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ARTICLES

LEGAL RESOURSES

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    • Article 1302. Access to and Use of Public Telecommunications Transport Networks and Services

    1. Each Party shall ensure that persons of another Party have access to and use of any public telecommunications transport network or service, including private leased circuits, offered in its territory or across its borders for the conduct of their business, on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, including as set out in paragraphs 2 through 8.

    2. Subject to paragraphs 6 and 7, each Party shall ensure that such persons are permitted to:

  • Purchase or lease, and attach terminal or other equipment that interfaces with the public telecommunications transport network;

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  • Interconnect private leased or owned circuits with public telecommunications transport networks in the territory, or across the borders, of that Party, including for use in providing dial-up access to and from their customers or users, or with circuits leased or owned by another person on terms and conditions mutually agreed by those persons;

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  • Perform switching, signalling and processing functions; and

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  • Use operating protocols of their choice.

    • 3. Each Party shall ensure that:

  • The pricing of public telecommunications transport services reflects economic costs directly related to providing the services; and

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  • Private leased circuits are available on a flat-rate pricing basis.

    • Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prevent cross-subsidization between public telecommunications transport services.

    4. Each Party shall ensure that persons of another Party may use public telecommunications transport networks or services for the movement of information in its territory or across its borders, including for intracorporate communications, and for access to information contained in data bases or otherwise stored in machine-readable form in the territory of any Party.

    5. Further to Article 2101 (TLCAN: Art. 2101) (General Exceptions), nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to prevent a Party from adopting or enforcing any measure necessary to:

  • Ensure the security and confidentiality of messages; or

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  • Protect the privacy of subscribers to public telecommunications transport networks or services.

    • 6. Each Party shall ensure that no condition is imposed on access to and use of public telecommunications transport networks or services, other than that necessary to:

     

  • Safeguard the public service responsibilities of providers of public telecommunications transport networks or services, in particular their ability to make their networks or services available to the public generally; or

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  • Protect the technical integrity of public telecommunications transport networks or services.

    • 7. Provided that conditions for access to and use of public telecommunications transport networks or services satisfy the criteria set out in paragraph 6, such conditions may include:

  • A restriction on resale or shared use of such services;

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  • A requirement to use specified technical interfaces, including interface protocols, for interconnection with such networks or services;

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  • A restriction on interconnection of private leased or owned circuits with such networks or services or with circuits leased or owned by another person, where the circuits are used in the provision of public telecommunications transport networks or services; and

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  • A licensing, permit, registration or notification procedure which, if adopted or maintained, is transparent and applications filed thereunder are processed expeditiously.

    • 8. For purposes of this Article, "non-discriminatory" means on terms and conditions no less favorable than those accorded to any other customer or user of like public telecommunications transport networks or services in like circumstances.