§1006 Technical Requirements and Standards; Extension of Compliance Date

Summary

The Attorney General must work with federal, state, and local law enforcement and talk with phone companies, standards groups, equipment users, and state utility regulators to help create technical rules so carriers can meet the access rules in section 1002. A phone company, equipment maker, or support provider will be treated as following the rules if it follows publicly available technical standards made by industry groups or by the Commission under subsection (b). Not having standards yet does not stop a company from rolling out technology, and it does not excuse them from following sections 1002 or 1005. If industry groups don’t make standards or someone says the standards are not good enough, that person or agency can ask the Commission to make rules. Those rules must be cost-effective, protect privacy and security, keep costs down for residential customers, encourage new technologies, and give a fair time and conditions to switch to the new standard. A carrier that put in or plans to put in equipment before section 1002 took effect can ask the Commission for extensions. The Commission, after talking with the Attorney General, can grant extensions if meeting the rules wasn’t reasonably possible with available technology. Any extension can’t go past the date the Commission sets or 2 years after it is granted, and it applies only to the part of the carrier’s business using the new equipment.