36 CFR Part 1193 Telecommunications Act (Section 255) Accessibility Guidelines - Preamble

Customer Premises Equipment (Section-by-Section Analysis)

This definition is taken from the Telecommunications Act. Equipment employed on the premises of a person, which can originate, route or terminate telecommunications, is customer premises equipment. "Person" is a common legal term meaning an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, or organization.

Customer premises equipment can also include certain specialized customer premises equipment which are directly connected to the telecommunications network and which can originate, route, or terminate telecommunications. Equipment with such capabilities is covered by section 255 and is required to meet the accessibility requirements of Subpart C, if readily achievable, or to be compatible with specialized customer premises equipment and peripheral devices according to Subpart D, if readily achievable.

Comment. The proposed rule asked for comments on the definition of customer premises equipment. Some commenters stated that it was unclear whether software was included in the definition. Also, it was suggested by one commenter that the definition include "wireless systems". Some comments from industry, including Matsushita Electric Corporation of America suggested that the definition of customer premises equipment be changed "to confine the applicability of the guidelines . . . to equipment the primary use of which is telecommunications, thus exclud[ing] such products as television receivers, VCRs, set-top boxes, computers without modems, and other consumer products the primary purpose of which is other than for telecommunications." Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) and many individuals who are hard of hearing suggested clarifying the definition to include public pay telephones as examples of customer premises equipment.

Response. If a product "originates, routes or terminates telecommunications" it is customer premises equipment and thus covered by the Act whether the product does that most of the time or only a small portion of the time. Only the functions directly related to the product's operation as customer premises equipment are covered. For example, the buttons, prompts, displays, or output and input needed to send and receive e-mail or an Internet telephone call are covered. Other functions not related to telecommunications, such as starting a program on a computer or changing channels on a combination television-Internet device would not be covered. The term "customer premises equipment" is defined in the Telecommunications Act and the definition in the NPRM was taken directly from the Act. The definition has been retained in the final rule without change.

The guidelines do not differentiate between hardware, firmware or software implementations of a product's functions or features, nor do they differentiate between functions and features built into the product and those that may be provided from a remote server over the network. The functions are covered by these guidelines whether the functions are provided by software, hardware, or firmware. As the NPRM indicated, customer premises equipment may also include wireless sets.²  Finally, public pay telephones are considered customer premises equipment.³

²U.S. Small Business Administration, Industry and Employment Size of Enterprise for 1994, Table 7, SIC 3561 (U.S. Bureau of the Census data under contract to the SBA).

³Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, Standard Industrial Classification Manual (1987) (SIC 3571).