I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1528

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

A BILL

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.

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’’.
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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR BELL OPERATING COMPANY

2 TO ENTER COMPETITIVE LINES OF BUSINESS.

3 (a) APPLICATION.—

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

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

6 may apply to the Attorney General for authorization,

7 notwithstanding the Modification of Final Judg8 ment—

9 (A) to provide interexchange telecommuni10 cations services,

11 (B) to manufacture or provide tele12 communications equipment, or manufacture

13 customer premises equipment, or

14 (C) to provide alarm monitoring services.

15 The application shall describe the nature and scope

16 of the activity, and the product market, service mar17 ket, and geographic market, for which authorization

18 is sought.

19 (2) APPLICABLE DATES.—For purposes of

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

21 operating company may apply for authorization shall

22 be—

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

24 with respect to—

25 (i) providing interexchange tele26 communications services, and
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1 (ii) manufacturing or providing tele2 communications equipment, or manufac3 turing customer premises equipment, and

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

5 date of the enactment of this Act, with respect

6 to providing alarm monitoring services.

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

8 after receiving an application made under paragraph

9 (1), the Attorney General shall publish the applica10 tion in the Federal Register.

11 (4) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—The At12 torney General shall make available to the public all

13 information (excluding trade secrets and privileged

14 or confidential commercial or financial information)

15 submitted by the applicant in connection with the

16 application.

17 (b) DETERMINATION BY THE ATTORNEY GEN18 ERAL.—

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

20 after an application is published under subsection

21 (a)(3), interested persons may submit written com22 ments to the Attorney General, regarding the appli23 cation. Submitted comments shall be available to the

24 public.
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1 (2) DETERMINATION.—(A) After the time for

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

3 later than 180 days after receiving an application

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

5 shall issue a written determination, with respect to

6 granting the authorization for which the Bell operat7 ing company has applied. If the Attorney General

8 fails to issue such determination in the 180-day pe9 riod beginning on the date the Attorney General re10 ceives such application, the Attorney General shall

11 be deemed to have issued a determination approving

12 such application on the last day of such period.

13 (B) The Attorney General shall approve the

14 granting of the authorization requested in the appli15 cation unless the Attorney General finds by clear

16 and convincing evidence that there is a dangerous

17 probability that such company or its affiliates would

18 successfully use market power to achieve monopoly

19 power in the market such company seeks to enter.

20 The Attorney General may approve all or part of the

21 requested authorization.

22 (C) A determination that approves any part of

23 a requested authorization shall describe with par24 ticularity the nature and scope of the approved ac25 tivity, and list each product market, service market,
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1 and geographic market, to which such approval

2 applies.

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

4 after issuing a determination under paragraph (2),

5 the Attorney General shall publish a brief descrip6 tion of the determination in the Federal Register.

7 (4) FINALITY.—A determination made under

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

9 respect to such determination is timely filed under

10 subsection (c)(1).

11 (c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—

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

13 30 days after a determination by the Attorney Gen14 eral is published under subsection (b)(3), the Bell

15 operating company that applied to the Attorney

16 General under subsection (a), or any person who

17 would be injured in its business or property as a re18 sult of the determination regarding such company’s

19 engaging in the activity described in such company’s

20 application, may file a petition for judicial review of

21 the determination in the United States Court of Ap22 peals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

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

24 District of Columbia shall have exclusive jurisdiction
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1 to review determinations made under section

2 2(b)(2).

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

4 the answer to the petition, the Attorney General

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

6 upon which the determination is based.

7 (3) CONSOLIDATION OF PETITIONS.—The court

8 shall consolidate for judicial review all petitions filed

9 under this subsection with respect to the application.

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

11 judgment after reviewing the determination in ac12 cordance with section 706 of title 5 of the United

13 States Code. Whether there is clear and convincing

14 evidence supporting the determination, as required

15 by subsection (b)(2)(B), shall be affirmed by the

16 court only if the court finds that the record certified

17 pursuant to paragraph (2) provides substantial evi18 dence for that determination.

19 (B) A judgment—

20 (i) affirming any part of the determination

21 that approves granting all or part of the re22 quested authorization, or

23 (ii) reversing any part of the determination

24 that denies all or part of the requested author25 ization,
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1 shall describe with particularity the nature and

2 scope of the activity, and each product market, serv3 ice market, and geographic market, to which the af4 firmance or reversal applies.

