(a) As used in this section, warehousing is the practice whereby Responsible Organizations, either directly or indirectly through an affiliate, reserve toll free numbers from the Service Management System database without having an actual toll free subscriber for whom those numbers are being reserved.
(b) Responsible Organizations shall not warehouse toll free numbers. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a Responsible Organization is warehousing toll free numbers if:
(1) The Responsible Organization does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for service associated with each toll free number reserved from the Service Management System database; or
(2) The Responsible Organization does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for service associated with a toll free number before switching that toll free number from reserved or assigned to working status.
(c) Responsible Organizations shall not maintain a toll free number in reserved status if there is not a prospective toll free subscriber requesting that toll free number.
(d) A Responsible Organization's act of reserving a number from the Service Management System database shall serve as that Responsible Organization's certification that there is an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for service associated with the toll free number.
(e) Tariff Provision. The following provision shall be included in the Service Management System tariff and in the local exchange carriers' toll free database access tariffs:
[T]he Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has concluded that warehousing, which the FCC defines as Responsible Organizations, either directly or indirectly through an affiliate, reserving toll free numbers from the SMS database without having an identified toll free subscriber from whom those numbers are being reserved, is an unreasonable practice under §201(b) of the Communications Act and is inconsistent with the Commission's obligation under §251(e) of the Communications Act to ensure that numbers are made available on an equitable basis; and if a Responsible Organization does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for service associated with each toll free number reserved from the database, or if a Responsible Organization does not have an identified, billed toll free subscriber before switching a number from reserved or assigned to working status, then there is a rebuttable presumption that the Responsible Organization is warehousing numbers. Responsible Organizations that warehouse numbers will be subject to penalties.
(f) The provisions of this section shall not apply to toll free numbers assigned via competitive bidding or to numbers transferred under this exception.
[62 FR 20127, Apr. 25, 1997, as amended at 83 FR 53396, Oct. 23, 2018]
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