Re: The IETF & The new Telecommunications ACT

[Scott Bradner <[e-mail]>]

from the telcom bill

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                `(7) ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY- For the
              purposes of administering this subsection and the regulations
              prescribed thereunder, the Commission shall have the same
              remedial authority as the Commission has in administering and
              enforcing the provisions of this title with respect to any
              common carrier subject to this Act.
                `(8) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of this subsection:
                    `(A) The term `affiliate' shall have the same meaning as
                  in section 3 of this Act, except that, for purposes of
                  paragraph (1)(B)--
                        `(i) an aggregate voting equity interest in Bell
                      Communications Research, Inc., of at least 5 percent of
                      its total voting equity, owned directly or indirectly
                      by more than 1 otherwise unaffiliated Bell operating
                      company, shall constitute an affiliate relationship; and
                        `(ii) a voting equity interest in Bell Communications
                      Research, Inc., by any otherwise unaffiliated Bell
                      operating company of less than 1 percent of Bell
                      Communications Research's total voting equity shall not
                      be considered to be an equity interest under this
                      paragraph.
                    `(B) The term `generic requirement' means a description
                  of acceptable product attributes for use by local exchange
                  carriers in establishing product specifications for the
                  purchase of telecommunications equipment, customer premises
                  equipment, and software integral thereto.
                    `(C) The term `industry-wide' means activities funded by
                  or performed on behalf of local exchange carriers for use
                  in providing wireline telephone exchange service whose
                  combined total of deployed access lines in the United
                  States constitutes at least 30 percent of all access lines
                  deployed by telecommunications carriers in the United
                  States as of the date of enactment of the
                  Telecommunications Act of 1996.
                    `(D) The term `certification' means any technical process
                  whereby a party determines whether a product, for use by
                  more than one local exchange carrier, conforms with the
                  specified requirements pertaining to such product.
                    `(E) The term `accredited standards development
                  organization' means an entity composed of industry members
                  which has been accredited by an institution vested with the
                  responsibility for standards accreditation by the industry.

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the next sections (which the above seems to apply to)

            `(e) BELL OPERATING COMPANY EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT AND SALES- 
		...
                `(2) PROCUREMENT STANDARDS- Each Bell operating company or
              any entity acting on its behalf shall make procurement
              decisions and award all supply contracts for equipment,
              services, and software on the basis of an objective assessment
              of price, quality, delivery, and other commercial factors.
                `(3) NETWORK PLANNING AND DESIGN- A Bell operating company
              shall, to the extent consistent with the antitrust laws, engage
              in joint network planning and design with local exchange
              carriers operating in the same area of interest.  No
              participant in such planning shall be allowed to delay the
              introduction of new technology or the deployment of facilities
              to provide telecommunications services, and agreement with such
              other carriers shall not be required as a prerequisite for such
              introduction or deployment.
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it looks to me that this applies to the belletts and not us

another part that might apply to us is 

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          `SEC. 256. COORDINATION FOR INTERCONNECTIVITY.
            `(a) PURPOSE- It is the purpose of this section--
                `(1) to promote nondiscriminatory accessibility by the
              broadest number of users and vendors of communications products
              and services to public telecommunications networks used to
              provide telecommunications service through--
                    `(A) coordinated public telecommunications network
                  planning and design by telecommunications carriers and
                  other providers of telecommunications service; and
                    `(B) public telecommunications network interconnectivity,
                  and interconnectivity of devices with such networks used to
                  provide telecommunications service; and
                `(2) to ensure the ability of users and information providers
              to seamlessly and transparently transmit and receive
              information between and across telecommunications networks.
            `(b) COMMISSION FUNCTIONS- In carrying out the purposes of this
         section, the Commission--
                `(1) shall establish procedures for Commission oversight of
             coordinated network planning by telecommunications carriers and
              other providers of telecommunications service for the effective
              and efficient interconnection of public telecommunications
              networks used to provide telecommunications service; and
                `(2) may participate, in a manner consistent with its
              authority and practice prior to the date of enactment of this
             section, in the development by appropriate industry
              standards-setting organizations of public telecommunications
              network interconnectivity standards that promote access to--
                    `(A) public telecommunications networks used to provide
                 telecommunications service;
                    `(B) network capabilities and services by individuals
                  with disabilities; and
                    `(C) information services by subscribers of rural
                  telephone companies.
            `(c) COMMISSION'S AUTHORITY- Nothing in this section shall be
          construed as expanding or limiting any authority that the
          Commission may have under law in effect before the date of
          enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
            `(d) DEFINITION- As used in this section, the term `public
          telecommunications network interconnectivity' means the ability of
          two or more public telecommunications networks used to provide
          telecommunications service to communicate and exchange information
          without degeneration, and to interact in concert with one another.
----

and another

under
          `SEC. 273. MANUFACTURING BY BELL OPERATING COMPANIES.
		....
                `(2) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION- Any entity which establishes
              standards for telecommunications equipment or customer premises
              equipment, or generic network requirements for such equipment,
              or certifies telecommunications equipment or customer premises
              equipment, shall be prohibited from releasing or otherwise
              using any proprietary information, designated as such by its
              owner, in its possession as a result of such activity, for any
              purpose other than purposes authorized in writing by the owner
              of such information, even after such entity ceases to be so
              engaged. 

