Section 810-RICR-20-00-1.3 - PRELIMINARY MATTERSA. The following requirements are prerequisites for opening negotiations for interconnection agreements between an ILEC and other carriers. 1. Any telecommunications carrier may open negotiations with an incumbent ILEC for an interconnection agreement at any time. However, the carrier may not request mediation or arbitration, or submit a negotiated agreement for review, unless it agrees to bear a pro rata share of the costs of the proceeding.2. The carrier seeking interconnection shall notify the ILEC in writing, and all statutory deadlines and deadlines in these rules shall be counted from the date of the ILEC's receipt of the notification. The ILEC shall inform the Commission, periodically or on request, of all pending requests for interconnection and the dates on which they were received3. The notification of intent to negotiate shall describe in general terms the services and forms of interconnection requested, but need not include detailed lists or technical detail.B. The negotiations may cover any or all of the obligations of either party under 47 U.S.C. §§ 251(a), (b), or (c), or any other matter which the parties may mutually agree to include.C. An ILEC may not impose any preconditions for negotiations other than those specifically authorized by the Commission.D. The Commission may deviate from the provisions of these regulations for good cause, as it deems necessary to fulfill its obligations under the Act. However, no waiver will be initiated without affording the parties a hearing.E. The filing of an arbitration request shall not preclude the parties from continuing negotiations on unresolved issues. Those issues that are resolved after an arbitration request has been filed with the Commission shall be considered negotiated provisions, subject to appropriate notice and comment deadlines under the proposed arbitration procedures.F. An ILEC shall have a duty to negotiate in good faith with all carriers requesting interconnection, and any carrier requesting interconnection shall have a duty to negotiate in good faith with an ILEC.1. The parties may request Commission mediation or arbitration of any actions they perceive as failure to negotiate in good faith.2. At any stage in a mediation or arbitration, any party may identify to the mediator or arbitrator a perceived failure to negotiate in good faith, even if this failure was not identified in the initial petition for mediation or arbitration.3. At any point in a mediation or arbitration, the mediator or arbitrator may refer to the Commission a failure of any party to negotiate in good faith.4. If the Commission finds that any party has failed to negotiate in good faith it may take such actions as it deems appropriate in the circumstances5. If the Commission finds that an ILEC has committed a serious breach of its obligation to negotiate in good faith, it may also interpose an objection under 47 U.S.C. § 271(d)(2)(B) to the granting of extended operating authority. If such authority is already granted, the Commission may file a complaint with the FCC under 47 U.S.C. §§ 208(a) and 271(d)(6)(B).G. To the extent there is a conflict between these regulations and the "Public Utilities Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure", these regulations shall control.H. When an agreement is filed with the Commission for review, it will be docketed and open to public inspection and copying. The arbitrator's report will also be filed in the docket. 1. No part of the agreement itself, including the rates, terms, and other information, may be confidential or proprietary. All terms of the agreement must be shown in the contract document itself, or by reference to another publicly available document, such as a tariff.2. A LEC shall make available any interconnection, service, or network element provided under an approved agreement to which it is a party, to any other requesting telecommunications carrier upon the same terms and conditions as those provided in the agreement.810 R.I. Code R. 810-RICR-20-00-1.3