5 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION AS PREREQUISITE.

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

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

8 unlawful for such company, directly or through an affili9 ate, to engage in an activity described in section 2(a)(1).

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

11 providing alarm monitoring services, subsection (a) shall

12 not prohibit a Bell operating company from engaging, at

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

14 any activity as authorized by an order entered by the

15 United States District Court for the District of Columbia

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

17 Final Judgment, if—

18 (1) such order was entered on or before the

19 date of the enactment of this Act, or

20 (2) a request for such authorization was pend21 ing before such court on the date of the enactment

22 of this Act.

23 (c) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN ALARM MONITORING

24 SERVICES.—Subsection (a) shall not prohibit a Bell oper25 ating company, at any time after the date of the enact-
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1 ment of this Act, from providing alarm monitoring services

2 to the same extent that such company was already provid3 ing such services before such date.

4 (d) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN INTEREXCHANGE

5 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—Subsection (a) shall

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

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

8 interexchange telecommunications services with respect to

9 telecommunications that originate in any exchange area

10 in which such company is not the dominant provider of

11 wireline telephone exchange service.

12 (e) EXCEPTIONS FOR INCIDENTAL SERVICES.—Sub13 section (a) shall not prohibit a Bell operating company,

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

15 from providing interexchange telecommunications services

16 for the purpose of—

17 (1)(A) providing audio programming, video pro18 gramming, or other programming services to sub19 scribers to such services of such company,

20 (B) providing the capability for interaction by

21 such subscribers to select or respond to such audio

22 programming, video programming, or other pro23 gramming services, or

24 (C) providing to distributors audio program25 ming or video programming that such company
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1 owns, controls, or is licensed by the copyright owner

2 of such programming, or by an assignee of such

3 owner, to distribute,

4 (2) providing a telecommunications service,

5 using the transmission facilities of a cable system

6 that is an affiliate of such company, between ex7 change areas within a cable system franchise area in

8 which such company is not, on the date of the enact9 ment of this Act, a provider of wireline telephone ex10 change service,

11 (3) providing commercial mobile services in ac12 cordance with existing law,

13 (4) providing a service that permits a customer

14 that is located in one exchange area to retrieve

15 stored information from, or file information for stor16 age in, information storage facilities of such com17 pany that are located in another exchange area,

18 (5) providing signaling information used in con19 nection with the provision of exchange services, or

20 exchange access, to a local exchange carrier, or

21 (6) providing network control signaling infor22 mation to, and receiving such signaling information

23 from, interexchange carriers at any location within

24 the area in which such company provides exchange

25 services or exchange access.
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1 SEC. 4. REGULATION OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—

3 (1) PROHIBITION.—A Bell operating company

4 and any affiliate shall not engage in the provision of

5 electronic publishing that is disseminated by means

6 of such Bell operating company’s or any of its affili7 ates’ basic telephone service.

8 (2) PERMITTED ACTIVITIES OF SEPARATED AF9 FILIATE.—Subject to subsection (b), nothing in this

10 section shall prohibit a separated affiliate or elec11 tronic publishing joint venture from engaging in the

12 provision of electronic publishing or any other lawful

13 service in any area.

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

15 section shall prohibit a Bell operating company or

16 affiliate from engaging in the provision of any lawful

17 service other than electronic publishing in any area

18 or from engaging in the provision of electronic pub19 lishing that is not disseminated by means of such

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

21 basic telephone service.

22 (b) SEPARATED AFFILIATE OR ELECTRONIC PUB23 LISHING JOINT VENTURE REQUIREMENTS.—A separated

24 affiliate and electronic publishing joint venture shall

25 each—
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1 (1) maintain books, records, and accounts that

2 are separate from those of the Bell operating com3 pany and from any affiliate and that record in ac4 cordance with generally accepted accounting prin5 ciples all transactions, whether direct or indirect,

6 with the Bell operating company,

7 (2) not incur debt in a manner that would per8 mit a creditor upon default to have recourse to the

9 assets of the Bell operating company,

10 (3) prepare financial statements that are not

11 consolidated with those of the Bell operating com12 pany or an affiliate, provided that consolidated

13 statements may also be prepared,

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

15 section, not hire—

16 (A) as corporate officers, sales and mar17 keting management personnel whose respon18 sibilities at the separated affiliate or electronic

