{"id":5989,"date":"2019-06-01T09:31:31","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T09:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989"},"modified":"2019-06-01T09:31:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T09:31:31","slug":"public-law-115-129-improving-rural-call-quality-and-reliability-act-of-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989","title":{"rendered":"Public Law 115-129 &#8211; Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[115th Congress Public Law 129]<br \/>\n[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]<\/p>\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embed-pdf-viewer\" src=\"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/PLAW-115publ129.pdf\" height=\"1000\" width=\"100%\" title=\"PLAW 115publ129\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/PLAW-115publ129.pdf\" title=\"PLAW 115publ129\">PLAW 115publ129<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[[Page 132 STAT. 329]]<\/p>\n<p>Public Law 115-129<br \/>\n115th Congress<\/p>\n<p>An Act<\/p>\n<p>To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure the integrity of voice<br \/>\ncommunications and to prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination<br \/>\namong areas of the United States in the delivery of such<br \/>\ncommunications. &lt;&lt;NOTE: Feb. 26, 2018 &#8211; [S. 96]&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the<br \/>\nUnited States of America in Congress assembled, &lt;&lt;NOTE: Improving Rural<br \/>\nCall Quality and Reliability Act of 2017. 47 USC 609 note.&gt;&gt;<br \/>\nSECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.<\/p>\n<p>This Act may be cited as the &#8220;Improving Rural Call Quality and<br \/>\nReliability Act of 2017&#8221;.<br \/>\nSEC. 2. ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS.<\/p>\n<p>Part II of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251<br \/>\net seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:<br \/>\n&#8220;SEC. 262. &lt;&lt;NOTE: 47 USC 262.&gt;&gt; ENSURING THE INTEGRITY OF VOICE<br \/>\nCOMMUNICATIONS.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(a) Registration and Compliance by Intermediate Providers.&#8211;An<br \/>\nintermediate provider that offers or holds itself out as offering the<br \/>\ncapability to transmit covered voice communications from one destination<br \/>\nto another and that charges any rate to any other entity (including an<br \/>\naffiliated entity) for the transmission shall&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(1) register with the Commission; and<br \/>\n&#8220;(2) comply with the service quality standards for such<br \/>\ntransmission to be established by the Commission under<br \/>\nsubsection (c)(1)(B).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(b) Required Use of Registered Intermediate Providers.&#8211;A covered<br \/>\nprovider may not use an intermediate provider to transmit covered voice<br \/>\ncommunications unless such intermediate provider is registered under<br \/>\nsubsection (a)(1).<br \/>\n&#8220;(c) Commission Rules.&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(1) &lt;&lt;NOTE: Deadlines.&gt;&gt; In general.&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(A) Registry.&#8211;Not later than 180 days after the<br \/>\ndate of enactment of this section, the Commission shall<br \/>\npromulgate rules to establish a registry to record<br \/>\nregistrations under subsection (a)(1).<br \/>\n&#8220;(B) Service quality standards.&#8211;Not later than 1<br \/>\nyear after the date of enactment of this section, the<br \/>\nCommission shall promulgate rules to establish service<br \/>\nquality standards for the transmission of covered voice<br \/>\ncommunications by intermediate providers.<br \/>\n&#8220;(2) Requirements.&#8211;In promulgating the rules required by<br \/>\nparagraph (1), the Commission shall&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>[[Page 132 STAT. 330]]<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(A) ensure the integrity of the transmission of<br \/>\ncovered voice communications to all customers in the<br \/>\nUnited States; and<br \/>\n&#8220;(B) prevent unjust or unreasonable discrimination<br \/>\namong areas of the United States in the delivery of<br \/>\ncovered voice communications.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(d) &lt;&lt;NOTE: Web posting.&gt;&gt; Public Availability of Registry.&#8211;The<br \/>\nCommission shall make the registry established under subsection<br \/>\n(c)(1)(A) publicly available on the website of the Commission.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(e) Scope of Application.&#8211;The requirements of this section shall<br \/>\napply regardless of the format by which any communication or service is<br \/>\nprovided, the protocol or format by which the transmission of such<br \/>\ncommunication or service is achieved, or the regulatory classification<br \/>\nof such communication or service.<br \/>\n&#8220;(f) Rule of Construction.