Union Calendar No. 104

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1528

[Report No. 104–203, Part I]

A BILL

To supersede the Modification of Final Judgment

purposes.Court for the District of Columbia, and for otherAction No. 82–0192, United States Districtstyled United States v. Western Electric, Civilentered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust action

JULY 24, 1995

Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an

amendment

Committee on Commerce discharged, committed to the

Union, and ordered to be printedCommittee of the Whole House on the State of the
IB

Union Calendar No. 104

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1528

[Report No. 104–203, Part I]

To supersede the Modification of Final Judgment entered August 24, 1982,

in the antitrust action styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil

Action No. 82–0192, United States District Court for the District of

Columbia, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 2, 1995

Mr. HYDE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Commerce, for a

period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

JULY 24, 1995

Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

JULY 24, 1995

Referral to the Committee on Commerce extended for a period ending not

later than July 24, 1995

JULY 24, 1995

Committee on Commerce discharged, committed to the Committee of the

Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 2, 1995]

A BILL

To supersede the Modification of Final Judgment entered
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August 24, 1982, in the antitrust action styled United

States v. Western Electric, Civil Action No. 82–0192,

United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Antitrust Consent De5 cree Reform Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR BELL OPERATING COMPANY

7 TO ENTER COMPETITIVE LINES OF BUSINESS.

8 (a) APPLICATION.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—After the applicable date

10 specified in paragraph (2), a Bell operating company

11 may apply to the Attorney General for authorization,

12 notwithstanding the Modification of Final Judg13 ment—

14 (A) to provide interexchange telecommuni15 cations services,

16 (B) to manufacture or provide tele17 communications equipment, or manufacture

18 customer premises equipment, or

19 (C) to provide alarm monitoring services.

20 The application shall describe the nature and scope

21 of the activity, and the product market, service mar-
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1 ket, and geographic market, for which authorization

2 is sought.

3 (2) APPLICABLE DATES.—For purposes of

4 paragraph (1), the applicable date after which a Bell

5 operating company may apply for authorization shall

6 be—

7 (A) the date of the enactment of this Act,

8 with respect to—

9 (i) providing interexchange tele10 communications services, and

11 (ii) manufacturing or providing tele12 communications equipment, or manufac13 turing customer premises equipment, and

14 (B) the date that occurs 3 years after the

15 date of the enactment of this Act, with respect

16 to providing alarm monitoring services.

17 (3) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 10 days

18 after receiving an application made under paragraph

19 (1), the Attorney General shall publish the applica20 tion in the Federal Register.

21 (4) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The At22 torney General shall make available to the public all

23 information (excluding trade secrets and privileged

24 or confidential commercial or financial information)
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1 submitted by the applicant in connection with the

2 application.

3 (b) DETERMINATION BY THE ATTORNEY GEN4 ERAL.—

5 (1) COMMENT PERIOD.—Not later than 45 days

6 after an application is published under subsection

7 (a)(3), interested persons may submit written com8 ments to the Attorney General, regarding the appli9 cation. Submitted comments shall be available to the

10 public.

11 (2) DETERMINATION.—(A) After the time for

12 comment under paragraph (1) has expired, but not

13 later than 180 days after receiving an application

14 made under subsection (a)(1), the Attorney General

15 shall issue a written determination, with respect to

16 granting the authorization for which the Bell operat17 ing company has applied. If the Attorney General

18 fails to issue such determination in the 180-day pe19 riod beginning on the date the Attorney General re20 ceives such application, the Attorney General shall

21 be deemed to have issued a determination approving

22 such application on the last day of such period.

23 (B) The Attorney General shall approve the

24 granting of the authorization requested in the appli25 cation unless the Attorney General finds that there
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1 is a dangerous probability that such company or its

2 affiliates would successfully use market power to

3 substantially impede competition in the market such

4 company seeks to enter. The Attorney General may

5 approve all or part of the requested authorization.

6 (C) A determination that approves any part of

7 a requested authorization shall describe with par8 ticularity the nature and scope of the approved ac9 tivity, and list each product market, service market,

10 and geographic market, to which such approval ap11 plies.

12 (3) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 10 days

13 after issuing a determination under paragraph (2),

14 the Attorney General shall publish a brief descrip15 tion of the determination in the Federal Register.

16 (4) FINALITY.—A determination made under

17 paragraph (2) shall be final unless a petition with

18 respect to such determination is timely filed under

19 subsection (c)(1).

20 (c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—

21 (1) FILING OF PETITION.—(A) Not later than

22 30 days after a determination by the Attorney Gen23 eral is published under subsection (b)(3), the Bell

24 operating company that applied to the Attorney

25 General under subsection (a), or any person who
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1 would be injured in its business or property as a re2 sult of the determination regarding such company’s

3 engaging in the activity described in such company’s

4 application, may file a petition for judicial review of

5 the determination in the United States Court of Ap6 peals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

7 (B) The United States Court of Appeals for the

8 District of Columbia shall have exclusive jurisdiction

9 to review determinations made under section

10 2(b)(2).