19 publishing joint venture will include the geo20 graphic area where the Bell operating company

21 provides basic telephone service,

22 (B) network operations personnel whose

23 responsibilities at the separated affiliate or elec24 tronic publishing joint venture would require
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1 dealing directly with the Bell operating com2 pany, or

3 (C) any person who was employed by the

4 Bell operating company during the year preced5 ing their date of hire,

6 except that the requirements of this paragraph shall

7 not apply to persons subject to a collective bargain8 ing agreement that gives such persons rights to be

9 employed by a separated affiliate or electronic pub10 lishing joint venture of the Bell operating company,

11 (5) not provide any wireline telephone exchange

12 service in any telephone exchange area where a Bell

13 operating company with which it is under common

14 ownership or control provides basic telephone ex15 change service except on a resale basis,

16 (6) not use the name, trademarks, or service

17 marks of an existing Bell operating company except

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

19 were used in common with the entity that owns or

20 controls the Bell operating company,

21 (7) have performed annually by March 31 a

22 compliance review—

23 (A) that is conducted by an independent

24 entity that is subject to professional, legal, and

25 ethical obligations for the purpose of determin-
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1 ing compliance during the preceding calendar

2 year with any provision of this section that im3 poses a requirement on such separated affiliate

4 or electronic publishing joint venture, and

5 (B) the results of which are maintained by

6 the separated affiliate for a period of 5 years

7 subject to review by any lawful authority;

8 (8) within 90 days of receiving a review de9 scribed in paragraph (7), file a report of any excep10 tions and corrective action with the Attorney Gen11 eral and allow any person to inspect and copy such

12 report subject to reasonable safeguards to protect

13 any proprietary information contained in such report

14 from being used for purposes other than to enforce

15 or pursue remedies under this section.

16 (c) BELL OPERATING COMPANY REQUIREMENTS.—

17 A Bell operating company under common ownership or

18 control with a separated affiliate or electronic publishing

19 joint venture shall—

20 (1) not provide a separated affiliate any facili21 ties, services, or basic telephone service information

22 unless such Bell operating company makes such fa23 cilities, services, or information available to unaffili24 ated entities upon request and on the same terms

25 and conditions;
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1 (2) carry out transactions with a separated af2 filiate in a manner equivalent to the manner that

3 unrelated parties would carry out independent trans4 actions and not based upon the affiliation;

5 (3) carry out transactions with a separated af6 filiate, which involve the transfer of personnel, as7 sets, or anything of value, pursuant to written con8 tracts or tariffs made publicly available;

9 (4) carry out transactions with a separated af10 filiate in a manner that is auditable in accordance

11 with generally accepted auditing standards;

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

13 separated affiliate at the greater of net book cost or

14 fair market value;

15 (6) value any assets that are transferred to the

16 Bell operating company by its separated affiliate at

17 the lesser of net book cost or fair market value;

18 (7) except for—

19 (A) instances where State regulations per20 mit in-arrears payment for tariffed tele21 communications services, or

22 (B) the investment by an affiliate of divi23 dends or profits derived from a Bell operating

24 company,
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1 not provide debt or equity financing directly or indi2 rectly to a separated affiliate;

3 (8) comply fully with all applicable State cost

4 allocation and other accounting rules;

5 (9) have performed annually by March 31 a

6 compliance review—

7 (A) that is conducted by an independent

8 entity that is subject to professional, legal, and

9 ethical obligations for the purpose of determin10 ing compliance during the preceding calendar

11 year with any provision of this section that im12 poses a requirement on such Bell operating

13 company, and

14 (B) the results of which are maintained by

15 the Bell operating company for a period of 5

16 years subject to review by any lawful authority;

17 (10) within 90 days of receiving a review de18 scribed in paragraph (9), file a report of any excep19 tions and corrective action with the Attorney Gen20 eral and allow any person to inspect and copy such

21 report subject to reasonable safeguards to protect

22 any proprietary information contained in such report

23 from being used for purposes other than to enforce

24 or pursue remedies under this section;
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1 (11) if it provides facilities or services for tele2 communication, transmission, billing and collection,

