ARCHIVED - Public Notice CRTC 2001-56

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	Public Notice CRTC 2001-56
	Ottawa, 25 May 2001
	Operator services - Reverse search directory assistance
	Reference: Bell Canada TN 6508
	This public notice initiates a proceeding to determine whether it is appropriate for telephone companies to provide reverse search directory assistance services, and if so, the tariff conditions for telephone companies under Commission jurisdiction.
1.	On 22 August 2000, Bell Canada proposed, for Commission approval, an operator services tariff for a reverse search directory assistance (RSDA) service. This service would allow a party to provide a phone number in order to obtain a person's name and city of residence. Bell Canada previously had such a tariff, which it abandoned. The Commission intends to review Bell Canada's proposal as part of this proceeding.
2.	Beginning in the early 1990s, the Commission approved similar RSDA service tariffs for several other telephone companies. In these cases, generally, the service involved receiving a telephone number from a party and providing to that party the customer's name, and either the customer's specific address or general information (i.e. town, community, exchange area). Some of these telephone companies have since withdrawn their tariffs.
3.	In Order CRTC 2000-253, dated 31 March 2000, the Commission denied tariff revisions proposed by TELUS Communications Inc. and TELUS communications (Edmonton) Inc. for an RSDA service.
	In the order, the Commission stated:
	The Commission notes that, under the proposed tariffs, the name and address information that would be provided in response to a given telephone number is more detailed than has been provided in the past for this type of service. The Commission considers that the degree of detail in the information that would be provided is inappropriate in light of privacy concerns.
4.	Pursuant to section 7(i) of the Telecommunications Act, one of the Canadian telecommunications policy objectives, which the Commission is responsible for implementing, is to "contribute to the protection of privacy" as it relates to telecommunications.
5.	The information provided to a customer under Bell Canada's proposed tariff (and under other existing telephone companies' tariffs) would allow a customer to obtain location information for the user of a specific telephone number. The Commission notes that services similar to RSDA are available to the public from sources other than the telephone companies. These include the Internet and commercial publications.
6.	Given that privacy concerns are common to all telephone company customers, the Commission will consider whether the delivery of RSDA services by all telephone companies should be treated in a consistent manner. The Commission hereby initiates a proceeding to consider RSDA services. The Commission invites telephone companies and interested parties to provide submissions on the two matters set out in the following paragraph.
	Scope of proceeding
7.	The purpose of this proceeding is to determine:
	a) whether the provision of RSDA service by the telephone companies is appropriate in light of the objectives of the Telecommunications Act; and
	b) if the provision of RSDA service by the telephone companies is appropriate, what common tariff provisions should exist for telephone companies under CRTC jurisdiction.
	Procedure
8.	All Canadian carriers are made parties to this proceeding.
9.	Other parties wishing to participate fully in this proceeding must notify the Commission of their intention to do so by 26 June 2001. These parties should contact the Secretary General by mail at CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2; by fax at (819) 953-0795; or by email at procedure@crtc.gc.ca. They are to indicate in the notice their email address, where available. If parties do not have access to the Internet, they are to indicate in their notice whether they wish to receive disk versions of hard copy filings. The Commission will issue, as soon as possible after the registration date, a complete list of interested parties and their mailing address (including their email address, if available), identifying those parties who wish to receive disk versions.
10.	Parties may, by 10 July 2001, file comments with the Commission, serving copies on all other parties.
11.	Parties may file reply comments with the Commission, serving a copy on all other parties, by 9 August 2001.
12.	Any person who wishes merely to file written comments in this proceeding, without receiving copies of the evidence filed, may do so by writing to the Commission, at the address noted in paragraph 9 by 30 July 2001.
13.	Where a document is to be filed or served by a specific date, the document must be actually received, not merely sent, by that date.
14.	Parties wishing to file electronic versions of their comments can do so by email at the address shown above, or on diskette. The telephone companies are expected to file electronically.
15.	The electronic version should be in the HTML format. As an alternative, those making submissions may use "Microsoft Word" for text and "Microsoft Excel" for spreadsheets.
16.	Please number each paragraph of your submission. In addition, please enter the line *End of document* following the last paragraph. This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during transmission.
17.	The Commission will make submissions filed in electronic form available on its web site at www.crtc.gc.ca in the official language and format in which they are submitted. This will make it easier for members of the public to consult the documents.
18.	The Commission also encourages interested parties to monitor the public examination file (and/or the Commission's web site) for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.
19.	Submissions may be examined or will be made available promptly upon request at the Commission offices during normal business hours:
	Central Building Les Terrasses de la Chaudière 1 Promenade du Portage, Room G-5 Hull, Quebec K1A 0N2 Tel: (819) 997-2429 - TDD: 994-0423 Fax: (819) 994-0218
	Bank of Commerce Building 1809 Barrington Street Suite 1007 Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3K8 Tel: (902) 426-7997 - TDD: 426-6997 Fax: (902) 426-2721
	405 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East 2^nd Floor, Suite B2300 Montréal, Quebec H2L 4J5 Tel: (514) 283-6607 - TDD: 283-8316 Fax: (514) 283-3689
	55 St. Clair Avenue East Suite 624 Toronto, Ontario M4T 1M2 Tel: (416) 952-9096 Fax: (416) 954-6343
	Kensington Building 275 Portage Avenue Suite 1810 Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2B3 Tel: (204) 983-6306 - TDD: 983-8274 Fax: (204) 983-6317
	Cornwall Professional Building 2125 - 11^th Avenue Room 103 Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3X3 Tel: (306) 780-3422 Fax: (306) 780-3319
	Suite 520 - 10405 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, Alberta T5J 3N4 Tel: (780) 495-3224 Fax: (780) 495-3214
	530-580 Hornby Street Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3B6 Tel: (604) 666-2111 - TDD: 666-0778 Fax: (604) 666-8322
	Secretary General
	This document is available in alternative format upon request and may also be examined at the following Internet site: http://www.crtc.gc.ca

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ARCHIVED - Public Notice CRTC 2001-56

This page has been archived on the Web