Written Authorization Required by Customer Prior to Being Charged for Service Initiated by a Third Party

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Public Utilities and Public Transportation
  4. Telephone Service
  5. Telecommunications and Competition Development
  6. Written Authorization Required by Customer Prior to Being Charged for Service Initiated by a Third Party

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  1. Except as provided in subsection (b) of this Code section, no telecommunications company shall charge a customer for any service which is provided to the customer by a nonaffiliated third party until such third party has certified to the telecommunications company that the third party has received the customer's written authorization for such charges. When a customer initiates a new type of such third-party service or changes the type or types of such third-party service received, the invoice for such new or changed services must state the charges for such services in a clear, conspicuous, separate, and distinct manner so as to ensure that the customer is aware of the new or changed charges. Any telecommunications company that charges a customer for a service which is provided to the customer by a nonaffiliated third party must provide to such customer the ability to block the nonaffiliated third-party service and any charges associated with such service.
  2. This Code section shall not apply to any transaction between a customer and that customer's selected provider of basic local exchange, inter-LATA, or intra-LATA telecommunications services or initial requests to subscribe to such services; wireless services; requests for a change in a customer's provider of local exchange service or a change in a customer's primary interexchange inter-LATA or intra-LATA carrier; or customer initiated use of abbreviated dialing codes or other pay-per-use services.

(Code 1981, §46-5-171.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1998, p. 1378, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 877, § 1; Ga. L. 2009, p. 318, § 1/HB 302.)

The 2009 amendment, effective January 1, 2010, added the last sentence in subsection (a).

Code Commission notes.

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1999, "customer initiated" was substituted for "customer-initiated" in subsection (b).

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 1998, p. 1378, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall become effective on July 1, 1998, and shall apply to services which are initiated or changed after that date."


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