‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF RULE.—A rule prescribed
under this subsection shall be treated as a rule
issued under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57(a)(1)(B)).
‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT.—Any violation of any rule pre-
scribed under subsection (a) shall be treated as a violation
of a rule under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission
Act (15 U.S.C. 45) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. Notwithstanding section 5(a)(2) of such Act (15
U.S.C. 45(a)(2)), communications common carriers shall
be subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission for pur-
poses of this title.
‘‘(f) APPLICABILITY.—The regulations required by
this section shall apply to miscellaneous product or service
charges first billed after the effective date of those regula-
tions.
‘‘SEC. 502. RELATION TO STATE LAWS.
‘‘(a) STATE LAW APPLICABLE UNLESS INCONSIST-
ENT.—This title does not annul, alter, or affect, or exempt
any person subject to the provisions of this title from com-
plying with, the laws of any State with respect to tele-
phone billing or other credit billing practices, except to the
extent that those laws are inconsistent with any provision
of this title, and then only to the extent of the inconsist-
ency. The Commission is authorized to determine whether
such inconsistencies exist. The Commission may not deter-
mine that any State law is inconsistent with any provision
of this chapter if the Commission determines that such
law gives greater protection to the consumer.
‘‘(b) REGULATORY EXEMPTIONS.—The Commission
shall by regulation exempt from the requirements of this
title any class of acts and practices subject to the rules
prescribed under subsection (a) within any State if it de-
termines that under the law of that State that class of
transactions is subject to requirements substantially simi-
lar to those imposed under this chapter or that such law
gives greater protection to the consumer, and that there
is adequate provision for enforcement.
‘‘SEC. 503. ENFORCEMENT BY COMMISSION.
‘‘The Commission shall enforce the requirements of
this title. For the purpose of the exercise by the Commis-
sion of its functions and powers under the Federal Trade
Commission Act, a violation of any requirement imposed
under this title shall be deemed a violation of a require-
ment imposed under that Act. All the functions and pow-
ers of the Commission under that Act are available to the
Commission to enforce compliance by any person with the
requirements imposed under this title, irrespective of
whether that person is engaged in commerce or meets any
other jurisdictional tests in that Act. The Commission may
prescribe such regulations as are necessary or appropriate
to implement the provisions of this title.
‘‘SEC. 504. ACTIONS BY STATES.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever an attorney general of
any State has reason to believe that the interests of the
residents of that State have been or are being threatened
or adversely affected because any person has engaged or
is engaging in a pattern or practice which violates any rule
of the Commission under section 501(a), the State may
bring a civil action on behalf of its residents in an appro-
priate district court of the United States to enjoin such
pattern or practice, to enforce compliance with such rule
of the Commission, to obtain damages on behalf of their
residents, or to obtain such further and other relief as the
court may deem appropriate.
‘‘(b) NOTICE.—The State shall serve prior written
notice of any civil action under subsection (a) upon the
Commission and provide the Commission with a copy of
its complaint, except that if it is not feasible for the State
to provide such prior notice, the State shall serve such
notice immediately upon instituting such action. Upon re-
ceiving a notice respecting a civil action, the Commission
shall have the right (1) to intervene in such action, (2)
upon so intervening, to be heard on all matters arising
therein, and (3) to file petitions for appeal.
‘‘(c) VENUE.—Any civil action brought under this
section in a district court of the United States may be
brought in the district wherein the defendant is found or
is an inhabitant or transacts business or wherein the viola-
tion occurred or is occurring, and process in such cases
may be served in any district in which the defendant is
an inhabitant or wherever the defendant may be found.
‘‘(d) INVESTIGATORY POWERS.—For purposes of
bringing any civil action under this section, nothing in this
Act shall prevent the attorney general from exercising the
powers conferred on the attorney general by the laws of
such State to conduct investigations or to administer oaths
or affirmations or to compel the attendance of witnesses
or the production of documentary and other evidence.
‘‘(e) EFFECT ON STATE COURT PROCEEDINGS.—
Nothing contained in this section shall prohibit an author-
ized State official from proceeding in State court on the
basis of an alleged violation of any general civil or criminal
antifraud statute of such State.
‘‘(f) LIMITATION.—Whenever the Commission has in-
stituted a civil action for violation of any rule or regulation
under this Act, no State may, during the pendency of such
action instituted by the Commission, subsequently insti-
tute a civil action against any defendant named in the
Commission’s complaint for violation of any rule as alleged
in the Commission’s complaint.
‘‘(g) ACTIONS BY OTHER STATE OFFICIALS.—
‘‘(1) Nothing contained in this section shall
prohibit an authorized State official from proceeding
in State court on the basis of an alleged violation of
any general civil or criminal statute of such State.
‘‘(2) In addition to actions brought by an attor-
ney general of a State under subsection (a), such an
action may be brought by officers of such State who
are authorized by the State to bring actions in such
State for protection of consumers and who are des-
ignated by the Commission to bring an action under
subsection (a) against persons that the Commission
has determined have or are engaged in a pattern or
practice which violates a rule of the Commission
under section 501(a).
‘‘SEC. 505. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘As used in this title:
‘‘(1) BILLING AGGREGATOR.—The term ‘billing
aggregator’ means a person who aggregates the
charges of one or more providers of miscellaneous
products or services and transmits them to be in-
cluded in a telephone bill.
‘‘(2) BILLING DISPUTE.—The term ‘billing dis-
pute’ consists of any one or more of the following
claims:
‘‘(A) that a miscellaneous product or serv-
ice charge was not authorized by the subscriber;
‘‘(B) that a miscellaneous product or serv-
ice charge was not in an amount authorized by
the subscriber; or
‘‘(C) that a miscellaneous product or serv-
ice charge was transmitted for a product or
service that was not provided to the subscriber.
‘‘(3) COMMISSION.— The term ‘Commission’
means the Federal Trade Commission.
‘‘(4) COMMON CARRIER, LOCAL EXCHANGE CAR-
RIER, TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SERVICE, AND TELE-
PHONE
TOLL
SERVICE.—The terms ‘common car-
rier’, ‘local exchange carrier’, ‘telephone exchange
service’, and ‘telephone toll service’ have the mean-
ings provided in section 3 of the Communications
Act of 1934.
‘‘(5) MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCT OR SERVICE.—
The term ‘miscellaneous product or service’ means
any product or service that is not—
‘‘(A) telephone exchange service, telephone
toll service, or services that are provided by the
subscriber’s selected provider of telephone ex-
change service or telephone toll service and that
the Commission defines by rule as services that
are ancillary to telephone exchange service or
telephone toll service;
‘‘(B) pay-per-call services subject to the
provisions of title II of this Act; or
‘‘(C) telephone billed purchases subject to
the provisions of title III of this Act.
‘‘(5) MISCELLANEOUS
PRODUCT
OR
SERVICE
CHARGES.—The term ‘miscellaneous product or
service charges’ means charges for miscellaneous
product or services that are billed on a telephone
bill.
‘‘(6) 
SUBSCRIBER.—The 
term 
‘subscriber’
means the party identified in the account records of
a common carrier issuing a telephone bill (or on
whose behalf a telephone bill is issued), any other
person identified in such records as authorized to
change the services subscribed to or to charge serv-
ices to the account, and any person otherwise law-
fully authorized to represent such party.
‘‘(7) TELEPHONE BILL.—The term ‘telephone
bill’ means a bill—
‘‘(A) for telephone exchange service and
other services issued by or on behalf of a com-
mon carrier to its telephone exchange service
customers; or
‘‘(B) for telephone toll service and other
services issued by or on behalf of a common
carrier to its telephone toll service customers.’’.
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