ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - The sharing of customer credit information in the Canadian Telecommunications industry

Letter

Ottawa, 5 July 2004

By e-mail
Original by Fax

Mr. Peter Lang

Chair - Business Process Working Group

C/O Call-Net Enterprises Inc.

Suite 200 , 2550 Victoria Park Ave.

Toronto , ON

M2J 5E6

Re: The sharing of customer credit information in the Canadian Telecommunications industry

Dear Mr. Lang:

Commission staff is in receipt of a consensus report, The sharing of customer credit information in the Canadian Telecommunications industry , BPRE048a, 7 June 2004 (the report), submitted by the Business Process Working Group (BPWG) of the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC).

The stated purpose of the report is to inform the Commission of an industry initiative regarding the sharing of customer credit information among the providers of telecommunications services in Canada .   The report notes that the BPWG has reached consensus on the principles behind this initiative while the details of the initiative are still being finalized, under the auspices of the BPWG.

Commission staff has reviewed the report submitted by the BPWG.   Commission staff notes that its opinion with respect to the report is based on the information provided in that report and Commission staff's opinion may change if new information is brought to Commission staff's attention.

It is Commission staff's opinion based on the information contained in the report that if all telecommunications service providers (TSPs) seek and obtain express consent in accordance with the Commission's customer confidentiality provisions that the TSPs would be in compliance with the Commission's current rules.

However, Commission staff would note that there are a number of areas with respect to the implementation details of this initiative which may raise some concerns depending on what the members of the BPWG agree.   Commission staff has set out these concerns below.

Commission staff considers that in order for express consent under the Commission's customer confidentiality provisions to be valid, a customer must be informed of the use to which his or her confidential information may be put.   In particular, it is Commission staff's view that customers should be advised, as part of the express consent process, that their credit information may be shared with another TSP should a customer choose to be served by a TSP other than the currently serving TSP.

Commission staff notes that Principle 9 of Schedule 1 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act provides that upon request, an individual shall be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of his or her personal information and shall be given access to that information.   Furthermore, pursuant to Principle 9, an individual shall be able to challenge the accuracy and completeness of the information and have it amended as appropriate.   Commission staff would expect that the protection set out in Principle 9 will be included as part of the implementation details of the customer credit initiative.

Commission staff notes that the report raises the possibility that the implementation and administration of the customer credit information database may be performed by a party other than the TSP that originally collected the customer credit information.   Commission staff is of the view that customer credit information, while it may reside in a database under third-party control to be viewed by a potential serving TSP, must remain the property of the serving TSP.   As a consequence, Commission staff considers that, as part of any consensus on the implementation details of this initiative, the members of the BPWG should ensure that measures are put in place to ensure that the customer credit information is not used by any third-party database administrator for any purpose other than the stated purpose of the customer credit information initiative.

Commission staff notes that the report is silent as to what specific information will be put into the database and for how long that information will remain in the proposed database.   Commission staff is of the view that a customer of a serving TSP that is in dispute with that TSP over a billing or a similar circumstance should be treated in a manner different from that of a customer who truly is in arrears with payments for telecommunication services.   Commission staff believes that customers whose credit history improves from a risk to a satisfactory level over a specified period of time should have that improvement reflected in their stored credit information and should be removed from the database once a specified time-period has passed.

Commission staff notes that the report is silent on the protocols or safeguards that will be built in to ensure that a TSP has obtained a customer's express consent prior to accessing a customer's confidential information contained in the database.   Commission staff believes that it is important that the intent of the Commission's requirements for prior express consent be met not only in theory, but in practice.

Finally, Commission staff notes that the report is silent as to whether customers of a serving TSP, whose credit history is satisfactory, will have their credit information included in the database for another TSP to access.   Commission staff is of the view that only TSP customers whose credit history indicates a risk should be included in the database.

Commission staff notes the BPWG's statement that the report was filed with the Commission for information purposes only.   As such, Commission staff is of the opinion that no further Commission staff action is required on the report.   Commission staff would request, however, that the BPWG keep Commission staff informed as to the discussions with respect to the implementation details.

Sincerely

Scott Hutton

Director General - Competition, Costing and Tariffs (Acting)

CC:    Mike Cawood - Manager Competition (819) 997 3485

Date modified: 2004-07-05