09 LC 36
1262
House
Bill 302
By:
Representatives Hamilton of the
23rd,
Collins of the
27th,
Loudermilk of the
14th,
Amerson of the
9th,
Rogers of the
26th,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Article 4 of Chapter 5 of Title 46 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated, relating to telecommunications and competition development, so as to
change the requirements to be met prior to a telecommunications company charging
a customer for any service provided by a third party; to provide for related
matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Article
4 of Chapter 5 of Title 46 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to telecommunications and competition development, is amended by revising Code
Section 46-5-171.1, relating to written authorization required by customer prior
to being charged for service initiated by a third party, to read as
follows:
"46-5-171.1.
(a)
Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, no telecommunications
company shall charge a customer for any service which is provided to the
customer by a nonaffiliated third party until such third party has
certified
provided
to the telecommunications company
that the
third party has received the customer's
written authorization for such charges
and the
telecommunications company has provided a copy of such customer's written
authorization to the customer. When a
customer initiates a new type of such third-party service or changes the type or
types of such third-party service received, the invoice for such new or changed
services must state the charges for such services in a clear, conspicuous,
separate, and distinct manner so as to ensure that the customer is aware of the
new or changed charges.
(b)
This Code section shall not apply to any transaction between a customer and that
customer's selected provider of basic local exchange, inter-LATA, or intra-LATA
telecommunications services or initial requests to subscribe to such services;
wireless services; requests for a change in a customer's provider of local
exchange service or a change in a customer's primary interexchange inter-LATA or
intra-LATA carrier; or customer initiated use of abbreviated dialing codes or
other pay-per-use services."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.