§  9.16   General obligations—direct 911 dialing, notification, and
dispatchable location.

   (a) Obligation of manufacturers, importers, sellers, and lessors. (1) A
   person engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing, selling, or
   leasing multi-line telephone systems may not manufacture or import for
   use in the United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell or lease in
   the United States, a multi-line telephone system, unless such system is
   pre-configured such that, when properly installed in accordance with
   paragraph (b) of this section, a user may directly initiate a call to
   911 from any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing
   any additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any
   trunk-access code such as the digit 9, regardless of whether the user
   is required to dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other
   calls.

   (2) A person engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing,
   selling, or leasing multi-line telephone systems may not manufacture or
   import for use in the United States, or sell or lease or offer to sell
   or lease in the United States, a multi-line telephone system, unless
   such system has the capability, after proper installation in accordance
   with paragraph (b) of this section, of providing the dispatchable
   location of the caller to the PSAP with 911 calls.

   (b) Obligation of installers, managers, or operators. (1) A person
   engaged in the business of installing, managing, or operating
   multi-line telephone systems may not install, manage, or operate for
   use in the United States such a system, unless such system is
   configured such that a user may directly initiate a call to 911 from
   any station equipped with dialing facilities, without dialing any
   additional digit, code, prefix, or post-fix, including any trunk-access
   code such as the digit 9, regardless of whether the user is required to
   dial such a digit, code, prefix, or post-fix for other calls.

   (2) A person engaged in the business of installing, managing, or
   operating multi-line telephone systems shall, in installing, managing,
   or operating such a system for use in the United States, configure the
   system to provide MLTS notification to a central location at the
   facility where the system is installed or to another person or
   organization regardless of location, if the system is able to be
   configured to provide the notification without an improvement to the
   hardware or software of the system. MLTS notification must meet the
   following requirements:

   (i) MLTS notification must be initiated contemporaneously with the 911
   call, provided that it is technically feasible to do so;

   (ii) MLTS notification must not delay the call to 911; and

   (iii) MLTS notification must be sent to a location where someone is
   likely to see or hear it.

   (3) A person engaged in the business of installing multi-line telephone
   systems may not install such a system in the United States unless it is
   configured such that it is capable of being programmed with and
   conveying the dispatchable location of the caller to the PSAP with 911
   calls consistent with paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of this section. A
   person engaged in the business of managing or operating multi-line
   telephone systems may not manage or operate such a system in the United
   States unless it is configured such that the dispatchable location of
   the caller is conveyed to the PSAP with 911 calls consistent with
   paragraphs (i), (ii) and (iii) of this section.

   (i) Dispatchable location requirements for on-premises fixed telephones
   associated with a multi-line telephone system. An on-premises fixed
   telephone associated with a multi-line telephone system shall provide
   automated dispatchable location no later than January 6, 2021;

   (ii) Dispatchable location requirements for on-premises non-fixed
   devices associated with a multi-line telephone system. No later than
   January 6, 2022, an on-premises non-fixed device associated with a
   multi-line telephone system shall provide to the appropriate PSAP
   automated dispatchable location, when technically feasible; otherwise,
   it shall provide dispatchable location based on end user manual update,
   or alternative location information as defined in § 9.3.

   (iii) Dispatchable location requirements for off-premises devices
   associated with a multi-line telephone system. No later than January 6,
   2022, an off-premises device associated with a multi-line telephone
   system shall provide to the appropriate PSAP automatic dispatchable
   location, if technically feasible; otherwise, it shall provide
   dispatchable location based on end user manual update, or enhanced
   location information, which may be coordinate-based, consisting of the
   best available location that can be obtained from any available
   technology or combination of technologies at reasonable cost.

   [ 84 FR 66760 , Dec. 5, 2019, as amended at  85 FR 78022 , Dec. 3, 2020]