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Washington Administrative Code (Last Updated: November 23, 2016) |
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Title 480. Utilities and Transportation Commission |
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Chapter 480-07. Procedural rules. |
Section 480-07-640. Telecommunications companies—Review and approval of interconnection agreements under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Latest version.
- (1) Scope. This rule implements the commission review and approval process provisions of section 252 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 252.(2) Review and approval of agreements by the commission.(a) Filing and service of agreements for approval.(i) Negotiated agreements. Parties to a negotiated interconnection agreement must submit a complete, signed copy of their agreement to the commission for approval under 47 U.S.C. § 252(e) within thirty days after the agreement is signed. Any appendices or attachments to the agreement must be included. The request for approval must summarize the agreement's main provisions. The request for approval must affirm that the agreement does not discriminate against nonparty carriers, is consistent with state and federal law, and is in the public interest. The commission will reject a request for approval that does not include all of the information required in this section but will allow it to be refiled when complete. The timelines established for commission review of requests for approval under 47 U.S.C. § 252 do not begin until a complete request is properly filed.(ii) Arbitrated agreements—Petition for review; answer. Any party may petition for commission review of an arbitrator's report and decision within thirty days after the arbitrator's report is issued, or at such other time as is established by notice or order. Other parties to the arbitration proceeding must file an answer within ten days after the petition is served, or at such other time as is established by notice or order. Both petition and answer must be in the form of a brief of the issues, and must address all legal and factual bases in support of the parties' respective arguments that the arbitrator's report and decision should, or should not, be modified.(iii) Arbitrated agreements—Request for approval. The parties must also file, on the date established for answering any petition for review, their request for approval of an arbitrated interconnection agreement and a complete, signed copy of their interconnection agreement including all negotiated terms, all terms requested under section 252(i) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and all terms drafted to implement the arbitrator's report and decision. Arbitrated terms must be in bold font style and identify by footnote the arbitrated issue that relates to the text. Any appendices or attachments to the agreement must be included. The request for approval must summarize the agreement's main provisions. The request for approval must affirm that the agreement does not discriminate against nonparty carriers, is consistent with state and federal law, and is in the public interest. The commission will reject a request for approval that does not include all of the information required in this section but will allow it to be refiled when complete. The timelines established for commission review of requests for approval do not begin until a complete request is properly filed.(iv) Filing and service. Parties must file requests for approval with the commission secretary, as provided in WAC 480-07-145. Parties must serve the request for approval on all other parties not filing jointly, as provided in WAC 480-07-150.(b) Commission consideration of requests for approval and petitions for review. The commission will consider a request for approval of a fully negotiated interconnection agreement at a regularly or specially scheduled open public meeting. The commission will consider any petition for review of an arbitrator's report and decision at hearing, which may, in the commission's discretion, be scheduled coincident with a regularly or specially scheduled open public meeting. The commission may hear oral argument by the parties, oral comment from members of the public, or both. The commission will enter an order approving or rejecting a fully negotiated agreement within ninety days after the date on which the request for approval and interconnection agreement are filed. The commission will enter an order resolving a partially or fully arbitrated agreement within thirty days after the request for approval and interconnection agreement are filed.
Rules
480-07-145,480-07-150,