Will also oversee the enforcement of federal laws intended to ensure the fair, equitable and nondiscriminatory access to credit for individuals and communities.

Washington said it would refuse to allow nondiscriminatory access to the United States market to be the starting point for an agreement on services.

Officials say they want to make sure that Time Warner's cable network provides rival Internet services with the same nondiscriminatory access as America Online does.

The case stems from the 1984 Equal Access Act, which Congress passed to insure nondiscriminatory access to public high schools that accept Federal aid.

By law, customers who tap into the Internet over telephone wires are provided nondiscriminatory access to the Internet service provider of their choice.

"The lease explicitly calls for nondiscriminatory access to connecting buses and access to docking rights and terminal facilities," said Tom Cocola, a city transportation spokesman.

"The department found that SBC has not shown that it is providing nondiscriminatory access to its local lines," Mr. Klein said yesterday in a statement.

The United States Congress made it so that all companies registered by the FCC had nondiscriminatory access to the satellite systems.

"There is a big difference between an honest, nondiscriminatory, government-mandated open access on the one hand and a private deal you've negotiated when you have all the leverage," he said.

Thus nondiscriminatory access to the European labour market is important for ensuring equal working conditions and for avoiding social dumping.