
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 47USC274]

 
          TITLE 47--TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, AND RADIOTELEGRAPHS
 
                 CHAPTER 5--WIRE OR RADIO COMMUNICATION
 
                     SUBCHAPTER II--COMMON CARRIERS
 
    Part III--Special Provisions Concerning Bell Operating Companies
 
Sec. 274. Electronic publishing by Bell operating companies


(a) Limitations

    No Bell operating company or any affiliate may engage in the 
provision of electronic publishing that is disseminated by means of such 
Bell operating company's or any of its affiliates' basic telephone 
service, except that nothing in this section shall prohibit a separated 
affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture operated in accordance 
with this section from engaging in the provision of electronic 
publishing.

(b) Separated affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture 
        requirements

    A separated affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture shall 
be operated independently from the Bell operating company. Such 
separated affiliate or joint venture and the Bell operating company with 
which it is affiliated shall--
        (1) maintain separate books, records, and accounts and prepare 
    separate financial statements;
        (2) not incur debt in a manner that would permit a creditor of 
    the separated affiliate or joint venture upon default to have 
    recourse to the assets of the Bell operating company;
        (3) carry out transactions (A) in a manner consistent with such 
    independence, (B) pursuant to written contracts or tariffs that are 
    filed with the Commission and made publicly available, and (C) in a 
    manner that is auditable in accordance with generally accepted 
    auditing standards;
        (4) value any assets that are transferred directly or indirectly 
    from the Bell operating company to a separated affiliate or joint 
    venture, and record any transactions by which such assets are 
    transferred, in accordance with such regulations as may be 
    prescribed by the Commission or a State commission to prevent 
    improper cross subsidies;
        (5) between a separated affiliate and a Bell operating company--
            (A) have no officers, directors, and employees in common 
        after the effective date of this section; and
            (B) own no property in common;

        (6) not use for the marketing of any product or service of the 
    separated affiliate or joint venture, the name, trademarks, or 
    service marks of an existing Bell operating company except for 
    names, trademarks, or service marks that are owned by the entity 
    that owns or controls the Bell operating company;
        (7) not permit the Bell operating company--
            (A) to perform hiring or training of personnel on behalf of 
        a separated affiliate;
            (B) to perform the purchasing, installation, or maintenance 
        of equipment on behalf of a separated affiliate, except for 
        telephone service that it provides under tariff or contract 
        subject to the provisions of this section; or
            (C) to perform research and development on behalf of a 
        separated affiliate;

        (8) each have performed annually a compliance review--
            (A) that is conducted by an independent entity for the 
        purpose of determining compliance during the preceding calendar 
        year with any provision of this section; and
            (B) the results of which are maintained by the separated 
        affiliate or joint venture and the Bell operating company for a 
        period of 5 years subject to review by any lawful authority; and

        (9) within 90 days of receiving a review described in paragraph 
    (8), file a report of any exceptions and corrective action with the 
    Commission and allow any person to inspect and copy such report 
    subject to reasonable safeguards to protect any proprietary 
    information contained in such report from being used for purposes 
    other than to enforce or pursue remedies under this section.

(c) Joint marketing

                           (1) In general

        Except as provided in paragraph (2)--
            (A) a Bell operating company shall not carry out any 
        promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising for or in 
        conjunction with a separated affiliate; and
            (B) a Bell operating company shall not carry out any 
        promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising for or in 
        conjunction with an affiliate that is related to the provision 
        of electronic publishing.

                  (2) Permissible joint activities

        (A) Joint telemarketing

            A Bell operating company may provide inbound telemarketing 
        or referral services related to the provision of electronic 
        publishing for a separated affiliate, electronic publishing 
        joint venture, affiliate, or unaffiliated electronic publisher: 
        Provided, That if such services are provided to a separated 
        affiliate, electronic publishing joint venture, or affiliate, 
        such services shall be made available to all electronic 
        publishers on request, on nondiscriminatory terms.