		...
            `(d) MANUFACTURING LIMITATIONS FOR STANDARD-SETTING ORGANIZATIONS-
		...

                `(4) STANDARD-SETTING ENTITIES- Any entity that is not an
              accredited standards development organization and that
              establishes industry-wide standards for telecommunications
              equipment or customer premises equipment, or industry-wide
              generic network requirements for such equipment, or that
              certifies telecommunications equipment or customer premises
              equipment manufactured by an unaffiliated entity, shall--
                    `(A) establish and publish any industry-wide standard
                  for, industry-wide generic requirement for, or any
                  substantial modification of an existing industry-wide
                  standard or industry-wide generic requirement for,
                  telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment
                  only in compliance with the following procedure--
                        `(i) such entity shall issue a public notice of its
                     consideration of a proposed industry-wide standard or
                      industry-wide generic requirement;
                        `(ii) such entity shall issue a public invitation to
                      interested industry parties to fund and participate in
                      such efforts on a reasonable and nondiscriminatory
                      basis, administered in such a manner as not to 
                      unreasonably exclude any interested industry party;
                        `(iii) such entity shall publish a text for comment
                     by such parties as have agreed to participate in the
                      process pursuant to clause (ii), provide such parties a
                      full opportunity to submit comments, and respond to
                      comments from such parties;
                        `(iv) such entity shall publish a final text of the
                     industry-wide standard or industry-wide generic
                      requirement, including the comments in their entirety,
                      of any funding party which requests to have its
                      comments so published; and
                        `(v) such entity shall attempt, prior to publishing a
                      text for comment, to agree with the funding parties as
                      a group on a mutually satisfactory dispute resolution
                     process which such parties shall utilize as their sole
                     recourse in the event of a dispute on technical issues
                     as to which there is disagreement between any funding
                      party and the entity conducting such activities, except
                      that if no dispute resolution process is agreed to by
                     all the parties, a funding party may utilize the
                      dispute resolution procedures established pursuant to
                    `(B) engage in product certification for
                  telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment
                  manufactured by unaffiliated entities only if--
                        `(i) such activity is performed pursuant to published
                      criteria;
                        `(ii) such activity is performed pursuant to
                      auditable criteria; and
                        `(iii) such activity is performed pursuant to
                      available industry-accepted testing methods and
                      standards, where applicable, unless otherwise agreed
                      upon by the parties funding and performing such activity;
                    `(C) not undertake any actions to monopolize or attempt
                  to monopolize the market for such services; and
                    `(D) not preferentially treat its own telecommunications
                  equipment or customer premises equipment, or that of its
                  affiliate, over that of any other entity in establishing
                  and publishing industry-wide standards or industry-wide
                  generic requirements for, and in certification of,
                  telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment.
                `(5) ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION- Within 90 days after the
              date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the
              Commission shall prescribe a dispute resolution process to be
              utilized in the event that a dispute resolution process is not
              agreed upon by all the parties when establishing and publishing
              any industry-wide standard or industry-wide generic requirement
              for telecommunications equipment or customer premises
              equipment, pursuant to paragraph (4)(A)(v). The Commission
              shall not establish itself as a party to the dispute resolution
              process. Such dispute resolution process shall permit any
              funding party to resolve a dispute with the entity conducting
              the activity that significantly affects such funding party's
              interests, in an open, nondiscriminatory, and unbiased fashion,
              within 30 days after the filing of such dispute. Such disputes
              may be filed within 15 days after the date the funding party
              receives a response to its comments from the entity conducting
              the activity. The Commission shall establish penalties to be
              assessed for delays caused by referral of frivolous disputes to
              the dispute resolution process.
                `(6) SUNSET- The requirements of paragraphs (3) and (4) shall
              terminate for the particular relevant activity when the
              Commission determines that there are alternative sources of
              industry-wide standards, industry-wide generic requirements, or
              product certification for a particular class of
              telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment
              available in the United States. Alternative sources shall be
              deemed to exist when such sources provide commercially viable
              alternatives that are providing such services to customers. The
              Commission shall act on any application for such a
              determination within 90 days after receipt of such application,
              and shall receive public comment on such application.
                `(7) ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY- For the
              purposes of administering this subsection and the regulations
              prescribed thereunder, the Commission shall have the same
              remedial authority as the Commission has in administering and
              enforcing the provisions of this title with respect to any
              common carrier subject to this Act.
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the above seems to be tied to the belletts also but might just be extended
to what we do

I'll check with the lawyers

Scott