News release

June 13^th, 2003

CRTC calls for comments on a Consumer Bill
of Rights for telephone subscribers

OTTAWA-GATINEAU - The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today asked the public to provide views that will assist the CRTC in developing a Consumer Bill of Rights (CBOR) for residential and business customers of the incumbent telephone companies: Aliant Telecom, Bell Canada, MTS, SaskTel and TELUS, as well as TELUS Québec and Télébec.

In its Price Cap decisions last year, the CRTC concluded that a CBOR would be useful because the Terms of Service and additional information that telephone companies provide to their subscribers in the white pages of telephone directories can be difficult to understand and do not list all the rights of consumers.

In today's Public Notice (Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2003-6, Consumer bill of rights), the CRTC says that it expects the CBOR to be a list of clear and concise statements of existing telecommunications consumer rights written in plain language. The CRTC is asking for comments on three main issues:

• consumer rights to be included in a CBOR;
• how a CBOR should be communicated to consumers; and
• how a CBOR could be amended.

The CRTC requests that parties filing initial submission organize their proposed statements of consumer rights under the following categories:

• access to services;
• privacy;
• payment;
• customer relations; and
• customer information.

The CRTC has directed the telephone companies to notify their subscribers about this CBOR proceeding in a billing insert. The companies must ensure their subscribers receive this insert no later than August 12, 2003. Following this proceeding, the CRTC will conduct another proceeding about the enforcement of rights contained in the CBOR.

The CRTC is an independent public authority that regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.

Reference documents: Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2003-6
                                           Telecom Decisions CRTC 2002-34 and 2002-43

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Media Inquiries:
   Denis Carmel, Tel: (819) 997-9403, eMail: denis.carmel@crtc.gc.ca

General Inquiries:
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
   Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782), eMail: info@crtc.gc.ca
   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782

Copies of today's documents are available through our Internet site (http://www.crtc.gc.ca) or by contacting the public examination room of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.
 

Date Modified: 2003-06-13

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