        (B) Teaming arrangements

            A Bell operating company may engage in nondiscriminatory 
        teaming or business arrangements to engage in electronic 
        publishing with any separated affiliate or with any other 
        electronic publisher if (i) the Bell operating company only 
        provides facilities, services, and basic telephone service 
        information as authorized by this section, and (ii) the Bell 
        operating company does not own such teaming or business 
        arrangement.

        (C) Electronic publishing joint ventures

            A Bell operating company or affiliate may participate on a 
        nonexclusive basis in electronic publishing joint ventures with 
        entities that are not a Bell operating company, affiliate, or 
        separated affiliate to provide electronic publishing services, 
        if the Bell operating company or affiliate has not more than a 
        50 percent direct or indirect equity interest (or the equivalent 
        thereof) or the right to more than 50 percent of the gross 
        revenues under a revenue sharing or royalty agreement in any 
        electronic publishing joint venture. Officers and employees of a 
        Bell operating company or affiliate participating in an 
        electronic publishing joint venture may not have more than 50 
        percent of the voting control over the electronic publishing 
        joint venture. In the case of joint ventures with small, local 
        electronic publishers, the Commission for good cause shown may 
        authorize the Bell operating company or affiliate to have a 
        larger equity interest, revenue share, or voting control but not 
        to exceed 80 percent. A Bell operating company participating in 
        an electronic publishing joint venture may provide promotion, 
        marketing, sales, or advertising personnel and services to such 
        joint venture.

(d) Bell operating company requirement

    A Bell operating company under common ownership or control with a 
separated affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture shall provide 
network access and interconnections for basic telephone service to 
electronic publishers at just and reasonable rates that are tariffed (so 
long as rates for such services are subject to regulation) and that are 
not higher on a per-unit basis than those charged for such services to 
any other electronic publisher or any separated affiliate engaged in 
electronic publishing.

(e) Private right of action

                             (1) Damages

        Any person claiming that any act or practice of any Bell 
    operating company, affiliate, or separated affiliate constitutes a 
    violation of this section may file a complaint with the Commission 
    or bring suit as provided in section 207 of this title, and such 
    Bell operating company, affiliate, or separated affiliate shall be 
    liable as provided in section 206 of this title; except that damages 
    may not be awarded for a violation that is discovered by a 
    compliance review as required by subsection (b)(7) of this section 
    and corrected within 90 days.

                     (2) Cease and desist orders

        In addition to the provisions of paragraph (1), any person 
    claiming that any act or practice of any Bell operating company, 
    affiliate, or separated affiliate constitutes a violation of this 
    section may make application to the Commission for an order to cease 
    and desist such violation or may make application in any district 
    court of the United States of competent jurisdiction for an order 
    enjoining such acts or practices or for an order compelling 
    compliance with such requirement.

(f) Separated affiliate reporting requirement

    Any separated affiliate under this section shall file with the 
Commission annual reports in a form substantially equivalent to the Form 
10-K required by regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

(g) Effective dates

                           (1) Transition

        Any electronic publishing service being offered to the public by 
    a Bell operating company or affiliate on February 8, 1996, shall 
    have one year from February 8, 1996, to comply with the requirements 
    of this section.

                             (2) Sunset

        The provisions of this section shall not apply to conduct 
    occurring after 4 years after February 8, 1996.

(h) ``Electronic publishing'' defined

                           (1) In general

        The term ``electronic publishing'' means the dissemination, 
    provision, publication, or sale to an unaffiliated entity or person, 
    of any one or more of the following: news (including sports); 
    entertainment (other than interactive games); business, financial, 
    legal, consumer, or credit materials; editorials, columns, or 
    features; advertising; photos or images; archival or research 
    material; legal notices or public records; scientific, educational, 
    instructional, technical, professional, trade, or other literary 
    materials; or other like or similar information.

