[IRCNews] FW: FCC NPRM MD Docket 20-270 Proposes Application Fee for Application Fees in the Amateur Radio Service

[Ken Bandy, KJ9B]

FYI:  Info regarding recent proposal by FCC, and the ARRL response.

Dear Central Division ARRL Member;

     I have received a number of inquiries today about the FCC NPRM
20-270 which proposes to a $50 fee for each amateur radio license
application. The ARRL will be filing comments in opposition to
application fees in the amateur radio service.   Please read the details
below from the ARRL.ORG website.

        73, Kermit Carlson W9XA

 From the ARRL Website;
http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-proposes-to-reinstate-amateur-radio-service-fees
                                     

08/28/2020

Amateur radio licensees would pay a $50 fee for each amateur radio
license application if the FCC adopts rules it proposed this week.
Included in the FCC’s fee proposal are applications for new licenses,
renewal and upgrades to existing licenses, and vanity call sign
requests. Excluded are applications for administrative updates, such as
changes of address, and annual regulatory fees.

The FCC proposal is contained in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM)
in MD Docket 20-270, which was adopted to implement portions of the
“Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services
Act” of 2018 — the so-called “Ray Baum’s Act.”

The Act requires that the FCC switch from a Congressionally-mandated fee
structure to a cost-based system of assessment. In its NPRM, the FCC
proposed application fees for a broad range of services that use the
FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS), including the Amateur Radio
Service that had been excluded by an earlier statute. The 2018 statute
excludes the Amateur Service from annual regulatory fees, but not from
application fees.

“[A]pplications for personal licenses are mostly automated and do not
have individualized staff costs for data input or review,” the FCC
said in its NPRM. “For these automated processes — new/major
modifications, renewal, and minor modifications — we propose a nominal
application fee of $50 due to automating the processes, routine ULS
maintenance, and limited instances where staff input is required.”

The same $50 fee would apply to all Amateur Service applications,
including those for vanity call signs. “Although there is currently no
fee for vanity call signs in the Amateur Radio Service, we find that
such applications impose similar costs in aggregate on Commission
resources as new applications and therefore propose a $50 fee,” the
FCC said.

The FCC is not proposing to charge for administrative updates, such as
mailing address changes for amateur applications, and amateur radio will
remain exempt from annual regulatory fees. “For administrative updates
[and] modifications, which also are highly automated, we find that it is
in the public interest to encourage licensees to update their [own]
information without a charge,” the FCC said.

The FCC also proposes to assess a $50 fee for individuals who want a
printed copy of their license. “The Commission has proposed to
eliminate these services — but to the extent the Commission does not
do so, we propose a fee of $50 to cover the costs of these services,”
the FCC said.

The Ray Baum’s Act does not exempt filing fees in the Amateur Radio
Service. The FCC dropped assessment of fees for vanity call signs
several years ago.

Deadlines for comments and reply comments will be determined once the
NPRM appears in the Federal Register. File comments by using the FCC’s
Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), posting to MD Docket No.
20-270. This docket is already open for accepting comments even though
deadlines have not yet been set.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARRL Central Division
Director: Kermit A Carlson, W9XA
w9xa at arrl.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------