11 (2) CERTIFICATION OF RECORD.—As part of

12 the answer to the petition, the Attorney General

13 shall file in such court a certified copy of the record

14 upon which the determination is based.

15 (3) CONSOLIDATION OF PETITIONS.—The court

16 shall consolidate for judicial review all petitions filed

17 under this subsection with respect to the application.

18 (4) JUDGMENT.—(A) The court shall enter a

19 judgment after reviewing the determination in ac20 cordance with section 706 of title 5 of the United

21 States Code. The determination required by sub22 section (b)(2)(B) shall be affirmed by the court only

23 if the court finds that the record certified pursuant

24 to paragraph (2) provides substantial evidence for

25 that determination.
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1 (B) A judgment—

2 (i) affirming any part of the determination

3 that approves granting all or part of the re4 quested authorization, or

5 (ii) reversing any part of the determination

6 that denies all or part of the requested author7 ization,

8 shall describe with particularity the nature and

9 scope of the activity, and each product market, serv10 ice market, and geographic market, to which the af11 firmance or reversal applies.

12 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AS PREREQUISITE.

13 (a) PREREQUISITE.—Until a Bell operating company

14 is so authorized in accordance with section 2, it shall be

15 unlawful for such company, directly or through an affili16 ate, to engage in an activity described in section 2(a)(1).

17 (b) GENERAL EXCEPTIONS.—Except with respect to

18 providing alarm monitoring services, subsection (a) shall

19 not prohibit a Bell operating company from engaging, at

20 any time after the date of the enactment of this Act, in

21 any activity as authorized by an order entered by the

22 United States District Court for the District of Columbia

23 pursuant to section VII or VIII(C) of the Modification of

24 Final Judgment, if—
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1 (1) such order was entered on or before the

2 date of the enactment of this Act, or

3 (2) a request for such authorization was pend4 ing before such court on the date of the enactment

5 of this Act.

6 (c) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN ALARM MONITORING

7 SERVICES.—Subsection (a) shall not prohibit a Bell oper8 ating company, at any time after the date of the enact9 ment of this Act, from providing alarm monitoring services

10 to the same extent that such company was already provid11 ing such services before such date.

12 (d) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN INTEREXCHANGE

13 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—Subsection (a) shall

14 not prohibit a Bell operating company, at any time after

15 the date of the enactment of this Act, from providing

16 interexchange telecommunications services with respect to

17 telecommunications that originate in any exchange area

18 in which such company is not the dominant provider of

19 wireline telephone exchange service.

20 (e) EXCEPTIONS FOR INCIDENTAL SERVICES.—Sub21 section (a) shall not prohibit a Bell operating company,

22 at any time after the date of the enactment of this Act,

23 from providing interexchange telecommunications services

24 for the purpose of—
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1 (1)(A) providing audio programming, video pro2 gramming, or other programming services to sub3 scribers to such services of such company,

4 (B) providing the capability for interaction by

5 such subscribers to select or respond to such audio

6 programming, video programming, or other pro7 gramming services, or

8 (C) providing to distributors audio program9 ming or video programming that such company

10 owns, controls, or is licensed by the copyright owner

11 of such programming, or by an assignee of such

12 owner, to distribute,

13 (2) providing a telecommunications service,

14 using the transmission facilities of a cable system

15 that is an affiliate of such company, between ex16 change areas within a cable system franchise area in

17 which such company is not, on the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, a provider of wireline telephone ex19 change service,

20 (3) providing commercial mobile services in ac21 cordance with existing law,

22 (4) providing a service that permits a customer

23 that is located in one exchange area to retrieve

24 stored information from, or file information for stor-
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1 age in, information storage facilities of such com2 pany that are located in another exchange area,

3 (5) providing signaling information used in con4 nection with the provision of exchange services, or

5 exchange access, to a local exchange carrier, or

6 (6) providing network control signaling infor7 mation to, and receiving such signaling information

8 from, interexchange carriers at any location within

9 the area in which such company provides exchange

10 services or exchange access.

11 SEC. 4. REGULATION OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—

13 (1) PROHIBITION.—A Bell operating company

14 and any affiliate shall not engage in the provision of

15 electronic publishing that is disseminated by means

16 of such Bell operating company’s or any of its affili17 ates’ basic telephone service.

18 (2) PERMITTED ACTIVITIES OF SEPARATED AF19 FILIATE.—Subject to subsection (b), nothing in this

20 section shall prohibit a separated affiliate or elec21 tronic publishing joint venture from engaging in the

22 provision of electronic publishing or any other lawful

23 service in any area.

24 (3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this

25 section shall prohibit a Bell operating company or
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1 affiliate from engaging in the provision of any lawful

2 service other than electronic publishing in any area

3 or from engaging in the provision of electronic pub4 lishing that is not disseminated by means of such

5 Bell operating company’s or any of its affiliates’

6 basic telephone service.

