issue of fact with respect to the complaint
and—
‘‘(i) which finds that the violation has
not occurred and dismisses the complaint;
or
‘‘(ii) which finds, after compliance
with the procedures of section 1002(c) of
this Act, that the violation has occurred
and sets out the remedies and penalties
that the Secretary determines are appro-
priate for the violation and the information
forming the basis for such finding;
‘‘(B) a consent order which sets out the
remedies and penalties which the Secretary de-
termines are appropriate and to which the al-
leged violator has agreed; or
‘‘(C) for a determination of whether or not
the violation has occurred and appropriate rem-
edies and penalties for the violation if the viola-
tion has occurred, an order instituting a pro-
ceeding which includes an oral hearing on the
record before an administrative law judge in ac-
cordance with section 554 of title 5, United
States Code.
‘‘(3) PARTIES TO AN ALJ PROCEEDING.—If the
Secretary issues an order instituting a proceeding
before an administrative law judge under this sub-
section, both the Department of Transportation and
the person filing the complaint shall be parties to
the proceeding if they so elect, and the administra-
tive law judge may designate additional parties to
the proceeding.
‘‘(4) POWER OF ALJ TO COMPEL PRODUCTION
OF
DOCUMENTS.—An administrative law judge to
whom a complaint under this subsection is assigned
may compel the production of documents and other
information necessary to determine whether the vio-
lation has or has not occurred.
‘‘(5) DEADLINE FOR ALJ DECISION.—Not later
than the 270th day following the date on which the
Secretary issues an order instituting a proceeding
before an administrative law judge under this sub-
section, the judge shall issue an order—
‘‘(A) which finds that no violation has oc-
curred and dismisses the complaint; or
‘‘(B) which finds that a violation has oc-
curred and sets out the remedies and penalties
that the administrative law judge determines
are appropriate for such violation.
‘‘(6) DEADLINE FOR FINAL ORDER.—Not later
than the 90th day following the date of issuance an
order by an administrative law judge under this sub-
section, the Secretary shall issue a final order with
respect to the complaint. If the Secretary does not
issue the final order by the last day of such 90-day
period, the order of the administrative law judge
shall be deemed to be a final order of the Secretary.
‘‘(g) TREATMENT OF CERTAIN REDUCED CRS SERV-
ICES.—If any computer reservation system service being
provided to a participant in such system for a participant
fee is reduced without a corresponding reduction in the
participant fee, the participant fee shall be treated, for
purposes of this section, as being increased by the vendor.
‘‘(h) REGULATIONS.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL
AUTHORITY.—The Secretary
may issue regulations to carry out the objectives of
this section and such other regulations relating to
computer reservation systems as the Secretary deter-
mines appropriate. Such regulations shall not be in-
consistent with the provisions of this section.
‘‘(2) ENFORCEABILITY.—The enforceability of
this section shall not be affected by any delay or fail-
ure of the Secretary to issue regulations to carry out
the objectives of this section.
‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the
following definitions apply:
‘‘(1) COMPUTER RESERVATIONS SYSTEM.—The
term ‘computer reservations system’ means—
‘‘(A) a computer system which is offered to
subscribers for use in the United States and
contains information on the schedules, fares,
rules, or seat availability of 2 or more sepa-
rately identified air carriers and provides sub-
scribers with the ability to make reservations
and to issue tickets; and
‘‘(B) a computer system which was subject
to the provisions of part 255 of title 14 of the
Code of Federal Regulations (relating to com-
puter reservation systems) on June 1, 1991.
‘‘(2) COMPUTER SYSTEM.—The term ‘computer
system’ means a unit of one or more computers, and
associated software, peripherals, terminals, and
means of information transfer, capable of perform-
ing information processing and transfer functions.
‘‘(3) INTERNAL
RESERVATION
SYSTEM.—The
term ‘internal reservation system’ means a computer
system which contains information on airline sched-
ules, fares, rules, or seat availability and is used by
an air carrier to respond to inquiries made directly
to the carrier by members of the public concerning
such information and to make reservations arising
from such inquiries.
‘‘(4) INTEGRATED
DISPLAY.—The term ‘inte-
grated display’ means a computerized display of in-
formation which relates to air carrier schedules,
fares, rules, or availability and is designed to include
information pertaining to more than 1 separately
identified air carrier. Such term excludes the display
of data from the internal reservations system of an
individual air carrier when provided in response to
a request by a ticket agent relating to a specific
transaction.
‘‘(5) PARTICIPANT.—The term ‘participant’, as
used with respect to a computer reservations system,
means an air carrier which has its flight schedules,
fares, or seat availability displayed through such
system.
‘‘(6) PARTICIPANT FEE.—The term ‘participant
fee’ means any fee, charge, penalty, or thing of value
contractually required to be furnished to a vendor by
a participant for display of the flight schedules,
fares, or seat availability of the participant through
the computer reservation system of the vendor or for
other computer reservation system services provided
to the participant.
‘‘(7) 
PARTICIPANT
TRANSACTION
CAPABIL-
ITY.—The term ‘participant transaction capability’
means a service, product, function, or facility with
respect to any computer reservation system which is
provided by a vendor to any participant and which
is capable of benefiting the air transportation busi-
ness of such participant, including the quality, reli-
ability, and security of communications provided by
the vendor linking such vendor’s computer reserva-
tion system to the computer system or data bases of
any participant, the loading into the system of infor-
mation on schedules, fares, rules, or seat availability,
the booking or assignment of seats, the issuance of
tickets or boarding passes, the retrieval of data from
the system, or a means of determining the timeliness
with which a participant will receive payment for air
transportation sold through the system.
‘‘(8) PROTOCOL.—The term ‘protocol’ means a
set of rules or formats which govern the information
transfer between and among computer reservation
systems, participants, and subscribers.
‘‘(9) 
SUBSCRIBER.—The 
term 
‘subscriber’
means a ticket agent which uses a computer reserva-
tion system in the sale and issuance of tickets for
air transportation.
‘‘(10) SUBSCRIBER CONTRACT.—The term ‘sub-
scriber contract’ means an agreement, and any
amendment thereto, between a ticket agent and a
vendor for the furnishing of computer reservations
services to such subscriber.
‘‘(11) SUBSCRIBER
TRANSACTION
CAPABIL-
ITY.—The term ‘subscriber transaction capability’
means any capability offered through a computer
reservation system to a subscriber with respect to air
transportation, including the capability of a ticket
agent through a computer reservations system to
view information on airline schedules, fares, rules,
and seat availability or to book space, assign seats,
or issue tickets or boarding passes for air transpor-
tation to be provided by air carriers.
‘‘(12) VENDOR.—The term ‘vendor’ means any
person who owns, controls, or operates a computer
reservations system.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO TABLE OF CON-
TENTS.—The table of contents contained in the first sec-
tion of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 is amended by
adding at the end of the matter relating to title IV of such
Act the following:
‘‘Sec. 420. Computer reservations systems.