[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2281 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2281

To provide a clear and unambiguous structure for the jurisdictional and 
   regulatory treatment for the offering or provision of voice-over-
        Internet-protocol applications, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 5, 2004

  Mr. Sununu introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide a clear and unambiguous structure for the jurisdictional and 
   regulatory treatment for the offering or provision of voice-over-
        Internet-protocol applications, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be referred to as the ``VOIP 
Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004''.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to prevent the imposition 
of harmful obligations or a patchwork of multiple and discriminatory 
regulations on the providers of applications that utilize the Internet 
protocol or any successor protocol to offer 2-way or multidirectional 
voice communications.

SEC. 2. ASSERTION OF FEDERAL JURISDICTION.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
responsibility and authority to regulate the offering or provision of a 
voice-over-Internet-protocol application is reserved solely to the 
Federal Government.
    (b) Prohibition of State Regulation.--No State or political 
subdivision thereof may enact or enforce any law, rule, regulation, 
standard, or other provision having the force or effect of law that 
regulates, or has the effect of regulating, the offering or provision 
of a VOIP application.
    (c) Prohibition of Delegation to States.--Any responsibility or 
authority to regulate the offering or provision of a VOIP application 
that, pursuant to subsection (a), is reserved by the Federal Government 
may not be delegated, by any Federal agency or officer, to any State or 
political subdivision thereof.

SEC. 3. PREEMPTION OF BROAD FCC AUTHORITY.

    Except as specifically provided in this Act and notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the Commission shall not impose any rule or 
regulation on, or otherwise regulate, the offering or provision of a 
VOIP application.

SEC. 4. FCC AUTHORITY REGARDING CONNECTED VOIP APPLICATIONS.

    (a) Interprovider Compensation.--
            (1) Explicit ban on access charges.--The offering or 
        provision of a VOIP application shall not be subject to part 69 
        of the Commission's rules (47 C.F.R. 69) or successor charges.
            (2) Alternate mechanism.--Paragraph (1) shall not be 
        construed to prevent the Commission from establishing a 
        compensation mechanism for providers of VOIP applications based 
        on--
                    (A) the mutual recovery of costs through reciprocal 
                obligations; or
                    (B) arrangements that waive mutual recovery (such 
                as bill-and-keep arrangements).
            (3) Single regime required.--The Commission may not impose 
        a compensation mechanism based on the mutual recovery of costs 
        through reciprocal obligations, pursuant to paragraph (2)(B), 
        unless or until the Commission has established a single unified 
        regime for the sending and receiving of all data and voice 
        communications.
            (4) Private negotiations.--Nothing in paragraph (2) shall 
        be construed to prevent connected VOIP application providers 
        from negotiating acceptable arrangements for mutual recovery of 
        costs for the sending or receiving of voice communications of a 
        connected VOIP application.
    (b) Universal Service.--
            (1) Commission authority.--The Commission shall ensure that 
        all providers of a connected VOIP application contribute, 
        directly or indirectly, to the preservation and advancement of 
        Federal universal service programs based on a flat fee, which 
        could include a collection methodology based on the assignment 
        of telephone numbers to end users.
            (2) Exemption.--The Commission may exempt from 
        contributing, pursuant to paragraph (1), any use or category of 
        uses of connected VOIP application.
    (c) Access to Information by Law Enforcement.--The Commission shall 
require a provider of a connected VOIP application to provide access to 
necessary information to law enforcement agencies not less than that 
required of information service providers.
    (d) Implementation of Rules.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall take all necessary 
action to implement this section.

SEC. 5. VOLUNTARY INDUSTRY CONSENSUS PROCESS REGARDING OTHER CONNECTED 
              VOIP OBLIGATIONS.

    (a) Voluntary Process.--The Commission shall appoint an appropriate 
representative industry organization or organizations which shall, 
within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, develop, 
as applicable, consensus guidelines, protocols, or performance 
requirements pertaining to the offering or provision of connected VOIP 
applications for--
            (1) providing comparable capabilities to 911 and enhanced 
        911 services;
            (2) improving use by the disabled community;
            (3) improving reliability of voice over Internet protocol 
        applications; and
            (4) ensuring appropriate security for the application and 
        voice communications.
    (b) Information to Customers.--A provider of a connected VOIP 
application that does not provide for its customers services that are 
comparable to 911 service and enhanced 911 service shall provide a 
clear and conspicuous notice of the failure to provide such services to 
each customer prior to the offering of the application to that 
customer.
    (c) Technical Support.--The Commission shall provide technical 
support, as appropriate, to the organization selected pursuant to 
subsection (a).

SEC. 6. COMMISSION REVIEW.

    Beginning in 2005, the Commission shall provide a report to 
Congress not less than biennially indicating any regulatory obligations 
that it recommends be enacted on the offering or provision of a VOIP 
application, including nondiscriminatory treatment for processing or 
treatment of digital packets.

SEC. 7. NO TAXATION OF VOIP APPLICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--No State or political subdivision shall impose any 
tax, fee, surcharge, or other charge for the purpose of generating 
revenues for governmental purposes on the offering or provision of a 
VOIP application.
    (b) Exemption.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to a fee imposed for 
a specific privilege, service, or benefit conferred.

SEC. 8. NO IMPACT ON TRANSMISSION FACILITIES.

    Nothing in this Act shall affect the authority of the Commission or 
any State commission to regulate the transmission facilities used to 
transmit a voice communication of a VOIP application. This section may 
not be construed to authorize the Commission or any State to regulate 
the offering or provision of a VOIP application by regulating such 
transmission facilities.

SEC. 9. FTC AUTHORITY.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), nothing in 
this Act shall be constructed to affect the authority of the Federal 
Trade Commission to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
    (b) Regulations Excluded.--Subsection (a) does not authorize the 
Federal Trade Commission to issue any regulations to implement this 
Act.

SEC. 10. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) In General.--For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
            (2) Connected voip application.--The term ``connected VOIP 
        application'' means a VOIP application that is capable of 
        receiving voice communications from or sending voice 
        communications to the public switched telephone network, or 
        both.
            (3) Customer.--The term ``customer'' includes a consumer of 
        goods or services whether for a fee, in exchange for an 
        explicit benefit, or provided for free.
            (4) Regulate.--The term ``regulate'' includes taking any 
        governmental action that restricts, prohibits, limits, or 
        burdens, or imposes any obstacle, obligation, or duty, or 
        interferes with, an application.
            (5) Universal service.--The term ``universal service'' has 
        the meaning given such term by section 254(c) of such Act (47 
        U.S.C. 254(c)).
            (6) Voice-over-internet-protocol application; voip 
        application.--
                    (A) In general.--The terms ``Voice-over-Internet-
                protocol application'' and ``VOIP application'' mean 
                the use of software, hardware, or network equipment for 
                real-time 2-way or multidirectional voice 
                communications over the public Internet or a private 
                network utilizing Internet protocol, or any successor 
                protocol, in whole or part, to connect users 
                notwithstanding--
                            (i) the underlying transmission technology 
                        used to transmit the communications;
                            (ii) whether the packetizing and 
                        depacketizing of the communications occurs at 
                        the customer premise or network level; or
                            (iii) the software, hardware, or network 
                        equipment used to connect users.
                    (B) Exclusion.--The term does not include an 
                application that is used for voice communications that 
                both originate and terminate on the public switched 
                telephone network.
    (b) Common Terminology.--Except as otherwise provided in subsection 
(a), terms used in this Act shall have the meaning provided under 
section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934.
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