7 (b) SEPARATED AFFILIATE OR ELECTRONIC PUB8 LISHING JOINT VENTURE REQUIREMENTS.—A separated

9 affiliate and electronic publishing joint venture shall

10 each—

11 (1) maintain books, records, and accounts that

12 are separate from those of the Bell operating com13 pany and from any affiliate and that record in ac14 cordance with generally accepted accounting prin15 ciples all transactions, whether direct or indirect,

16 with the Bell operating company,

17 (2) not incur debt in a manner that would per18 mit a creditor upon default to have recourse to the

19 assets of the Bell operating company,

20 (3) prepare financial statements that are not

21 consolidated with those of the Bell operating com22 pany or an affiliate, provided that consolidated

23 statements may also be prepared,

24 (4) after 1 year from the effective date of this

25 section, not hire—
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1 (A) as corporate officers, sales and mar2 keting management personnel whose respon3 sibilities at the separated affiliate or electronic

4 publishing joint venture will include the geo5 graphic area where the Bell operating company

6 provides basic telephone service,

7 (B) network operations personnel whose

8 responsibilities at the separated affiliate or elec9 tronic publishing joint venture would require

10 dealing directly with the Bell operating com11 pany, or

12 (C) any person who was employed by the

13 Bell operating company during the year preced14 ing their date of hire,

15 except that the requirements of this paragraph shall

16 not apply to persons subject to a collective bargain17 ing agreement that gives such persons rights to be

18 employed by a separated affiliate or electronic pub19 lishing joint venture of the Bell operating company,

20 (5) not provide any wireline telephone exchange

21 service in any telephone exchange area where a Bell

22 operating company with which it is under common

23 ownership or control provides basic telephone ex24 change service except on a resale basis,
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1 (6) not use the name, trademarks, or service

2 marks of an existing Bell operating company except

3 for names, trademarks, or service marks that are or

4 were used in common with the entity that owns or

5 controls the Bell operating company,

6 (7) have performed annually by March 31 a

7 compliance review—

8 (A) that is conducted by an independent

9 entity that is subject to professional, legal, and

10 ethical obligations for the purpose of determin11 ing compliance during the preceding calendar

12 year with any provision of this section that im13 poses a requirement on such separated affiliate

14 or electronic publishing joint venture, and

15 (B) the results of which are maintained by

16 the separated affiliate for a period of 5 years

17 subject to review by any lawful authority, and

18 (8) within 90 days of receiving a review de19 scribed in paragraph (7), file a report of any excep20 tions and corrective action with the Attorney Gen21 eral and allow any person to inspect and copy such

22 report subject to reasonable safeguards to protect

23 any proprietary information contained in such report

24 from being used for purposes other than to enforce

25 or pursue remedies under this section.
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1 (c) BELL OPERATING COMPANY REQUIREMENTS.—

2 A Bell operating company under common ownership or

3 control with a separated affiliate or electronic publishing

4 joint venture shall—

5 (1) not provide a separated affiliate any facili6 ties, services, or basic telephone service information

7 unless such Bell operating company makes such fa8 cilities, services, or information available to unaffili9 ated entities upon request and on the same terms

10 and conditions,

11 (2) carry out transactions with a separated af12 filiate in a manner equivalent to the manner that

13 unrelated parties would carry out independent trans14 actions and not based upon the affiliation,

15 (3) carry out transactions with a separated af16 filiate, which involve the transfer of personnel, as17 sets, or anything of value, pursuant to written con18 tracts or tariffs made publicly available,

19 (4) carry out transactions with a separated af20 filiate in a manner that is auditable in accordance

21 with generally accepted auditing standards,

22 (5) value any assets that are transferred to a

23 separated affiliate at the greater of net book cost or

24 fair market value,
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1 (6) value any assets that are transferred to the

2 Bell operating company by its separated affiliate at

3 the lesser of net book cost or fair market value,

4 (7) except for—

5 (A) instances where State regulations per6 mit in-arrears payment for tariffed tele7 communications services, or

8 (B) the investment by an affiliate of divi9 dends or profits derived from a Bell operating

10 company,

11 not provide debt or equity financing directly or indi12 rectly to a separated affiliate,

13 (8) comply fully with all applicable State cost

14 allocation and other accounting rules,

15 (9) have performed annually by March 31 a

16 compliance review—

17 (A) that is conducted by an independent

18 entity that is subject to professional, legal, and

19 ethical obligations for the purpose of determin20 ing compliance during the preceding calendar

21 year with any provision of this section that im22 poses a requirement on such Bell operating

23 company, and
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1 (B) the results of which are maintained by

2 the Bell operating company for a period of 5

3 years subject to review by any lawful authority,

4 (10) within 90 days of receiving a review de5 scribed in paragraph (9), file a report of any excep6 tions and corrective action with the Attorney Gen7 eral and allow any person to inspect and copy such

8 report subject to reasonable safeguards to protect

9 any proprietary information contained in such report

10 from being used for purposes other than to enforce

11 or pursue remedies under this section,

12 (11) if it provides facilities or services for tele13 communication, transmission, billing and collection,