3 or physical collocation to any electronic publisher,

4 including a separated affiliate, for use with or in

5 connection with the provision of electronic publishing

6 that is disseminated by means of such Bell operating

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

8 service, provide to all other electronic publishers the

9 same type of facilities and services on request, on

10 the same terms and conditions or as required by a

11 State, and unbundled and individually tariffed to the

12 smallest extent that is technically feasible and eco13 nomically reasonable to provide;

14 (12) provide network access and interconnec15 tions for basic telephone service to electronic pub16 lishers at any technically feasible and economically

17 reasonable point within the Bell operating company’s

18 network and at just and reasonable rates that are

19 tariffed (so long as rates for such services are sub20 ject to regulation) and that are not higher on a per21 unit basis than those charged for such services to

22 any other electronic publisher or any separated affil23 iate engaged in electronic publishing;

24 (13) if prices for network access and inter25 connection for basic telephone service are no longer
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1 subject to regulation, provide electronic publishers

2 such services on the same terms and conditions as

3 a separated affiliate receives such services;

4 (14) if any basic telephone service used by elec5 tronic publishers ceases to require a tariff, provide

6 electronic publishers with such service on the same

7 terms and conditions as a separated affiliate receives

8 such service;

9 (15) provide reasonable advance notification at

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

11 electronic publishers of information if such informa12 tion is within any one or more of the following cat13 egories:

14 (A) such information is necessary for the

15 transmission or routing of information by an

16 interconnected electronic publisher;

17 (B) such information is necessary to en18 sure the interoperability of an electronic pub19 lisher’s and the Bell operating company’s net20 works; or

21 (C) such information concerns changes in

22 basic telephone service network design and

23 technical standards which may affect the provi24 sion of electronic publishing;
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1 (16) not directly or indirectly provide anything

2 of monetary value to a separated affiliate unless in

3 exchange for consideration at least equal to the

4 greater of its net book cost or fair market value, ex5 cept the investment by an affiliate of dividends or

6 profits derived from a Bell operating company;

7 (17) not discriminate in the presentation or

8 provision of any gateway for electronic publishing

9 services or any electronic directory of information

10 services, which is provided over such Bell operating

11 company’s basic telephone service;

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

13 common with a separated affiliate;

14 (19) not own any property in common with a

15 separated affiliate;

16 (20) not perform hiring or training of personnel

17 on behalf of a separated affiliate;

18 (21) not perform the purchasing, installation,

19 or maintenance of equipment on behalf of a sepa20 rated affiliate, except for telephone service that it

21 provides under tariff or contract subject to the pro22 visions of this section; and

23 (22) not perform research and development on

24 behalf of a separated affiliate.
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1 (d) CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK INFORMA2 TION.—A Bell operating company or any affiliate shall not

3 provide to any electronic publisher, including a separated

4 affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture, customer

5 proprietary network information for use with or in connec6 tion with the provision of electronic publishing that is dis7 seminated by means of such Bell operating company’s or

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

9 made available by the Bell operating company or affiliate

10 to all electronic publishers on the same terms and condi11 tions.

12 (e) COMPLIANCE WITH SAFEGUARDS.—No Bell oper13 ating company, affiliate, or separated affiliate shall act in

14 concert with another Bell operating company or any other

15 entity in order to knowingly and willfully violate or evade

16 the requirements of this section.

17 (f) TELEPHONE OPERATING COMPANY DIVI18 DENDS.—Nothing in this section shall prohibit an affiliate

19 from investing dividends derived from a Bell operating

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

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

22 (g) JOINT MARKETING.—Except as provided in sub23 section (h)—
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1 (1) a Bell operating company shall not carry

2 out any promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising

3 for or in conjunction with a separated affiliate, and

4 (2) a Bell operating company shall not carry

5 out any promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising

6 for or in conjunction with an affiliate that is related

7 to the provision of electronic publishing.

8 (h) PERMISSIBLE JOINT ACTIVITIES.—

9 (1) JOINT TELEMARKETING.—A Bell operating

10 company may provide inbound telemarketing or re11 ferral services related to the provision of electronic

12 publishing for a separated affiliate, electronic pub13 lishing joint venture, affiliate, or unaffiliated elec14 tronic publisher, provided that if such services are

15 provided to a separated affiliate, electronic publish16 ing joint venture, or affiliate, such services shall be

17 made available to all electronic publishers on re18 quest, on nondiscriminatory terms, at compensatory

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

20 method of providing telemarketing or referral and its

21 price structure do not competitively disadvantage

22 any electronic publishers regardless of size, including

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

24 telemarketing services.
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1 (2) TEAMING ARRANGEMENTS.—A Bell operat2 ing company may engage in nondiscriminatory

3 teaming or business arrangements to engage in elec4 tronic publishing with any separated affiliate or with

5 any other electronic publisher provided that the Bell

6 operating company only provides facilities, services,

7 and basic telephone service information as author8 ized by this section and provided that the Bell oper9 ating company does not own such teaming or busi10 ness arrangement.

