Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 20 - DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCE › Division 4240 - Public Service Commission › Chapter 29 - Enhanced Record Exchange Rules › Section 20 CSR 4240-29.100 - Objections to Payment Invoices

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This rule establishes a procedure for
				  objecting to payment of invoices received for terminating LEC-to-LEC
				  network
telecommunications traffic.
(1) Objections to invoices received for
				terminating Local Exchange Carrier-to-Local Exchange Carrier (LEC-to-LEC)
				traffic shall be made in writing or e-mail to the terminating carrier.
				Questions pertaining to such invoices may be submitted by telephone.
(2) All objections under this rule shall be
				promptly investigated by the terminating carrier responsible for sending
				payment invoices. The results of all such investigations shall be reported back
				to the objecting party in writing or by e-mail no later than thirty (30) days
				after receipt of the objection. A written or e-mail correspondence showing a
				summary or results of all such investigations must be provided by the
				terminating company to the manager of telecommunications, Missouri Public
				Service Commission.
(3) In the
				event any terminating local exchange carrier in any billing period or periods
				receives billing records for compensable traffic that are less than the total
				terminating compensable traffic received and recorded by the terminating local
				exchange carrier for that period or periods ("unidentified traffic"), the
				terminating local exchange carrier may render a written or e-mail objection to
				the receipt of the unidentified traffic to the terminating tandem carrier
				across whose facilities the terminating local exchange carrier believes such
				unidentified traffic was transited. Such objection need not be in the form of
				an invoice. Within twenty (20) days after receipt of such objection, the
				terminating tandem carrier shall in turn notify all carriers it believes may
				have placed or transited the unidentified traffic on the LEC-to-LEC network.
				Objections and notifications informing carriers of unidentified terminating
				traffic shall be promptly investigated by all carriers that receive them. The
				objecting carrier, tandem carriers, and originating carriers shall work
				cooperatively and in good faith and shall provide complete and accurate billing
				records to the objecting terminating local exchange carrier. The terminating
				local exchange carrier shall make available the automatic number identification
				(ANI) and such other information relating to such unidentified traffic as is in
				its possession. All carriers shall make full disclosure of their positions, and
				evidence in support thereof, to all other carriers participating in the
				investigation, and to the manager of telecommunications, Missouri Public
				Service Commission, and shall make duplicates of such evidence and information
				available to all participants. Within sixty (60) days after the objection is
				made, the results of such investigation shall be reported back to all carriers
				concerned, and written or e-mail correspondence showing a summary of results of
				the investigations shall be provided by all involved carriers to the manager of
				telecommunications, Missouri Public Service Commission. In the event the
				carriers cannot agree on a common report, each carrier may submit its own
				report.
(4) In the event any
				objection to invoice, or any objection to the receipt of unidentified traffic,
				remains unresolved or uncompensated for more than thirty (30) days following
				provision of investigation reports to the manager of telecommunications,
				Missouri Public Service Commission, the carrier rendering the invoice, or the
				carrier objecting to the receipt of unidentified traffic, may initiate the
				following intercarrier compensation complaint process applicable to traffic
				placed on the LEC-to-LEC network:
(A) After
				having complied with sections (3) and (4) above, the objecting carrier may file
				a formal complaint in accordance with
				4 CSR
				240-2.070. Said complaint may name as respondents any
				or all carriers participating in the investigation process, and any carriers
				notified of the investigation process but not participating in it. Tandem
				carriers named as parties in such complaint shall have thirty (30) days from
				being served to identify and name as additional parties respondent any other
				carriers that may have originated or transited such unidentified traffic. Such
				carriers shall be served with the complaint and pleading naming them as
				additional parties in the same manner as is described in
				4 CSR
				240-2.070(7), and shall answer within
				thirty (30) days of the date of notice as provided therein.
(B) Within thirty (30) days after all answers
				are filed, or within thirty (30) days of the last date for timely answer, the
				commission will set the matter for evidentiary hearing without the need for
				prefiled testimony.
(C) Within
				twenty (20) days after the conclusion of said hearing the regulatory law judge
				assigned shall file a recommended decision to the commission, and serve copies
				thereof on each party. Said recommended decision shall address and resolve
				objections to invoices, and shall address and resolve objections to the receipt
				of unidentified traffic, and may find originating carriers or originating
				tandem carriers liable to the terminating LEC for unidentified
				traffic.
(D) Each party shall have
				twenty (20) days from the filing of the recommended decision in which to file a
				response to the recommended decision. In the event no party responds, the
				recommended decision shall be the decision of the commission. In the event any
				party does respond, the commission shall thereafter consider the recommended
				decision and the responses thereto, and enter its decision within thirty (30)
				days of the filing of responses to the recommended decision.