14 or physical collocation to any electronic publisher,

15 including a separated affiliate, for use with or in

16 connection with the provision of electronic publishing

17 that is disseminated by means of such Bell operating

18 company’s or any of its affiliates’ basic telephone

19 service, provide to all other electronic publishers the

20 same type of facilities and services on request, on

21 the same terms and conditions or as required by a

22 State, and unbundled and individually tariffed to the

23 smallest extent that is technically feasible and eco24 nomically reasonable to provide,
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1 (12) provide network access and interconnec2 tions for basic telephone service to electronic pub3 lishers at any technically feasible and economically

4 reasonable point within the Bell operating company’s

5 network and at just and reasonable rates that are

6 tariffed (so long as rates for such services are sub7 ject to regulation) and that are not higher on a per8 unit basis than those charged for such services to

9 any other electronic publisher or any separated affil10 iate engaged in electronic publishing,

11 (13) if prices for network access and inter12 connection for basic telephone service are no longer

13 subject to regulation, provide electronic publishers

14 such services on the same terms and conditions as

15 a separated affiliate receives such services,

16 (14) if any basic telephone service used by elec17 tronic publishers ceases to require a tariff, provide

18 electronic publishers with such service on the same

19 terms and conditions as a separated affiliate receives

20 such service,

21 (15) provide reasonable advance notification at

22 the same time and on the same terms to all affected

23 electronic publishers of information if such informa24 tion is within any one or more of the following cat25 egories—
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1 (A) such information is necessary for the

2 transmission or routing of information by an

3 interconnected electronic publisher,

4 (B) such information is necessary to en5 sure the interoperability of an electronic pub6 lisher’s and the Bell operating company’s net7 works, or

8 (C) such information concerns changes in

9 basic telephone service network design and

10 technical standards which may affect the provi11 sion of electronic publishing,

12 (16) not directly or indirectly provide anything

13 of monetary value to a separated affiliate unless in

14 exchange for consideration at least equal to the

15 greater of its net book cost or fair market value, ex16 cept the investment by an affiliate of dividends or

17 profits derived from a Bell operating company,

18 (17) not discriminate in the presentation or

19 provision of any gateway for electronic publishing

20 services or any electronic directory of information

21 services, which is provided over such Bell operating

22 company’s basic telephone service,

23 (18) have no directors, officers, or employees in

24 common with a separated affiliate,
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1 (19) not own any property in common with a

2 separated affiliate,

3 (20) not perform hiring or training of personnel

4 on behalf of a separated affiliate,

5 (21) not perform the purchasing, installation,

6 or maintenance of equipment on behalf of a sepa7 rated affiliate, except for telephone service that it

8 provides under tariff or contract subject to the pro9 visions of this section, and

10 (22) not perform research and development on

11 behalf of a separated affiliate.

12 (d) CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK INFORMA13 TION.—A Bell operating company or any affiliate shall not

14 provide to any electronic publisher, including a separated

15 affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture, customer

16 proprietary network information for use with or in connec17 tion with the provision of electronic publishing that is dis18 seminated by means of such Bell operating company’s or

19 any of its affiliates’ basic telephone service that is not

20 made available by the Bell operating company or affiliate

21 to all electronic publishers on the same terms and condi22 tions.

23 (e) COMPLIANCE WITH SAFEGUARDS.—No Bell oper24 ating company, affiliate, or separated affiliate shall act in

25 concert with another Bell operating company or any other
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1 entity in order to knowingly and willfully violate or evade

2 the requirements of this section.

3 (f) TELEPHONE OPERATING COMPANY DIVI4 DENDS.—Nothing in this section shall prohibit an affiliate

5 from investing dividends derived from a Bell operating

6 company in its separated affiliate, and subsections (i) and

7 (j) of this section shall not apply to any such investment.

8 (g) JOINT MARKETING.—Except as provided in sub9 section (h)—

10 (1) a Bell operating company shall not carry

11 out any promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising

12 for or in conjunction with a separated affiliate, and

13 (2) a Bell operating company shall not carry

14 out any promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising

15 for or in conjunction with an affiliate that is related

16 to the provision of electronic publishing.

17 (h) PERMISSIBLE JOINT ACTIVITIES.—

18 (1) JOINT TELEMARKETING.—A Bell operating

19 company may provide inbound telemarketing or re20 ferral services related to the provision of electronic

21 publishing for a separated affiliate, electronic pub22 lishing joint venture, affiliate, or unaffiliated elec23 tronic publisher, provided that if such services are

24 provided to a separated affiliate, electronic publish25 ing joint venture, or affiliate, such services shall be
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1 made available to all electronic publishers on re2 quest, on nondiscriminatory terms, at compensatory

3 prices, to ensure that the Bell operating company’s

4 method of providing telemarketing or referral and its

5 price structure do not competitively disadvantage

6 any electronic publishers regardless of size, including

7 those which do not use the Bell operating company’s

8 telemarketing services.