                           (2) Exceptions

        The term ``electronic publishing'' shall not include the 
    following services:
            (A) Information access, as that term is defined by the AT&T 
        Consent Decree.
            (B) The transmission of information as a common carrier.
            (C) The transmission of information as part of a gateway to 
        an information service that does not involve the generation or 
        alteration of the content of information, including data 
        transmission, address translation, protocol conversion, billing 
        management, introductory information content, and navigational 
        systems that enable users to access electronic publishing 
        services, which do not affect the presentation of such 
        electronic publishing services to users.
            (D) Voice storage and retrieval services, including voice 
        messaging and electronic mail services.
            (E) Data processing or transaction processing services that 
        do not involve the generation or alteration of the content of 
        information.
            (F) Electronic billing or advertising of a Bell operating 
        company's regulated telecommunications services.
            (G) Language translation or data format conversion.
            (H) The provision of information necessary for the 
        management, control, or operation of a telephone company 
        telecommunications system.
            (I) The provision of directory assistance that provides 
        names, addresses, and telephone numbers and does not include 
        advertising.
            (J) Caller identification services.
            (K) Repair and provisioning databases and credit card and 
        billing validation for telephone company operations.
            (L) 911-E and other emergency assistance databases.
            (M) Any other network service of a type that is like or 
        similar to these network services and that does not involve the 
        generation or alteration of the content of information.
            (N) Any upgrades to these network services that do not 
        involve the generation or alteration of the content of 
        information.
            (O) Video programming or full motion video entertainment on 
        demand.

(i) Additional definitions

    As used in this section--
        (1) The term ``affiliate'' means any entity that, directly or 
    indirectly, owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under 
    common ownership or control with, a Bell operating company. Such 
    term shall not include a separated affiliate.
        (2) The term ``basic telephone service'' means any wireline 
    telephone exchange service, or wireline telephone exchange service 
    facility, provided by a Bell operating company in a telephone 
    exchange area, except that such term does not include--
            (A) a competitive wireline telephone exchange service 
        provided in a telephone exchange area where another entity 
        provides a wireline telephone exchange service that was provided 
        on January 1, 1984, or
            (B) a commercial mobile service.

        (3) The term ``basic telephone service information'' means 
    network and customer information of a Bell operating company and 
    other information acquired by a Bell operating company as a result 
    of its engaging in the provision of basic telephone service.
        (4) The term ``control'' has the meaning that it has in 17 
    C.F.R. 240.12b-2, the regulations promulgated by the Securities and 
    Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
    (15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) or any successor provision to such section.
        (5) The term ``electronic publishing joint venture'' means a 
    joint venture owned by a Bell operating company or affiliate that 
    engages in the provision of electronic publishing which is 
    disseminated by means of such Bell operating company's or any of its 
    affiliates' basic telephone service.
        (6) The term ``entity'' means any organization, and includes 
    corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, associations, and 
    joint ventures.
        (7) The term ``inbound telemarketing'' means the marketing of 
    property, goods, or services by telephone to a customer or potential 
    customer who initiated the call.
        (8) The term ``own'' with respect to an entity means to have a 
    direct or indirect equity interest (or the equivalent thereof) of 
    more than 10 percent of an entity, or the right to more than 10 
    percent of the gross revenues of an entity under a revenue sharing 
    or royalty agreement.
        (9) The term ``separated affiliate'' means a corporation under 
    common ownership or control with a Bell operating company that does 
    not own or control a Bell operating company and is not owned or 
    controlled by a Bell operating company and that engages in the 
    provision of electronic publishing which is disseminated by means of 
    such Bell operating company's or any of its affiliates' basic 
    telephone service.
        (10) The term ``Bell operating company'' has the meaning 
    provided in section 153 of this title, except that such term 
    includes any entity or corporation that is owned or controlled by 
    such a company (as so defined) but does not include an electronic 
    publishing joint venture owned by such an entity or corporation.

(June 19, 1934, ch. 652, title II, Sec. 274, as added Pub. L. 104-104, 
title I, Sec. 151(a), Feb. 8, 1996, 110 Stat. 100.)

                       References in Text

    The Securities Exchange Act of 1934, referred to in subsec. (i)(4), 
is act June 6, 1934, ch. 404, 48 Stat. 881, as amended, which is 
classified principally to chapter 2B (Sec. 78a et seq.) of Title 15, 
Commerce and Trade. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, 
see section 78a of Title 15 and Tables.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 272 of this title.
