I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4742

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission to establish minimum standards regarding the

quality of wireless telephone service and to monitor complaints regarding

such service.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 23, 2000

Mr. WEINER (for himself and Mr. PASCRELL) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the

Federal Communications Commission to establish minimum standards regarding the quality of wireless telephone service and to monitor complaints regarding such

service.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cell Phone Consumer

5 Protection Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS REGARDING OF

2 QUALITY OF COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE

3 AND MONITORING OF COMPLAINTS REGARD4 ING SUCH SERVICE.

5 Section 332(c) of the Communications Act of 1934

6 (47 U.S.C. 332) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(9) QUALITY OF COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERV9 ICES.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission

11 shall, by regulation, establish such requirements

12 as the Commission considers appropriate to en13 sure that providers of commercial mobile serv14 ices meet minimum standards regarding the

15 quality and performance of such service, which

16 shall include standards regarding connection,

17 reception, and billing practices.

18 ‘‘(B) COMPLAINT SYSTEM.—

19 ‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commis20 sion shall establish and administer a sys21 tem that makes available a procedure for

22 any subscriber of a commercial mobile

23 service to register a complaint regarding

24 the quality or performance of the service.

25 ‘‘(ii) TOLL-FREE NUMBER.—Such sys26 tem shall include establishment of a toll-
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1 free number applicable to commercial mo2 bile services for reporting a complaint. The

3 Commission and any agency or entity to

4 which the Commission has delegated au5 thority under section 251(e) shall des6 ignate ‘#FCC’ as such number and shall

7 provide appropriate transition periods for

8 areas in which such number is otherwise in

9 use as of the date of the enactment of the

10 Cell Phone Consumer Protection Act of

11 2000.

12 ‘‘(iii) RECORDS.—The Commission

13 shall maintain a record of each complaint

14 made under the system established pursu15 ant to this subparagraph.

16 ‘‘(iv) NOTICE.—The Commission shall

17 require each provider of commercial mobile

18 service (or the billing agent for such pro19 vider) to include, in each subscriber’s bill

20 for such service, a statement informing the

21 subscriber that a complaint regarding the

22 quality or performance of the service may

23 be registered with the Commission and

24 providing the toll-free number under clause

25 (ii) and an address for mailing a com-
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1 plaint. The Commission shall take such

2 other actions as may be appropriate to

3 publicize the availability of the complaint

4 system to subscribers of commercial mobile

5 services.

6 ‘‘(C) REPORTING OF COMPLAINTS TO CON7 GRESS.—Not less often than once every 6

8 months, the Commission shall submit a report

9 to the Congress regarding complaints received

10 under the complaint system required under sub11 paragraph (B), which shall—

12 ‘‘(i) indicate the number of complaints

13 received, during the period for which the

14 report is made, regarding each provider of

15 a commercial mobile service for which a

16 complaint is made; and

17 ‘‘(ii) indicate the types of complaints

18 received during such period, including com19 plaints regarding dead spots, dropped calls,

20 network busy signals, and improper billing

21 practices, and the number of each type of

22 complaint received during such period.

23 Upon submission to the Congress of each report

24 under this subparagraph, the Commission shall

25 make such report publicly available by providing
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1 access to the report through a World Wide Web

2 site of the Commission.

3 ‘‘(D) EFFECT ON CONSUMER PROTECTION

4 LAWS.—This paragraph may not be construed

5 as relieving any provider of a commercial mobile

6 service from the obligation to comply with any

7 Federal, State, or local statute or regulation re8 lating to consumer protection or unfair trade.

9 ‘‘(E) STATE AUTHORITY.—This paragraph

10 may not be construed as precluding any State

11 from enacting and enforcing additional and

12 complementary oversight and regulatory sys13 tems or procedures, or both, so long as such

14 systems and procedures do not significantly im15 pede the enforcement of this paragraph or other

16 Federal statutes.

17 ‘‘(F) EXEMPTION FROM FORFEITURE PRO18 VISIONS.—Notwithstanding any provision of

19 title V, failure to comply with the requirements

20 established under subparagraph (A) shall not be

21 subject to any penalty or forfeiture under such

22 title.’’.

23 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE AND REGULATIONS.

24 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

25 section 2 shall take effect upon the expiration of the 6-
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1 month period beginning on the date of the enactment of

2 this Act.

3 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall prescribe

4 such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the

5 amendment made by section 2. Such regulations shall be

6 issued not later than, and shall take effect upon, the effec7 tive date under subsection (a).

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