9 (2) TEAMING ARRANGEMENTS.—A Bell operat10 ing company may engage in nondiscriminatory

11 teaming or business arrangements to engage in elec12 tronic publishing with any separated affiliate or with

13 any other electronic publisher provided that the Bell

14 operating company only provides facilities, services,

15 and basic telephone service information as author16 ized by this section and provided that the Bell oper17 ating company does not own such teaming or busi18 ness arrangement.

19 (3) ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING JOINT VEN20 TURES.—A Bell operating company or affiliate may

21 participate on a nonexclusive basis in electronic pub22 lishing joint ventures with entities that are not any

23 Bell operating company, affiliate, or separated affili24 ate to provide electronic publishing services, provided

25 that the participating Bell operating company or
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1 participating affiliate has not more than a 50 per2 cent direct or indirect equity interest (or the equiva3 lent thereof) or the right to more than 50 percent

4 of the gross revenues under a revenue sharing or

5 royalty agreement in any electronic publishing joint

6 venture. Officers and employees of a Bell operating

7 company or affiliate participating in an electronic

8 publishing joint venture may not have more than 50

9 percent of the voting control over the electronic pub10 lishing joint venture. In the case of joint ventures

11 with small, local electronic publishers, the Attorney

12 General may authorize the Bell operating company

13 or affiliate to have a larger equity interest, revenue

14 share, or voting control but not to exceed 80 per15 cent. A Bell operating company participating in an

16 electronic publishing joint venture may provide pro17 motion, marketing, sales, or advertising personnel

18 and services to such joint venture.

19 (i) TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO THE PROVISION OF

20 ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING BETWEEN A TELEPHONE OP21 ERATING COMPANY AND ANY AFFILIATE.—

22 (1) RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS.—Any provi23 sion of facilities, services, or basic telephone service

24 information, or any transfer of assets, personnel, or

25 anything of commercial or competitive value, from a
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1 Bell operating company to any affiliate related to

2 the provision of electronic publishing shall be—

3 (A) recorded in the books and records of

4 each entity,

5 (B) auditable in accordance with generally

6 accepted auditing standards, and

7 (C) pursuant to written contracts or tariffs

8 filed with a State and made publicly available.

9 (2) VALUATION OF TRANSFERS.—Any transfer

10 of assets directly related to the provision of elec11 tronic publishing from a Bell operating company to

12 an affiliate shall be valued at the greater of net book

13 cost or fair market value. Any transfer of assets re14 lated to the provision of electronic publishing from

15 an affiliate to the Bell operating company shall be

16 valued at the lesser of net book cost or fair market

17 value.

18 (3) PROHIBITION OF EVASIONS.—A Bell operat19 ing company shall not provide directly or indirectly

20 to a separated affiliate any facilities, services, or

21 basic telephone service information related to the

22 provision of electronic publishing that are not made

23 available to unaffiliated companies on the same

24 terms and conditions.
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1 (j) TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO THE PROVISION OF

2 ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING BETWEEN AN AFFILIATE AND

3 A SEPARATED AFFILIATE.—

4 (1) RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS.—Any facili5 ties, services, or basic telephone service information

6 provided or any assets, personnel, or anything of

7 commercial or competitive value transferred, from a

8 Bell operating company to any affiliate as described

9 in subsection (i) and then provided or transferred to

10 a separated affiliate shall be—

11 (A) recorded in the books and records of

12 each entity,

13 (B) auditable in accordance with generally

14 accepted auditing standards, and

15 (C) pursuant to written contracts or tariffs

16 filed with a State and made publicly available.

17 (2) VALUATION OF TRANSFERS.—Any transfer

18 of assets directly related to the provision of elec19 tronic publishing from a Bell operating company to

20 any affiliate as described in subsection (i) and then

21 transferred to a separated affiliate shall be valued at

22 the greater of net book cost or fair market value.

23 Any transfer of assets related to the provision of

24 electronic publishing from a separated affiliate to

25 any affiliate and then transferred to the Bell operat-
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1 ing company as described in subsection (i) shall be

2 valued at the lesser of net book cost or fair market

3 value.

4 (3) PROHIBITION OF EVASIONS.—An affiliate

5 shall not provide directly or indirectly to a separated

6 affiliate any facilities, services, or basic telephone

7 service information related to the provision of elec8 tronic publishing that are not made available to un9 affiliated companies on the same terms and condi10 tions.

11 (k) OTHER ELECTRONIC PUBLISHERS.—Except as

12 provided in subsection (h)(3)—

13 (1) a Bell operating company shall not have any

14 officers, employees, property, or facilities in common

15 with any entity whose principal business is publish16 ing of which a part is electronic publishing,

17 (2) no officer or employee of a Bell operating

18 company shall serve as a director of any entity

19 whose principal business is publishing of which a

20 part is electronic publishing,

21 (3) for the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2),

22 a Bell operating company or an affiliate that owns

23 an electronic publishing joint venture shall not be

24 deemed to be engaged in the electronic publishing

25 business solely because of such ownership,
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1 (4) a Bell operating company shall not carry

2 out—

3 (A) any marketing or sales for any entity

4 that engages in electronic publishing, or

5 (B) any hiring of personnel, purchasing, or

6 production,

7 for any entity that engages in electronic publishing,

8 and

9 (5) the Bell operating company shall not pro10 vide any facilities, services, or basic telephone service

11 information to any entity that engages in electronic

12 publishing, for use with or in connection with the

13 provision of electronic publishing that is dissemi14 nated by means of such Bell operating company’s or

15 any of its affiliates’ basic telephone service, unless

16 equivalent facilities, services, or information are

17 made available on equivalent terms and conditions to

18 all.

