(a) The North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) shall be an independent and impartial non-government entity.

(b) The NANPA shall administer the numbering resources identified in paragraph (d) of this section. It shall assign and administer NANP resources in an efficient, effective, fair, unbiased, and non-discriminatory manner consistent with industry-developed guidelines and Commission regulations. It shall support the Commission's efforts to accommodate current and future numbering needs. It shall perform additional functions, including but not limited to:

(1) Ensuring the efficient and effective administration and assignment of numbering resources by performing day-to-day number resource assignment and administrative activities;

(2) Planning for the long-term need for NANP resources to ensure the continued viability of the NANP by implementing a plan for number resource administration that uses effective forecasting and management skills in order to make the industry aware of the availability of numbering resources and to meet the current and future needs of the industry;

(3) Complying with guidelines of the North American Industry Numbering Committee (INC) or its successor, related industry documentation, Commission regulations and orders, and the guidelines of other appropriate policy-making authorities;

(4) Providing management supervision for all of the services it provides, including responsibility for achieving performance measures established by the NANC and the INC in industry guidelines;

(5) Participating in the NANC annual performance review as described in §§52.11 and 52.12;

(6) Establishing and maintaining relationships with current governmental and regulatory bodies, and their successors, including the United States Federal Communications Commission, Industry Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, and other United States, Canadian, and Caribbean numbering authorities and regulatory agencies, and addressing policy directives from these bodies;

(7) Cooperating with and actively participating in numbering standards bodies and industry fora, such as INC and, upon request, the Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering (CSCN);

(8) Representing the NANP to national and international numbering bodies;

(9) Developing and maintaining communications channels with other countries who also participate in the NANP to ensure that numbering needs of all countries served by the NANP are met;

(10) Attending United States Study Group A meetings and maintaining a working knowledge of Study Group 2 International Telecommunications Union activities on behalf of the United States telecommunications industry;

(11) Reviewing requests for all numbering resources to implement new applications and services and making assignments in accordance with industry-developed resource planning and assignment guidelines;

(12) Referring requests for particular numbering resources to the appropriate industry body where guidelines do not exist for those resources;

(13) Participating in industry activities to determine whether, when new telecommunications services requiring numbers are proposed, NANP numbers are appropriate and what level of resource is required (e.g., line numbers, central office codes, NPA codes);

(14) Maintaining necessary administrative staff to handle the legal, financial, technical, staffing, industry, and regulatory issues relevant to the management of all numbering resources, as well as maintaining the necessary equipment, facilities, and proper billing arrangements associated with day-to-day management of all numbering resources;

(15) Managing the NANP in accordance with published guidelines adopted in conjunction with the industry and the appropriate NANP member countries' governing agencies, and referring issues to the appropriate industry body for resolution when they have not been addressed by the industry;

(16) Responding to requests from the industry and from regulators for information about the NANP and its administration, as the primary repository for numbering information in the industry;

(17) Providing upon request information regarding how to obtain current documents related to NANP administration;

(18) Providing assistance to users of numbering resources and suggesting numbering administration options, when possible, that will optimize number resource utilization;

(19) Coordinating its numbering resource activities with the Canadian Number Administrator and other NANP member countries' administrators to ensure efficient and effective management of NANP numbering resources; and

(20) Determining the final allocation methodology for sharing costs between NANP countries.

(c) In performing the functions outlined in paragraph (b) of this section, the NANPA shall:

(1) Ensure that the interests of all NANP member countries are considered;

(2) Assess fairly requests for assignments of NANP numbering resources and ensure the assignment of numbering resources to appropriate service providers;

(3) Develop, operate and maintain the computer hardware, software (database) and mechanized systems required to perform the NANPA and central office (CO) Code Administration functions;

(4) Manage projects such as Numbering Plan Area (NPA) relief (area code relief) planning, Numbering Resource Utilization and Forecast (NRUF) data collection, and NPA and NANP exhaust projection;

(5) Facilitate NPA relief planning meetings;

(6) Participate in appropriate industry activities;

(7) Manage proprietary data and competitively sensitive information and maintain the confidentiality thereof;

(8) Act as an information resource for the industry concerning all aspects of numbering (i.e., knowledge and experience in numbering resource issues, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Recommendation E.164, the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), NANP Administration, INC, NANP area country regulatory issues affecting numbering, number resource assignment guidelines, central office code administration, relief planning, international numbering issues, etc.); and

(9) Ensure that any action taken with respect to number administration is consistent with this part.

(d) The NANPA and, to the extent applicable, the B&C Agent, shall administer numbering resources in an efficient and non-discriminatory manner, in accordance with Commission rules and regulations and the guidelines developed by the INC and other industry groups pertaining to administration and assignment of numbering resources, including, but not limited to:

(1) Numbering Plan Area (NPA) codes,

(2) Central Office codes for the 809 area,

(3) International Inbound NPA 456 NXX codes,

(4)

(NPA) 500 NXX codes,

(5)

(NPA) 900 NXX codes,

(6) N11 Service codes,

(7) 855-XXXX line numbers,

(8) 555-XXXX line numbers,

(9) Carrier Identification Codes,

(10) Vertical Service Codes,

(11) ANI Information Integer (II) Digit Pairs,

(12) Non Dialable Toll Points, and

(13) New numbering resources as may be defined.

(e) Relationships with other NANP member countries' administrators and authorities. The NANPA shall address policy directives from other NANP member countries' governmental and regulatory authorities and coordinate its activities with other NANP member countries' administrators, if any, to ensure efficient and effective management of NANP resources.

(f) Transition plan. The NANPA shall implement a transition plan, subject to Commission approval, leading to its assumption of NANPA functions within 90 days of the effective date of a Commission order announcing the selection of the NANPA.

(g) Transfer of intellectual property. The new NANPA must make available any and all intellectual property and associated hardware resulting from its activities as numbering administrator including, but not limited to, systems and the data contained therein, software, interface specifications and supporting documentation and make such property available to whomever NANC directs free of charge. The new NANPA must specify any intellectual property it proposes to exclude from the provisions of this paragraph based on the existence of such property prior to its selection as NANPA.

[61 FR 47353, Sept. 6, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 55181, Oct. 23, 1997; 71 FR 65750, Nov. 9, 2006]