2020 Georgia Code
Title 46 - Public Utilities and Public Transportation
Chapter 5 - Telephone Service
Article 4 - Telecommunications and Competition Development
§ 46-5-171.1. Written Authorization Required by Customer Prior to Being Charged for Service Initiated by a Third Party

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).

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

- 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."