19 (l) TRANSITION.—Any electronic publishing service

20 being offered to the public by a Bell operating company

21 or affiliate on the date of enactment of this section shall

22 have one year from such date of enactment to comply with

23 the requirements of this section.

24 (m) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall

25 not apply to conduct occurring after June 30, 2000.
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1 (n) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any person claim2 ing that any act or practice of any Bell operating com3 pany, affiliate, or separated affiliate constitutes a violation

4 of this section may commence a civil action in an appro5 priate district court of the United States for damages, for

6 an order enjoining such act or practice or compelling com7 pliance with such requirement, or for both.

8 (o) SUBPOENAS.—In an action commenced under this

9 section, a subpoena requiring the attendance of a witness

10 at a hearing or a trial may be served at any place within

11 the United States.

12 (p) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

13 (1) The term ‘‘Bell operating company’’ means

14 the corporations subject to the Modification of Final

15 Judgment and listed in Appendix A thereof, or any

16 entity owned or controlled by such corporation, or

17 any successor or assign of such corporation, but

18 does not include an electronic publishing joint ven19 ture owned by such corporation or entity.

20 (2) The term ‘‘affiliate’’ means any entity that,

21 directly or indirectly, owns or controls, is owned or

22 controlled by, or is under common ownership or con23 trol with, a Bell operating company. Such term shall

24 not include a separated affiliate.
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1 (3) The term ‘‘basic telephone service’’ means

2 any wireline telephone exchange service, or wireline

3 telephone exchange facility, provided by a Bell oper4 ating company in a telephone exchange area, ex5 cept—

6 (A) a competitive wireline telephone ex7 change service provided in a telephone exchange

8 area where another entity provides a wireline

9 telephone exchange service that was provided on

10 January 1, 1984, and

11 (B) a commercial mobile service provided

12 by an affiliate that is required by the Federal

13 Communications Commission to be a corporate

14 entity separate from the Bell operating com15 pany.

16 (4) The term ‘‘basic telephone service informa17 tion’’ means network and customer information of a

18 Bell operating company and other information ac19 quired by a Bell operating company as a result of

20 its engaging in the provision of basic telephone serv21 ice.

22 (5) The term ‘‘control’’ means the possession,

23 direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the

24 direction of the management and policies of a per-
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1 son, whether through the ownership of voting securi2 ties, by contract, or otherwise.

3 (6)(A) The term ‘‘electronic publishing’’ means

4 the dissemination, provision, publication, or sale to

5 an unaffiliated entity or person, using a Bell operat6 ing company’s basic telephone service, of—

7 (i) news,

8 (ii) entertainment (other than interactive

9 games),

10 (iii) business, financial, legal, consumer, or

11 credit material,

12 (iv) editorials,

13 (v) columns,

14 (vi) sports reporting,

15 (vii) features,

16 (viii) advertising,

17 (ix) photos or images,

18 (x) archival or research material,

19 (xi) legal notices or public records,

20 (xii) scientific, educational, instructional,

21 technical, professional, trade, or other literary

22 materials, or

23 (xiii) other like or similar information.

24 (B) The term ‘‘electronic publishing’’ shall not

25 include the following network services:
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1 (i) Information access, as that term is de2 fined by the Modification of Final Judgment.

3 (ii) The transmission of information as a

4 common carrier.

5 (iii) The transmission of information as

6 part of a gateway to an information service that

7 does not involve the generation or alteration of

8 the content of information, including data

9 transmission, address translation, protocol con10 version, billing management, introductory infor11 mation content, and navigational systems that

12 enable users to access electronic publishing

13 services, which do not affect the presentation of

14 such electronic publishing services to users.

15 (iv) Voice storage and retrieval services, in16 cluding voice messaging and electronic mail

17 services.

18 (v) Data processing services that do not in19 volve the generation or alteration of the content

20 of information.

21 (vi) Transaction processing systems that

22 do not involve the generation or alteration of

23 the content of information.
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1 (vii) Electronic billing or advertising of a

2 Bell operating company’s regulated tele3 communications services.

4 (viii) Language translation.

5 (ix) Conversion of data from one format to

6 another.

7 (x) The provision of information necessary

8 for the management, control, or operation of a

9 telephone company telecommunications system.

10 (xi) The provision of directory assistance

11 that provides names, addresses, and telephone

12 numbers and does not include advertising.

13 (xii) Caller identification services.

14 (xiii) Repair and provisioning databases for

15 telephone company operations.

