Sec. 61.40  Private line rate structure guidelines.

    (a) The Commission uses a variety of tools to determine whether a 
carrier's private line tariffs are just, reasonable, and 
nondiscriminatory. The carrier's burden of cost justification can be 
reduced when its private line rate structures comply with the following 
five guidelines.
    (1) Rate structures for the same or comparable services should be 
integrated;
    (2) Rate structures for the same or comparable services should be 
consistent with one another;
    (3) Rate elements should be selected to reflect market demand, 
pricing convenience for the carrier and customers, and cost 
characteristics; a rate element which appears separately in one rate 
structure should appear separately in all other rate structures;
    (4) Rate elements should be consistently defined with respect to 
underlying service functions and should be consistently employed through 
all rate structures; and
    (5) Rate structures should be simple and easy to understand.
    (b) The guidelines do not preclude a carrier, in a given case when a 
private line tariff does not comply with these guidelines, from 
justifying its departure from the guidelines and showing that its tariff 
is just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory.