Customer Contact Centers

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES
Division of Agricultural Environmental Services

RULE NO.: RULE TITLE:
5E-14.150: Customer Contact Centers

NOTICE OF CHANGE

Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 37 No. 51, December 22, 2011 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

PURPOSE AND EFFECT: The purpose of this proposed rule is to establish an application form and fee for businesses applying for a license to operate a centralized customer contact center within or outside of the state’s jurisdictional boundaries and to delineate regulatory requirements for businesses operating a customer contact center. The effect of this rule will be to provide pest control companies the ability to obtain a customer contact center license and allow the Department the authority to regulate the operational functions of pest control sales of Florida consumers. Establish a license for the operation of pest control customer contact centers.

SUMMARY OF STATEMENT OF ESTIMATED REGULATORY COSTS AND LEGISLATIVE RATIFICATION:

The Agency has determined that this rule will not have an impact on small business or likely increase directly or indirectly regulatory costs in excess of $200,000 in the aggregate within one year after the implementation of the rule. A SERC has not been prepared by the agency.

The Agency has determined that the proposed rule is not expected to require legislative ratification based on the statement of estimated regulatory costs or if no SERC is required, the information expressly relied upon and described herein:

The Department’s analysis of the economic impact of the rule did not trigger any of the requirements in Section 120.541(1), Florida Statutes, for preparing a Statement of Economic Regulatory Costs (SERC). As part of this analysis, the Department relied upon information received from the pest control industry’s professional associations and direct discussions with industry representatives. Based on that information the following was determined: The number of companies seeking the license is estimated to be 20 companies; No transactional costs are expected for the following reasons: the companies seeking this license have had customer contact center operations for years and will have no need for capital outlay; under Section 482.071, Florida Statutes, licensees are required to utilize credentialed certificate holders and employees to solicit pest control services. These requirements are more burdensome than those enacted under Section 482.072, Florida Statutes, which only requires supervision and training under the licensee. Enactment of the rule will allow companies to reduce overhead and operational costs by consolidating customer contact centers in a single location; the contact center license fee is $600 and is good for two years. The financial impact to the industry in the first year based on an estimated 20 applicants would be $12,000. Additionally, no interested party submitted additional information regarding the economic impact.

Any person who wishes to provide information regarding a statement of estimated regulatory costs, or provide a proposal for a lower cost regulatory alternative must do so in writing within 21 days of this notice.

 

THE FULL TEXT OF THE PROPOSED RULE IS:

5E-14.150 Customer Contact Centers.

(1) Customer Contact Center business license application: In accordance with Section 482.072(2)(a), F.S., an applicant for a customer contact center business license shall submit a completed Pest Control Customer Contact Center License Application form, DACS 13686 (03/12 09/11), and application fee of $600 in the form of a check or money order payable to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) to the address indicated on the form. Form DACS 13686 (03/12 09/11), is hereby adopted and incorporated by reference and may be obtained by visiting http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.

(2)(a) through (d) No change.

(e) Each licensed customer contact center shall designate a “Primary Contact Person” at the licensed location for purposes of communication with the Department. The name, email address (if any) and telephone number of the primary contact person shall be provided to the Department as part of the license application for adopted by subsection (1). If the Primary Contact person changes prior to license renewal, the new contact information shall be submitted to the Department by calling [phone].

(3) through (4) No change.

Rulemaking Authority 482.051, 482.072 FS. Law Implemented 482.072 FS. History–New________.