16 (xiv) Credit card and billing validation for

17 telephone company operations.

18 (xv) 911–E and other emergency assist19 ance databases.

20 (xvi) Any other network service of a type

21 that is like or similar to these network services

22 and that does not involve the generation or al23 teration of the content of information.
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1 (xvii) Any upgrades to these network serv2 ices that do not involve the generation or alter3 ation of the content of information.

4 (C) The term ‘‘electronic publishing’’ also shall

5 not include—

6 (i) full motion video entertainment on de7 mand, and

8 (ii) video programming.

9 (7) The term ‘‘electronic publishing joint ven10 ture’’ means a joint venture owned by a Bell operat11 ing company or affiliate that engages in the provi12 sion of electronic publishing which is disseminated

13 by means of such Bell operating company’s or any

14 of its affiliates’ basic telephone service.

15 (8) The term ‘‘entity’’ means any organization,

16 and includes corporations, partnerships, sole propri17 etorships, associations, and joint ventures.

18 (9) The term ‘‘inbound telemarketing’’ means

19 the marketing of property, goods, or services by tele20 phone to a customer or potential customer who initi21 ated the call.

22 (10) The term ‘‘own’’ with respect to an entity

23 means to have a direct or indirect equity interest (or

24 the equivalent thereof) of more than 10 percent of

25 an entity, or the right to more than 10 percent of
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1 the gross revenues of an entity under a revenue

2 sharing or royalty agreement.

3 (11) The term ‘‘separated affiliate’’ means a

4 corporation under common ownership or control with

5 a Bell operating company that does not own or con6 trol a Bell operating company and is not owned or

7 controlled by a Bell operating company and that en8 gages in the provision of electronic publishing which

9 is disseminated by means of such Bell operating

10 company’s or any of its affiliates’ basic telephone

11 service.

12 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

13 Except as provided in section 4, for purposes of this

14 Act:

15 (1) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘‘affiliate’’ means a

16 person that (directly or indirectly) owns or controls,

17 is owned or controlled by, or is under common own18 ership or control with, another person. For purposes

19 of this paragraph, to own refers to owning an equity

20 interest (or the equivalent thereof) of more than 50

21 percent.

22 (2) ALARM MONITORING SERVICE.—The term

23 ‘‘alarm monitoring service’’ means a service that

24 uses a device located at a residence, place of busi25 ness, or other fixed premises—
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1 (A) to receive signals from other devices lo2 cated at or about such premises regarding a

3 possible threat at such premises to life, safety,

4 or property, from burglary, fire, vandalism,

5 bodily injury, or other emergency, and

6 (B) to transmit a signal regarding such

7 threat by means of transmission facilities of a

8 Bell operating company or one of its affiliates

9 to a remote monitoring center to alert a person

10 at such center of the need to inform the cus11 tomer or another person or police, fire, rescue,

12 security, or public safety personnel of such

13 threat,

14 but does not include a service that uses a medical

15 monitoring device attached to an individual for the

16 automatic surveillance of an ongoing medical condi17 tion.

18 (3) ANTITRUST LAWS.—The term ‘‘antitrust

19 laws’’ has the meaning given it in subsection (a) of

20 the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C.

21 12(a)), except that such term includes the Act of

22 June 19, 1936 (49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13 et

23 seq.), commonly known as the Robinson Patman

24 Act, and section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission
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1 Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that such section

2 5 applies to unfair methods of competition.

3 (4) AUDIO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘‘audio

4 programming’’ means programming provided by, or

5 generally considered comparable to programming

6 provided by, a radio broadcast station.

7 (5) BELL OPERATING COMPANY.—The term

8 ‘‘Bell operating company’’ means—

9 (A) Bell Telephone Company of Nevada,

10 Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell

11 Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan

12 Bell Telephone Company, New England Tele13 phone and Telegraph Company, New Jersey

14 Bell Telephone Company, New York Telephone

15 Company, U S West Communications Com16 pany, South Central Bell Telephone Company,

17 Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Com18 pany, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company,

19 The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania,

20 The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Com21 pany, The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone

22 Company of Maryland, The Chesapeake and

23 Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia, The

24 Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company

25 of West Virginia, The Diamond State Tele-
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1 phone Company, The Ohio Bell Telephone

2 Company, The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph

3 Company, or Wisconsin Telephone Company,

4 (B) any successor or assign of any such

5 company, or

6 (C) any affiliate of any person described in

7 subparagraph (A) or (B).

8 (6) CABLE SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘cable system’’

9 has the same meaning as such term has in section

10 602(7) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

11 U.S.C. 522(7)).

12 (7) CARRIER.—The term ‘‘carrier’’ has the

13 same meaning as such term has in section 3 of the

14 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153).

15 (8) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICES.—The term

16 ‘‘commercial mobile services’’ has the same meaning

17 as such term has in section 332(d) of the Commu18 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)).