11 (3) ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING JOINT VEN12 TURES.—A Bell operating company or affiliate may

13 participate on a nonexclusive basis in electronic pub14 lishing joint ventures with entities that are not any

15 Bell operating company, affiliate, or separated affili16 ate to provide electronic publishing services, provided

17 that the participating Bell operating company or

18 participating affiliate has not more than a 50 per19 cent direct or indirect equity interest (or the equiva20 lent thereof) or the right to more than 50 percent

21 of the gross revenues under a revenue sharing or

22 royalty agreement in any electronic publishing joint

23 venture. Officers and employees of a Bell operating

24 company or affiliate participating in an electronic

25 publishing joint venture may not have more than 50
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1 percent of the voting control over the electronic pub2 lishing joint venture. In the case of joint ventures

3 with small, local electronic publishers, the Attorney

4 General may authorize the Bell operating company

5 or affiliate to have a larger equity interest, revenue

6 share, or voting control but not to exceed 80 per7 cent. A Bell operating company participating in an

8 electronic publishing joint venture may provide pro9 motion, marketing, sales, or advertising personnel

10 and services to such joint venture.

11 (i) TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO THE PROVISION OF

12 ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING BETWEEN A TELEPHONE OP13 ERATING COMPANY AND ANY AFFILIATE.—

14 (1) RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS.—Any provi15 sion of facilities, services, or basic telephone service

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

17 anything of commercial or competitive value, from a

18 Bell operating company to any affiliate related to

19 the provision of electronic publishing shall be—

20 (A) recorded in the books and records of

21 each entity,

22 (B) auditable in accordance with generally

23 accepted auditing standards, and

24 (C) pursuant to written contracts or tariffs

25 filed with a State and made publicly available.
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1 (2) VALUATION OF TRANSFERS.—Any transfer

2 of assets directly related to the provision of elec3 tronic publishing from a Bell operating company to

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

5 cost or fair market value. Any transfer of assets re6 lated to the provision of electronic publishing from

7 an affiliate to the Bell operating company shall be

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

9 value.

10 (3) PROHIBITION OF EVASIONS.—A Bell operat11 ing company shall not provide directly or indirectly

12 to a separated affiliate any facilities, services, or

13 basic telephone service information related to the

14 provision of electronic publishing that are not made

15 available to unaffiliated companies on the same

16 terms and conditions.

17 (j) TRANSACTIONS RELATED TO THE PROVISION OF

18 ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING BETWEEN AN AFFILIATE AND

19 A SEPARATED AFFILIATE.—

20 (1) RECORDS OF TRANSACTIONS.—Any facili21 ties, services, or basic telephone service information

22 provided or any assets, personnel, or anything of

23 commercial or competitive value transferred, from a

24 Bell operating company to any affiliate as described
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1 in subsection (i) and then provided or transferred to

2 a separated affiliate 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 any affiliate as described in subsection (i) and then

13 transferred to a separated affiliate shall be valued at

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

15 Any transfer of assets related to the provision of

16 electronic publishing from a separated affiliate to

17 any affiliate and then transferred to the Bell operat18 ing company as described in subsection (i) shall be

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

20 value.

21 (3) PROHIBITION OF EVASIONS.—An affiliate

22 shall not provide directly or indirectly to a separated

23 affiliate any facilities, services, or basic telephone

24 service information related to the provision of elec25 tronic publishing that are not made available to un-
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1 affiliated companies on the same terms and condi2 tions.

3 (k) OTHER ELECTRONIC PUBLISHERS.—Except as

4 provided in subsection (h)(3)—

5 (1) A Bell operating company shall not have

6 any officers, employees, property, or facilities in

7 common with any entity whose principal business is

8 publishing of which a part is electronic publishing.

