NEWSReport No. DC 95-120                 ACTION IN DOCKET CASE        September 27, 1995

           COMMISSION REVISES TARIFF FILING REQUIREMENTS FOR 
                       NONDOMINANT COMMON CARRIERS
                          (CC DOCKET NO. 93-36)


     The Commission amended its rules to require domestic, nondominant common
carriers to file tariffs containing specific rates rather than rates expressed as a range of
maximum and minimum charges.  This action is in response to a decision by the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the Commission's 1993 Nondominant Filing Order,
which permitted domestic, nondominant common carriers to file tariffs containing rates
expressed in a manner of the carrier's choosing, including a "reasonable range of rates." 
The court stated that allowing carriers to express their rates as a range of charges violates the
Communications Act of 1934, which requires every common carrier to file "schedules
showing all charges." 

     Based on the extensive record developed in the rulemaking which preceded the Order,
the Commission again concluded that the significantly streamlined tariffing requirements for
nondominant common carriers continue to serve the public interest by affording these carriers
increased flexibility to meet their tariff filing obligations.  The Commission construed the
court's decision as invalidating only the range of rates provision.  Accordingly, the
Commission reinstated all other tariff filing rules for domestic, nondominant common
carriers adopted in the Nondominant Ruling Order.  

     The Commission also amended its rules to delete references to the Commission's
forbearance policy that are inconsistent with earlier court decisions vacating that policy and
to implement changes made by erratum to the Nondominant Filing Order, which had been
erroneously omitted from the Code of Federal Regulations.  Finally, the Commission denied
a petition for partial reconsideration of the Nondominant Filing Order and dismissed as moot
an application for stay of that Order.

     Action by the Commission September 18, 1995, by Order (FCC 95-399).  Chairman
Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Barrett, Ness, and Chong.

  -FCC-

News Media contact: Susan Lewis Sallet at (202) 418-1500.
Common Carrier Bureau contacts: Katherine Schroder at (202) 418-1530 and Ann Stevens at
(202) 418-1520.