&#8211;Nothing in this section shall be<br \/>\nconstrued to affect the regulatory classification of any communication<br \/>\nor service.<br \/>\n&#8220;(g) Effect on Other Laws.&#8211;Nothing in this section shall be<br \/>\nconstrued to preempt or expand the authority of a State public utility<br \/>\ncommission or other relevant State agency to collect data, or<br \/>\ninvestigate and enforce State law and regulations, regarding the<br \/>\ncompletion of intrastate voice communications, regardless of the format<br \/>\nby which any communication or service is provided, the protocol or<br \/>\nformat by which the transmission of such communication or service is<br \/>\nachieved, or the regulatory classification of such communication or<br \/>\nservice.<br \/>\n&#8220;(h) Exception.&#8211;The requirement under subsection (a)(2) to comply<br \/>\nwith the service quality standards established under subsection<br \/>\n(c)(1)(B) shall not apply to a covered provider that&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(1) &lt;&lt;NOTE: Effective date. Certification.&gt;&gt; on or before<br \/>\nthe date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this<br \/>\nsection, has certified as a Safe Harbor provider under section<br \/>\n64.2107(a) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any<br \/>\nsuccessor regulation; and<br \/>\n&#8220;(2) continues to meet the requirements under such section<br \/>\n64.2107(a).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(i) Definitions.&#8211;In this section:<br \/>\n&#8220;(1) Covered provider.&#8211;The term `covered provider&#8217; has the<br \/>\nmeaning given the term in section 64.2101 of title 47, Code of<br \/>\nFederal Regulations, or any successor thereto.<br \/>\n&#8220;(2) Covered voice communication.&#8211;The term `covered voice<br \/>\ncommunication&#8217; means a voice communication (including any<br \/>\nrelated signaling information) that is generated&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(A) from the placement of a call from a connection<br \/>\nusing a North American Numbering Plan resource or a call<br \/>\nplaced to a connection using such a numbering resource;<br \/>\nand<br \/>\n&#8220;(B) through any service provided by a covered<br \/>\nprovider.<br \/>\n&#8220;(3) Intermediate provider.&#8211;The term `intermediate<br \/>\nprovider&#8217; means any entity that&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(A) enters into a business arrangement with a<br \/>\ncovered provider or other intermediate provider for the<br \/>\nspecific purpose of carrying, routing, or transmitting<br \/>\nvoice traffic that is generated from the placement of a<br \/>\ncall placed&#8211;<br \/>\n&#8220;(i) from an end user connection using a<br \/>\nNorth American Numbering Plan resource; or<\/p>\n<p>[[Page 132 STAT. 331]]<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;(ii) to an end user connection using such a<br \/>\nnumbering resource; and<br \/>\n&#8220;(B) does not itself, either directly or in<br \/>\nconjunction with an affiliate, serve as a covered<br \/>\nprovider in the context of originating or terminating a<br \/>\ngiven call.&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Approved February 26, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>LEGISLATIVE HISTORY&#8211;S. 96 (H.R. 460):<br \/>\n&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>SENATE REPORTS: No. 115-6 (Comm. on Commerce, Science, and<br \/>\nTransportation).<br \/>\nCONGRESSIONAL RECORD:<br \/>\nVol. 163 (2017):<br \/>\nAug. 3, considered and passed<br \/>\nSenate.<br \/>\nVol. 164 (2018):<br \/>\nFeb. 8, considered and passed House.<\/p>\n<p>&lt;all&gt;<\/p>\n<div class=\"social-share-buttons\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989&text=Public+Law+115-129+%E2%80%93+Improving+Rural+Call+Quality+and+Reliability+Act+of+2017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989&title=Public+Law+115-129+%E2%80%93+Improving+Rural+Call+Quality+and+Reliability+Act+of+2017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/button\/?url=https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989&description=Public+Law+115-129+%E2%80%93+Improving+Rural+Call+Quality+and+Reliability+Act+of+2017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pinterest<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[115th Congress Public Law 129] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] PLAW 115publ129 [[Page 132 STAT. 329]] Public Law 115-129 115th Congress An Act To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to ensure the integrity of voice communications and to&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/?p=5989\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-and-private-laws-u-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5991,"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5989\/revisions\/5991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laweuro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}