I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3990
To amend the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act to prevent
unfair and deceptive practices in telephone billing for miscellaneous prod-
ucts or services.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 4, 1998
Mr. DINGELL (for himself and Mr. GORDON) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution
Act to prevent unfair and deceptive practices in telephone
billing for miscellaneous products or services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anti-Cramming Pro-
tection Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF TELEPHONE DISCLOSURE AND DIS-
PUTE RESOLUTION ACT REMEDIES TO TELE-
PHONE BILLING FOR MISCELLANEOUS PROD-
UCTS OR SERVICES.
The Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution
Act (15 U.S.C. 5701 et seq.) is amended by adding at
the end the following new title:
‘‘TITLE V—UNFAIR AND DECEP-
TIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES IN
CONNECTION 
WITH 
MIS-
CELLANEOUS PRODUCTS OR
SERVICES
‘‘SEC. 501. BILLING OF MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCT OR
SERVICE CHARGES.
‘‘(a) BILLING RULES.—The Commission shall, in ac-
cordance with the requirements of this section, prescribe
rules to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive acts
and practices in the billing of miscellaneous product or
service charges. Such rules shall—
‘‘(1) prohibit any person (including billing
aggregators and service providers) from submitting
for billing on telephone bills miscellaneous product
or service charges that have not been authorized by
the subscriber to be billed;
‘‘(2) require that any person submitting mis-
cellaneous product or service charges for billing—
‘‘(A) include an account authorization code
that would not generally be known by anyone
other than the subscriber and the entity issuing
the telephone bill and that reliably indicates
that the subscriber authorized the charge; or
‘‘(B) comply with such other procedures as
the Commission may require to reliably indicate
that the subscriber authorized the charge;
‘‘(3) require that the bill for each provider of
miscellaneous products or services—
‘‘(A) be on a page of the telephone bill that
is separate from the charges for telephone ex-
change and telephone toll services;
‘‘(B) describe in reasonable detail each
miscellaneous product or service billed;
‘‘(C) identify any miscellaneous product or
service charges that are recurring; and
‘‘(D) include the name and toll free tele-
phone number of each miscellaneous product or
service provider and the name and toll free tele-
phone number of any billing aggregator;
‘‘(4) require that a telephone bill that includes
miscellaneous product or service charges includes a
notification, on each page that summarizes or
itemizes miscellaneous product or service charges,
that the subscriber may direct billing disputes to the
common carrier issuing the bill and provide a toll-
free telephone number for that purpose;
‘‘(5) require that a subscriber initiating a bill-
ing dispute by calling the telephone number referred
to in paragraph (4) within 90 days after the date on
which the charge appears on the telephone bill of the
subscriber shall immediately receive a credit for any
disputed miscellaneous product or service charges;
and
‘‘(6) provide that—
‘‘(A) a subscriber may—
‘‘(i) instruct its common carrier not to
bill for any miscellaneous product or serv-
ice charges; or
‘‘(ii) to the extent the Commission
from time to time determines is technically
feasible for the common carrier to imple-
ment, instruct its common carrier not to
bill for subcategories of products or serv-
ices or for particular providers or billing
aggregators, as specified by the subscriber;
‘‘(B) such instruction may be given either
orally or in writing (at the election of the sub-
scriber);
‘‘(C) a subscriber may instruct a common
carrier to resume billing miscellaneous charges
either orally or in writing (at the election of the
subscriber); and
‘‘(D) in verifying such instructions the
common carrier shall use adequate internal con-
trol procedures for verifying that the request is
authorized by the subscriber.
‘‘(b) DISPUTE RESOLUTION RULES.—To the extent
not already covered by Federal statutes or regulations in
effect on the date of enactment of this section, the Com-
mission shall adopt rules governing the procedures for a
subscriber and a miscellaneous product or service provider
to resolve a billing dispute after the disputed charges have
been credited to the subscriber’s account in accordance
with subsection (a). Such rules shall include rules designed
to prevent fraudulent submission of billing disputes by
subscribers.
‘‘(c) RIGHT TO DISCONTINUE BILLING.—
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY TO DISCONTINUE BILLING.—
Subject to paragraph (2), if a common carrier rea-
sonably believes that charges are being submitted for
billing in violation of this section, the regulations
adopted under this section, or any other Federal or
State statute or regulation, the carrier, after written
notice to the Commission describing the action and
the reasons therefor—
‘‘(A) may discontinue billing for any mis-
cellaneous product or service provider or any
billing aggregator submitting miscellaneous
product or service charges;
‘‘(B) may discontinue billing for any type
or category of miscellaneous product or service;
or
‘‘(C) may discontinue billing for any type
or category of miscellaneous product or service
submitted by an individual product or service
provider or billing aggregator.
‘‘(2) AUTHORITY SUBJECT TO OTHER LAW.—
No action by a common carrier under paragraph (1)
shall be exempt from any other Federal or State law
prohibiting anticompetitive or discriminatory acts or
practices.
‘‘(d) RULEMAKING.—
‘‘(1) SCHEDULE AND PROCEDURE.—The Com-
mission shall prescribe the rules under this section
within 270 days after the date of enactment of this
Act. Such rules shall be prescribed in accordance
with section 553 of title 5, United States Code.