A federal appeals court in Washington Tuesday stopped the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing new rules increasing the remedies for consumers whose long-distance telephone service is illegally switched, often as a result of telemarketing activities.
The one-page order by a three judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia did not address the validity of the rules, which were adopted last year and went into effect Monday.
The order “granted” the petition of MCI WorldCom to block enforcement of the rules that give consumers up to 30 days to avoid paying long-distance charges when service is illegally switched, giving them time to resolve the problem, commonly known as “slamming.”
There was no immediate comment from the FCC on the court’s action.
MCI, joined by AT&T and other long-distance companies, asked the court to block the rules to give the FCC more time to consider an industry plan to address the fast-growing problem saying that its new rules created an administrative headache.
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