Opinion ID: 186697
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The 1993 and 1994 Tariff Suspension Proceedings.

Text: 16 Five days after initiating notice and comment proceedings, the Commission entered its order suspending and opening an investigation of 1993 tariffs for LECs that benefitted from a low-end adjustment or were subject to sharing in 1992, 1993 Annual Access Tariff Filings, 8 F.C.C.R. 4960, 4965 ¶ 32, 1993 WL 757104 (Common Carrier Bureau 1993), and, as noted, took the same approach to 1994 tariffs, 1994 Annual Access Tariff Filings, 9 F.C.C.R. 3705, 3713 ¶ 12, 1994 WL 287767 (Common Carrier Bureau 1994). For both matters (the 1993 and 1994 investigations), the Commission entered an accounting order, so that the LECs' access charges for 1993 and 1994 could be tracked and refunds could be ordered if those tariffs were found to be unlawful. 17 Both suspension orders noted the Commission's pending rulemaking on the add-back issue, but did not specify any timetable for when the 1993 and 1994 investigations would be completed. Even after the Add-Back Rulemaking Order was released in 1995, and after this Court in Bell Atlantic rejected in 1996 the challenges of various LECs to the Add-Back Rulemaking Order, the Commission was silent about the 1993 and 1994 investigations. Finally, in 2003, the Commission issued an order seeking comments to refresh a record that, due to passage of time and several mergers and acquisitions among the interested parties, may have now grown stale. Further Comment Requested on the Appropriate Treatment of Sharing and Low-End Adjustments, 18 F.C.C.R. 6483, 6487, 2003 WL 1798969 (2003). On July 30, 2004, pursuant to its authority under 47 U.S.C. § 204(a)(1) to determine whether a regulated tariff contained just and reasonable rates, see 47 U.S.C. § 201(b), the Commission released an order determining that 1993 tariffs of LECs which were subject to a sharing or low-end adjustment in 1992 were just and reasonable if they applied add-back, and that 1993 tariffs of LECs which were subject to a sharing or low-end adjustment in 1992 were not just and reasonable if they had not applied add-back. Tariff Order, 19 F.C.C.R. at 14,949 ¶ 1. The Commission reached the same determination with respect to 1994 tariffs. Id. The Commission left open the question of refunds for any overcharges that resulted from the imposition of unjust and unreasonable rates, concluding that it would hold further proceedings on the scope of any refunds. See id. at 14,961-62 ¶ 29 (After reviewing the recalculations and refund plans submitted in response to this order, and replies received on these recalculations and refund plans, we will, as appropriate, approve, disapprove, or order modification of the filed recalculations and refund plans.). Two LECs that participated in the proceedings that led to the Tariff Order, Verizon Communications Inc. (and its various subsidiaries) (Verizon) and BellSouth Corporation (BellSouth), filed these timely petitions for review of the Tariff Order.