9 (2) No officer or employee of a Bell operating

10 company shall serve as a director of any entity

11 whose principal business is publishing of which a

12 part is electronic publishing.

13 (3) For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2),

14 a Bell operating company or an affiliate that owns

15 an electronic publishing joint venture shall not be

16 deemed to be engaged in the electronic publishing

17 business solely because of such ownership.

18 (4) A Bell operating company shall not carry

19 out—

20 (A) any marketing or sales for any entity

21 that engages in electronic publishing; or

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

23 production,

24 for any entity that engages in electronic publishing.
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1 (5) The Bell operating company shall not pro2 vide any facilities, services, or basic telephone service

3 information to any entity that engages in electronic

4 publishing, for use with or in connection with the

5 provision of electronic publishing that is dissemi6 nated by means of such Bell operating company’s or

7 any of its affiliates’ basic telephone service, unless

8 equivalent facilities, services, or information are

9 made available on equivalent terms and conditions to

10 all.

11 (l) TRANSITION.—Any electronic publishing service

12 being offered to the public by a Bell operating company

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

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

15 the requirements of this section.

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

17 not apply to conduct occurring after June 30, 2000.

18 (n) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any person claim19 ing that any act or practice of any Bell operating com20 pany, affiliate, or separated affiliate constitutes a violation

21 of this section may commence a civil action in an appro22 priate district court of the United States for damages, for

23 an order enjoining such act or practice or compelling com24 pliance with such requirement, or for both.
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1 (o) SUBPOENAS.—In an action commenced under this

2 section, a subpoena requiring the attendance of a witness

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

4 the United States.

5 (p) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

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

7 the corporations subject to the Modification of Final

8 Judgment and listed in Appendix A thereof, or any

9 entity owned or controlled by such corporation, or

10 any successor or assign of such corporation, but

11 does not include an electronic publishing joint ven12 ture owned by such corporation or entity.

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

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

15 controlled by, or is under common ownership or con16 trol with, a Bell operating company. Such term shall

17 not include a separated affiliate.

18 (3) The term ‘‘basic telephone service’’ means

19 any wireline telephone exchange service, or wireline

20 telephone exchange facility, provided by a Bell oper21 ating company in a telephone exchange area, ex22 cept—

23 (A) a competitive wireline telephone ex24 change service provided in a telephone exchange

25 area where another entity provides a wireline
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1 telephone exchange service that was provided on

2 January 1, 1984, and

3 (B) a commercial mobile service provided

4 by an affiliate that is required by the Federal

5 Communications Commission to be a corporate

6 entity separate from the Bell operating com7 pany.

8 (4) The term ‘‘basic telephone service informa9 tion’’ means network and customer information of a

10 Bell operating company and other information ac11 quired by a Bell operating company as a result of

12 its engaging in the provision of basic telephone

13 service.

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

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

16 direction of the management and policies of a per17 son, whether through the ownership of voting securi18 ties, by contract, or otherwise.

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

20 the dissemination, provision, publication, or sale to

21 an unaffiliated entity or person, using a Bell operat22 ing company’s basic telephone service, of—

23 (i) news,

24 (ii) entertainment (other than interactive

25 games),
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1 (iii) business, financial, legal, consumer, or

2 credit material,

3 (iv) editorials,

4 (v) columns,

5 (vi) sports reporting,

6 (vii) features,

7 (viii) advertising,

8 (ix) photos or images,

9 (x) archival or research material,

10 (xi) legal notices or public records,

11 (xii) scientific, educational, instructional,

12 technical, professional, trade, or other literary

13 materials, or

14 (xiii) other like or similar information.

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

16 include the following network services:

17 (i) Information access, as that term is de18 fined by the Modification of Final Judgment.

19 (ii) The transmission of information as a

20 common carrier.

21 (iii) The transmission of information as

22 part of a gateway to an information service that

23 does not involve the generation or alteration of

24 the content of information, including data

25 transmission, address translation, protocol con-
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1 version, billing management, introductory infor2 mation content, and navigational systems that

3 enable users to access electronic publishing

4 services, which do not affect the presentation of

5 such electronic publishing services to users.

6 (iv) Voice storage and retrieval services, in7 cluding voice messaging and electronic mail

8 services.

9 (v) Data processing services that do not in10 volve the generation or alteration of the content

11 of information.

