dated September 1996)

2\. NPA Code Relief Planning Guidelines (INC 94‑1216‑004, Rev. 1) (dated
March 1996)

3\. Recommended Notification Procedures to Industry for Changes in
Access Network Architectures ICCF 92‑0726‑004, Revision 2.)

4\. NPA Allocation Plan and Assignment Guidelines (INC 96‑0308‑011)
(dated April 1996)

5\. Industry Notification of NPA Relief Activity Guidelines (ICCF
92‑1127‑006 Revised ICCF 29, July 1993).

Subject to the approval of the Commission, the NANPA shall develop a
transition plan to transfer CO code assignment from the current
administrators to itself and shall submit this plan to the Commission
within 90 days of being selected as the NANPA. The NANPA shall complete
the transfer of CO code assignment functions from existing
administrators to itself no more than 18 months after the NANPA has
assumed all of said administrators\' current NANPA function.

**10. Add a new section 52.15(d) as follows:**

**52.15(d).** The NANPA shall perform the NANPA functions at the price
agreed to at the time of its selection. The NANPA may request from NANC,
with approval by the Commission, an adjustment in this price should the
actual number of CO Code assignments made per year, the number of NPAs
requiring relief per year, or the number of NPA relief meetings per NPA
requiring relief exceed ~~20~~ 120 percent of NANPA\'s stated
assumptions for the above tasks at the time of its selection.

**11. Add a new section 52.16 as follows:**

**52.16. Billing and Collection Agent.** The B&C Agent shall:

1\. Calculate, assess, bill and collect payments for numbering
administration functions and distribute funds to NANPA on a monthly
basis;

2\. Design a standard Reporting Worksheet to collect information for
assessment calculations from carriers and distribute it to carriers and
other NANP nations;

3\. Keep confidential all data obtained from carriers and not disclose
such data in company‑specific form unless authorized by the Commission.
The B&C Agent shall use such data only for calculating, collecting and
verifying payments;

4\. Develop procedures to monitor industry compliance with reporting
requirements and propose specific procedures to address reporting
failures and late payments;

5\. File annual reports with the appropriate regulatory authorities of
the NANP member countries as requested; and

6\. Obtain an audit from an independent auditor after the first year of
operations and every two years thereafter, which audit shall evaluate
the validity of calculated payments. The B&C Agent shall submit the
audit report to the Commission for appropriate review and action.