Unauthorized Changes of Consumers' Long Distance Carriers ``Slamming''

On June 13, 1995, the Commission adopted a Report and Order (R&O) in CC Docket No. 94-129 (released November 10, 1994; FCC 95-225) adopting rules to prescribe the form and content of letters of agency for changing long distance carriers. The new rules are intended to protect consumers from unauthorized changes of their long distance carriers through the use of deceptive and misleading letters of agency (LOAs). An LOA is a document, signed by the customer, which states that a particular carrier has been selected as that customer's ``primary interexchange carrier'' (``PIC''). The Commission takes this action in response to the thousands of complaints received regarding unauthorized changes of consumers' PICs, a practice commonly known as ``slamming.'' The Commission also takes this action in response to the tens of thousands of additional complaints received annually by local exchange carriers (LECs) and state regulatory bodies. These rules and policies prohibit certain deceptive or confusing marketing practices of some interexchange carriers (IXCs) and are intended to significantly reduce consumer confusion over the use and function of the LOA. In crafting these rules, the Commission has balanced the industry's need for flexibility in marketing services to consumers and the need to protect consumers from deceptive marketing practices.