12 (vi) Transaction processing systems that

13 do not involve the generation or alteration of

14 the content of information.

15 (vii) Electronic billing or advertising of a

16 Bell operating company’s regulated tele17 communications services.

18 (viii) Language translation.

19 (ix) Conversion of data from one format to

20 another.

21 (x) The provision of information necessary

22 for the management, control, or operation of a

23 telephone company telecommunications system.
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1 (xi) The provision of directory assistance

2 that provides names, addresses, and telephone

3 numbers and does not include advertising.

4 (xii) Caller identification services.

5 (xiii) Repair and provisioning databases for

6 telephone company operations.

7 (xiv) Credit card and billing validation for

8 telephone company operations.

9 (xv) 911–E and other emergency assist10 ance databases.

11 (xvi) Any other network service of a type

12 that is like or similar to these network services

13 and that does not involve the generation or al14 teration of the content of information.

15 (xvii) Any upgrades to these network serv16 ices that do not involve the generation or alter17 ation of the content of information.

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

19 not include—

20 (i) full motion video entertainment on de21 mand, and

22 (ii) video programming.

23 (7) The term ‘‘electronic publishing joint ven24 ture’’ means a joint venture owned by a Bell operat25 ing company or affiliate that engages in the provi-
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1 sion of electronic publishing which is disseminated

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

3 of its affiliates’ basic telephone service.

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

5 and includes corporations, partnerships, sole propri6 etorships, associations, and joint ventures.

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

8 the marketing of property, goods, or services by tele9 phone to a customer or potential customer who initi10 ated the call.

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

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

13 the equivalent thereof) of more than 10 percent of

14 an entity, or the right to more than 10 percent of

15 the gross revenues of an entity under a revenue

16 sharing or royalty agreement.

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

18 corporation under common ownership or control with

19 a Bell operating company that does not own or con20 trol a Bell operating company and is not owned or

21 controlled by a Bell operating company and that en22 gages in the provision of electronic publishing which

23 is disseminated by means of such Bell operating

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

25 service.
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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

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

3 Act:

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

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

6 is owned or controlled by, or is under common own7 ership or control with, another person. For purposes

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

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

10 percent.

11 (2) ALARM MONITORING SERVICE.—The term

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

13 uses a device located at a residence, place of busi14 ness, or other fixed premises—

15 (A) to receive signals from other devices lo16 cated at or about such premises regarding a

17 possible threat at such premises to life, safety,

18 or property, from burglary, fire, vandalism,

19 bodily injury, or other emergency, and

20 (B) to transmit a signal regarding such

21 threat by means of transmission facilities of a

22 Bell operating company or one of its affiliates

23 to a remote monitoring center to alert a person

24 at such center of the need to inform the cus25 tomer or another person or police, fire, rescue,
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1 security, or public safety personnel of such

2 threat,

3 but does not include a service that uses a medical

4 monitoring device attached to an individual for the

5 automatic surveillance of an ongoing medical condi6 tion.

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

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

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

10 12(a)), except that such term includes the Act of

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

12 seq.), commonly known as the Robinson Patman

13 Act, and section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission

14 Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that such section

15 5 applies to unfair methods of competition.

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

17 programming’’ means programming provided by, or

18 generally considered comparable to programming

19 provided by, a radio broadcast station.

20 (5) BELL OPERATING COMPANY.—The term

21 ‘‘Bell operating company’’ means—

22 (A) Bell Telephone Company of Nevada,

23 Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell

24 Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan

25 Bell Telephone Company, New England Tele-
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1 phone and Telegraph Company, New Jersey

2 Bell Telephone Company, New York Telephone

3 Company, U S West Communications Com4 pany, South Central Bell Telephone Company,

5 Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Com6 pany, Southwestern Bell Telephone Company,

7 The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania,

8 The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Com9 pany, The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone

10 Company of Maryland, The Chesapeake and

11 Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia, The

12 Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company

13 of West Virginia, The Diamond State Tele14 phone Company, The Ohio Bell Telephone

15 Company, The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph

16 Company, or Wisconsin Telephone Company,

17 (B) any successor or assign of any such

18 company, or

19 (C) any affiliate of any person described in

20 subparagraph (A) or (B).

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

22 has the same meaning as such term has in section

23 602(7) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

24 U.S.C. 522(7)).
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1 (7) CARRIER.—The term ‘‘carrier’’ has the

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

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

4 (8) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICES.—The term

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

6 as such term has in section 332(d) of the Commu7 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d)).

