Sprint began telecom relay and captioned telephone services for Nevada Sunday, it said Tuesday.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended temporary waivers of telecom relay service mandatory minimum standards for Sprint and Hamilton Relay, said an order released Tuesday in docket 03-123. The extension is until “the earlier of August 24, 2020, or the effective date of a Commission decision as to the continuing application of the waived standards to the affected relay services,” the order said. The standards require state-program TRS providers to offer consumers their choice of long distance carrier and alternative billing options for TRS calls. The waivers were extended once, and were to expire Saturday.

The World Customs Organization released its updated Time Release Study (TRS) guide, the WCO said in a news release. "The WCO Time Release Study is a strategic and internationally recognized tool to measure the actual time required for the release and/or clearance of goods, from the time of arrival until the physical release of cargo, with a view to finding bottlenecks in the trade flow process and taking necessary measures to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures," the WCO said. "The updated version of the WCO TRS Guide, known as the 'Guide to Measure the Time required for the Release of Goods (Version 3)' incorporates a number of key features/elements. It brings forward new dynamics and opportunities for Customs Administrations to work in a collaborative manner with other relevant government agencies and trade stakeholders in the arena of performance measurement."

Mutliline telephone systems (MLTS) providers and equipment vendors proposed changes in how the FCC implements new laws on better 911 access, in recent ex parte correspondence in docket 18-261. The commissioners are expected to vote Thursday on a draft report and order circulated in mid-July on implementing Ray Baum's Act (see 1902150036) and Kari's Law Act of 2017 (see 1907090047) to provide better location identification to emergency workers who take phone calls from apartment buildings, offices and other multi-unit spaces and to ensure callers who use MLTS phones can reach 911 quickly (see 1812110025).

The FCC adopted a 2019-2020 funding requirement of $1.4 billion to compensate telephone carriers for telecommunications relay services used by persons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or have speech difficulties, it said in a docket 03-123 order Friday. It also ordered new compensation rates, effective Monday, of $3.11 per minute for traditional TRS, $4.24 for speech-to-speech relay, and $2.28 for captioned telephone service. Separate rates were set for IP-enabled services (see 1905290047). The order also sets a carrier contribution factor of .028 for FY 2019-2020, starting Monday. A Friday statement from Chairman Ajit Pai said that recent changes in the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Services Fund will save nearly $409 million over the coming funding year, and spending for the fund is expected to decline for the first time since 2014 "even as overall TRS minutes increase."

Procedures for a telecom relay service numbering directory to help validate TRS users and require that video relay service providers promote their services only to people with disabilities, are effective July 8, the FCC says for Thursday's Federal Register. Stakeholders fear such rules could restrict access (see 1905030029).

The FCC seeks comment on Hamilton Relay's petition to reconsider exogenous cost recovery guidelines when IP captioned telephone service providers collect funds from the interstate telecom relay service (see 1902080054) 15 days after Federal Register publication, replies 10 days later in docket 13-24, said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Wednesday. Thursday, a FR notice is to say TRS numbering directory rules take effect July 8 (see in this issue 1906050015).

The deadline is July 1 for states and providers of interstate telecommunications relay services (TRS) to submit their annual consumer complaint log summaries for the June 1, 2018-May 31 period, reminded an FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice in Monday's Daily Digest and on docket 03-123. Complaint log summaries must include total number of interstate relay calls by type of TRS, the number of complaints alleging a violation of federal TRS mandatory minimum standards, complaint date and nature, date of the complaint’s resolution and an explanation of that resolution, it said.

ITTA shot back at Enterprise Users Commenters’ criticism (see 1905300053) of ITTA’s FCC petition for a declaratory ruling that carriers are permitted to recover telecom relay service (TRS) fund contributions through a cost recovery fee line item on consumer bills. Kairos represents Enterprise Users Commenters, which includes dozens of companies. “Kairos Partners’ mission is to ‘identif[y] telecom tax reduction opportunities ... resulting in significant cost savings to [its] clients,’” emailed ITTA Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Michael Jacobs Thursday. “This begs the question of what the Kairos Partners is seeking to achieve ... specifically, whether, contrary to the specific provisions of the [Americans with Disabilities Act] they are attempting to evade contributing to the TRS Fund.” The proceeding is in docket 03-123. Kairos didn't comment Friday.

Enterprise Users Commenters, representing dozens of companies, met with staff from the FCC Wireline and Consumer and Governmental Affairs bureaus to oppose ITTA’s petition for a declaratory ruling, said a posting Thursday in docket 03-123. ITTA seeks a ruling that carriers are permitted to recover telecom relay service fund contributions through a cost recovery fee line item on consumer bills (see 1905070038). The companies said it would be an “egregious violation” of the Americans with Disabilities Act “to stigmatize disabled individuals as a ‘cost burden’ to society by identifying or referencing the cost of any ADA service on consumers’ bills.” They objected to ITTA’s use of the term “non-specific line items,” saying the FCC doesn’t differentiate between specific and non-specific line items. Collectively called Enterprise Users Commenters, the companies include 3M, MasterCard Technologies and MediaNews Group. The group in the docket also reported other FCC meetings, including with Commissioner Mike O'Reilly and Travis Litman, chief of staff to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. ITTA didn't comment right away.