In currently proposed asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) congestion control schemes, the policing function is carried out at the network edge, which opens the possibility of cells being discarded or marked without reference to the actual message. This can lead to degradation of the service quality in the voice service or multiplication of the cell loss probability in the data service. The authors propose an approach to the policing function, called user-network policer, to resolve these problems. The scheme consists of a service-dependent user policer and a service-independent network policer. Users are responsible for policing and marking their traffic appropriately before sending them into the network. The network is only responsible for verifying the correctness of user policing and for transporting cells transparently across the network.>