8 (9) CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT.—The

9 term ‘‘customer premises equipment’’ means equip10 ment employed on the premises of a person (other

11 than a carrier) to originate, route, or terminate tele12 communications, and includes software integral to

13 such equipment.

14 (10) EXCHANGE ACCESS.—The term ‘‘exchange

15 access’’ means exchange services provided for the

16 purpose of originating or terminating interexchange

17 telecommunications.

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

19 area’’ means a contiguous geographic area estab20 lished by a Bell operating company such that no ex21 change area includes points within more than 1 met22 ropolitan statistical area, consolidated metropolitan

23 statistical area, or State, except as expressly per24 mitted under the Modification of Final Judgment

25 before the date of the enactment of this Act.
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1 (12) EXCHANGE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘ex2 change service’’ means a telecommunications service

3 provided within an exchange area.

4 (13) INFORMATION.—Except as provided in

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

6 knowledge or intelligence represented by any form of

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

8 symbols.

9 (14) INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNI10 CATIONS.—The term ‘‘interexchange telecommuni11 cations’’ means telecommunications between a point

12 located in an exchange area and a point located out13 side such exchange area.

14 (15) MANUFACTURE.—The term ‘‘manufac15 ture’’ has the meaning given such term under the

16 Modification of Final Judgment.

17 (16) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—

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

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

20 action styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil

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

22 Court for the District of Columbia, and includes any

23 judgment or order with respect to such action en24 tered on or after August 24, 1982.
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1 (17) OTHER PROGRAMMING SERVICES.—The

2 term ‘‘other programming services’’ means informa3 tion (other than audio programming or video pro4 gramming) that the person who offers a video pro5 gramming service makes available to all subscribers

6 generally. For purposes of the preceding sentence,

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

8 subscribers generally’’ have the same meaning such

9 terms have under section 602(13) of the Commu10 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(13)).

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

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

13 first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)).

14 (19) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

15 the several States, the District of Columbia, the

16 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth

17 of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated

18 States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall

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

20 United States.

21 (20) TELECOMMUNICATIONS.—The term ‘‘tele22 communications’’ means the transmission of infor23 mation between points by electromagnetic means.

24 (21) TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT.—The

25 term ‘‘telecommunications equipment’’ means equip-
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1 ment, other than customer premises equipment, used

2 by a carrier to provide a telecommunications service,

3 and includes software integral to such equipment.

4 (22) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The

5 term ‘‘telecommunications service’’ means the offer6 ing for hire of transmission facilities or of tele7 communications by means of such facilities.

8 (23) TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.—The term

9 ‘‘transmission facilities’’ means equipment (including

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

11 that transmits information by electromagnetic means

12 or that directly supports such transmission, but does

13 not include customer premises equipment.

14 (24) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘‘video

15 programming’’ has the same meaning as such term

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

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

18 SEC. 6. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.

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

20 shall supersede only the following sections of the Modifica21 tion of Final Judgment:

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

23 Judgment, relating to deadline for procedures for

24 equal access compliance.
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1 (2) Section II(D) of the Modification of Final

2 Judgment, relating to line of business restrictions.

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

4 Judgment, relating to manufacturing restrictions.

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

6 Judgment, relating to standard for entry into the

7 interexchange market.

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

9 Judgment, relating to prohibition on entry into elec10 tronic publishing.

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

12 Final Judgment, relating to debt ratios at the time

13 of transfer.

14 (7) Section VIII(J) of the Modification of Final

15 Judgment, relating to prohibition on implementation

16 of the plan of reorganization before court approval.

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

18 shall supersede the final judgment entered December 21,

19 1984 and as restated January 11, 1985, in the action

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

21 1298, in the United States District Court for the District

22 of Columbia, and such final judgment shall not be en23 forced with respect to conduct occurring after the date of

24 the enactment of this Act.
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1 (c) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this Act shall be

2 construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability

3 of any of the antitrust laws.

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

5 as provided in paragraph (2), this Act shall not be con6 strued to modify, impair, or supersede Federal, State, or

7 local law unless expressly so provided in this Act.

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

9 the extent that such law would impair or prevent the oper10 ation or purposes of this Act.

Æ