My Comments On Representation NPRM -- Part III, Confusing Definitions

Social Security's Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) on the representation of claimants worries me, largely because it is so poorly drafted that I do not know what it means. I am laying out my concerns over several posts. Today's topic is the definitions included in the NPRM. Here are the ones that concern me:

Entity means any business, firm, or other association, including but not limited to partnerships, corporations, for-profit organizations, and not-for-profit organizations. ...

Principal representative means an attorney who meets all of the requirements of § 404.1705(a), an individual other than an attorney who meets all of the requirements of § 404.1705(b), or an entity that meets all of the requirements under § 404.1705(b), who has been appointed to represent you in dealings with us and who is responsible for disseminating information and requests from us to you and your other representatives, if any.

Professional representative means any attorney, any individual other than an attorney, or any entity that holds itself out to the public as providing representational services (see § 404.1735) before us, regardless of whether the representative charges or collects a fee for providing the representational services.

Representative means an attorney who meets all of the requirements of § 404.1705(a), an individual other than an attorney who meets all of the requirements of § 404.1705(b), or an entity that meets all of the requirements of § 404.1705(b), whom you appoint to represent you in dealings with us. For purposes of §§ 404.1740 through 404.1799, the term representative also includes an attorney or a non-attorney whom you have not appointed as your representative under the previous sentence but who works for or on behalf of an appointed representative and helps represent you in your claim before us.

If I understand this correctly, I am simultaneously a principal representative, a professional representative and a representative, while my law firm is simultaneously an entity, a principal representative, a professional representative and a representative! Was someone trying to write this in as confusing a way as possible? How can a corporation be any kind of representative? That takes a flesh and blood human being. What is the point of all these definitions and what is the difference between them? I have read the entire NPRM in the Federal Register and I do not comprehend what was intended. How did something so poorly drafted get through Social Security's vetting process?

And to repeat a concern that I have already written about, why is there no definition given for "representational services", a key term in the NPRM?

You may comment on this proposal online and I encourage you to do so.