Opinion ID: 618656
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: When the Board Reviews an Arbitrated ICA

Text: When the Board reviews an ICA arrived at through compulsory arbitration, [9] the Federal Act limits the Board's options on review: the Board may only reject the ICA (or individual provisions therein) on specified grounds. See WorldNet Telecomms., Inc. v. Puerto Rico Tel. Co. ( WorldNet II ), 497 F.3d 13, 14 (1st Cir.2007) (citing 47 U.S.C. § 252(e)(2)). The Board must accept ICA provisions that are consistent with Sections 251 and 252(d) of the Act, unless the Board reasonably finds that the ICA conflicts with Puerto Rico statutes, the Board's rules, or the Board's policy determinations. WorldNet I, 497 F.3d at 7. For the Board to reject an ICA provision based on Board policy, there must be a conflict with general policies that the Board would follow in other situations, and not simply with the Board's ad hoc preferences. Id. at 7-8. These determinations by the Boardincluding its findings of fact and applications of the law in resolving disputes over the terms of an ICAare reviewed under the arbitrary and capricious standard. Centennial, 634 F.3d at 26-27. Accordingly, when the Board reviews an arbitrated ICA for consistency with law and policy, this court reviews questions of law addressed in the Board's review de novo, see Global NAPs III, 444 F.3d at 70, and all of the Board's other determinations under an arbitrary and capricious standard, see Centennial, 634 F.3d at 26-27; however, the focus of our review is always on the Board's exercise of its limited authority to affirm or reject the arbitrated ICA, and not on the arbitrator's particular cost determinations, see WorldNet I, 497 F.3d at 7. [10]