19 (9) CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT.—The

20 term ‘‘customer premises equipment’’ means equip21 ment employed on the premises of a person (other

22 than a carrier) to originate, route, or terminate tele23 communications, and includes software integral to

24 such equipment.
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1 (10) EXCHANGE ACCESS.—The term ‘‘exchange

2 access’’ means exchange services provided for the

3 purpose of originating or terminating interexchange

4 telecommunications.

5 (11) EXCHANGE AREA.—The term ‘‘exchange

6 area’’ means a contiguous geographic area estab7 lished by a Bell operating company such that no ex8 change area includes points within more than 1 met9 ropolitan statistical area, consolidated metropolitan

10 statistical area, or State, except as expressly per11 mitted under the Modification of Final Judgment

12 before the date of the enactment of this Act.

13 (12) EXCHANGE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘ex14 change service’’ means a telecommunications service

15 provided within an exchange area.

16 (13) INFORMATION.—Except as provided in

17 paragraph (17), the term ‘‘information’’ means

18 knowledge or intelligence represented by any form of

19 writing, signs, signals, pictures, sounds, or other

20 symbols.

21 (14) INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNI22 CATIONS.—The term ‘‘interexchange telecommuni23 cations’’ means telecommunications between a point

24 located in an exchange area and a point located out25 side such exchange area.
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1 (15) MANUFACTURE.—The term ‘‘manufac2 ture’’ has the meaning given such term under the

3 Modification of Final Judgment.

4 (16) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—

5 The term ‘‘Modification of Final Judgment’’ means

6 the order entered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust

7 action styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil

8 Action No. 82–0192, in the United States District

9 Court for the District of Columbia, and includes any

10 judgment or order with respect to such action en11 tered on or after August 24, 1982.

12 (17) OTHER PROGRAMMING SERVICES.—The

13 term ‘‘other programming services’’ means informa14 tion (other than audio programming or video pro15 gramming) that the person who offers a video pro16 gramming service makes available to all subscribers

17 generally. For purposes of the preceding sentence,

18 the terms ‘‘information’’ and ‘‘makes available to all

19 subscribers generally’’ have the same meaning such

20 terms have under section 602(13) of the Commu21 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(13)).

22 (18) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ has the

23 meaning given such term in subsection (a) of the

24 first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)).
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1 (19) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

2 the several States, the District of Columbia, the

3 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth

4 of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated

5 States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall

6 Islands, Palau, or any territory or possession of the

7 United States.

8 (20) TELECOMMUNICATIONS.—The term ‘‘tele9 communications’’ means the transmission of infor10 mation between points by electromagnetic means.

11 (21) TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT.—The

12 term ‘‘telecommunications equipment’’ means equip13 ment, other than customer premises equipment, used

14 by a carrier to provide a telecommunications service,

15 and includes software integral to such equipment.

16 (22) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The

17 term ‘‘telecommunications service’’ means the offer18 ing for hire of transmission facilities or of tele19 communications by means of such facilities.

20 (23) TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.—The term

21 ‘‘transmission facilities’’ means equipment (including

22 wire, cable, microwave, satellite, and fiber-optics)

23 that transmits information by electromagnetic means

24 or that directly supports such transmission, but does

25 not include customer premises equipment.
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1 (24) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘‘video

2 programming’’ has the same meaning as such term

3 has in section 602(19) of the Communications Act

4 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(19)).

5 SEC. 6. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.

6 (a) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—This Act

7 shall supersede only the following sections of the Modifica8 tion of Final Judgment:

9 (1) Section II(C) of the Modification of Final

10 Judgment, relating to deadline for procedures for

11 equal access compliance.

12 (2) Section II(D) of the Modification of Final

13 Judgment, relating to line of business restrictions.

14 (3) Section VIII(A) of the Modification of Final

15 Judgment, relating to manufacturing restrictions.

16 (4) Section VIII(C) of the Modification of Final

17 Judgment, relating to standard for entry into the

18 interexchange market.

19 (5) Section VIII(D) of the Modification of Final

20 Judgment, relating to prohibition on entry into elec21 tronic publishing.

22 (6) Section VIII(H) of the Modification of

23 Final Judgment, relating to debt ratios at the time

24 of transfer.
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1 (7) Section VIII(J) of the Modification of Final

2 Judgment, relating to prohibition on implementation

3 of the plan of reorganization before court approval.

4 (b) APPLICATION TO OTHER ACTION.—This Act

5 shall supersede the final judgment entered December 21,

6 1984 and as restated January 11, 1985, in the action

7 styled United States v. GTE Corp., Civil Action No. 83–

8 1298, in the United States District Court for the District

9 of Columbia, and such final judgment shall not be en10 forced with respect to conduct occurring after the date of

11 the enactment of this Act.

12 (c) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this Act shall be

13 construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability

14 of any of the antitrust laws.

15 (d) FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW.—(1) Except

16 as provided in paragraph (2), this Act shall not be con17 strued to modify, impair, or supersede Federal, State, or

18 local law unless expressly so provided in this Act.

19 (2) This Act shall supersede State and local law to

20 the extent that such law would impair or prevent the oper21 ation or purposes of this Act.

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