{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-278.535","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 278.535","heading":"Switching of telecommunications provider -- Penalty -- Administrative","body":"regulations.\n(1) As used in this section:\n(a) \"Telecommunications provider\" or \"provider\" means a person that provides\none (1) or more telecommunications services for compensation, and its\nsuccessors in interest by way of acquisition or merger, and includes a provider\nof regulated and unregulated intrastate services offered to customers for the\ntransmission of two -way, interactive communications. \"Telecommunications\nprovider\" or \"pro vider\" does not include a provider of commercial mobile\nradio services as defined in 47 U.S.C. sec. 332(d)(1).\n(b) \"Letter of agency\" means a written statement that authorizes a change of the\ncustomer's telecommunications provider and bears the customer's signature.\n(2) A customer of a telecommunications provider shall not be switched to another\nprovider without the customer's letter of agency or the electronically recorded\nauthorization of the customer, indicating that the customer knowingly approved the\nspecific details of the switch. The requirement of a written or electronically\nrecorded authorization shall not apply if the customer initiates a call to the\ncustomer's local telephone service provider to request that his long -distance\nprovider be changed. When a customer's service is changed, the new provider shall\nmaintain for one (1) year a record of nonpublic customer -specific information that\nestablishes that the customer authorized the change. In any dispute, the burden of\nproof to show that the custom er knowingly authorized the change shall be on the\nprovider that claims to have obtained customer authorization for the switch.\n(3) If a letter of agency is combined with an inducement, or with information on a\nsubject other than the change of a customer's telecommunications provider, whether\nor not the letter of agency can be easily severed from the rest of the document, then\nthe language whereby a person authorizes service from the provider shall be printed\nin a type size as large or larger than the large st type used in the document that\nincludes the letter of agency.\n(4) If a telecommunications provider initiates a switch of provider that the customer has\nnot authorized under this section, that provider, upon request by the customer, shall\nreverse the change within five (5) business days.\n(5) The customer subjected to a change that is not verified consistent with this section\nor administrative regulations promulgated under this section is not responsible for\nany charges associated with the unauthorized cha nge, including charges for usage\nsubsequent to the change that are in excess of the amount the customer would have\npaid had the service not been changed, if the customer contacts the customer's local\nexchange carrier, the customer's previous provider of in trastate service, or the\ntelecommunications provider that initiated an unauthorized change in service within\none hundred eighty (180) days after receipt of the customer's first bill containing\ncharges by the telecommunications provider that initiated the u nauthorized change.\nA telecommunications provider that has initiated an unauthorized customer change\nshall:\n(a) Pay all charges associated with returning the customer to the customer's\noriginal telecommunications provider;\n(b) Return to the customer any amount paid to the provider by the customer or on\nthe customer's behalf in excess of the amount the customer would have paid\nhad the service not been changed; and\n(c) Upon request, provide all billing records to the original provider from which\nthe customer was changed to enable the original provider to comply with this\nsection.\nThe telecommunications provider that initiated the unauthorized change is\nresponsible for any payment to access providers or to an underlying carrier where\napplicable. Failure of the  customer to provide timely notice will relieve the\ntelecommunications provider that initiated the unauthorized change of any\nobligations under this subsection.\n(6) If the commission finds that a provider has willfully or repeatedly violated this\nsection or an administrative regulation promulgated under it, the commission shall\norder the provider to take corrective action as necessary. The commission may\nimpose a penalty on the violator as specified in KRS 278.990(1), except that the\nmaximum civil penalty t o be assessed for each violation of this section shall be ten\nthousand dollars ($10,000). The commission also may, if consistent with the public\ninterest, suspend, restrict, or revoke any certificate or registration of the\ntelecommunications provider, ther eby denying the provider the authorization to\nprovide telecommunications service in the Commonwealth.\n(7) The commission shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with\nKRS Chapter 13A to implement the policies of this section.","path":["KRS Chapter 278"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=14147","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:53:30Z","sha256":"fac20c82041b9f5ebee2e45d9ccea3f2d014a8241550a0299a7f3c088a44b044","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-278.530","next":"us-ky/krs-278.540"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}