[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6380-6381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1099]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 1

[FCC 06-6]


Amendment of the Commission's Rules Regarding Petitions for 
Review

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Commission amends its regulations relating to the 
procedures to be followed when parties appealing Commission actions 
file in different courts of appeals. If within ten days after issuance 
of an order, the Commission receives two or more petitions for review 
filed with different courts of appeals, it is required to notify the 
judicial panel on multidistrict litigation, which then randomly selects 
one of those courts of appeals to consider the petitions for review. 
The Commission's regulations implement this provision by specifying 
that a party wishing to avail itself of these procedures must, within 
ten days after issuance of an order, file with the Commission's Office 
of General Counsel a copy of its petition for review as filed and date-
stamped by the court of appeals. This amendment conforms the 
Commission's regulations to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure by 
providing that weekends and holidays will not be included when counting 
this ten-day period.

DATES: Effective March 10, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David S. Senzel, Office of General 
Counsel (202) 418-1720.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order, 
FCC 06-6, adopted on January 24, 2006, and released January 26, 2006. 
The full text of the Order is available for inspection and copying 
during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Information Center, 
Portals II, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY-A257, Washington, DC 20554. 
Copies of filings may be purchased from the Commission's copy 
contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc., Portals II. 445 12th Street, 
SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554, telephone (202) 488-5300, 
facsimile (202) 488-5563, TTY (202) 488-5562, e-mail [email protected], 
Web site http://www.bcpiweb.com. This document may also be viewed on 
the Commission's Internet Web at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-6A1.pdf.
    Accessible formats (computer diskettes, large print, audio 
recording and Braille) are available to persons with disabilities by 
contacting the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau, at (202) 418-
0531, TTY (202) 418-7365, or at [email protected]. 

Summary of Order

    1. By this order, the Commission amends 47 CFR 1.13(a)(2) to 
eliminate an inconsistency with the Federal Rules of Appellate 
Procedure (Federal Rules) that arose as a result of the 2002 amendments 
to the Federal Rules. Section 1.13 of the Commission's rules implements 
the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 2112. That statutory provision, in relevant 
part, is applicable to situations where different parties seeking 
review of the same agency order file petitions for review in different 
courts of appeals. Under 28 U.S.C. 2112(a), if, ``within ten days after 
issuance of the order,'' an agency receives two or more petitions for 
review filed with different courts of appeals, that agency is required 
to notify the judicial panel on multidistrict litigation, which then 
randomly selects one of those courts of appeals to consider the 
petitions for review. Section 1.13(a)(1) of the Commission's rules 
implements this provision by specifying that a party wishing to avail 
itself of these procedures must, within ten days after issuance of an 
order, file with the Commission's Office of General Counsel (OGC) a 
copy of its petition for review as filed and date-stamped by the court 
of appeals with which it was filed.
    2. The inconsistency which the Commission corrects by this order 
concerns the manner in which the ten-day period for filing petitions 
with OGC is computed. Section 1.13(a)(2) of the Commission's Rules 
provides that ``[c]omputation of time of the ten-day period for filing 
copies of petitions for review shall be governed by Sec.  1.4 of the 
Commission's Rules.'' Section 1.4(g), in turn, sets forth the general 
Commission rule that, unless otherwise provided, intermediate holidays 
shall not be counted only in determining filing periods of less than 
seven days. The term holidays is defined to include Saturdays, Sundays, 
other recognized Federal legal holidays, and other days on which the 
Commission's offices are closed. 47 CFR. 1.4(e).
    3. Because the period for filing petitions for review with OGC 
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2112(a) for invoking the random selection process 
is not less than seven days, weekends and holidays would appear to be 
counted in determining the ten-day period under existing Sec.  1.13 of 
the Commission's rules. Such a determination, however, conflicts with 
current Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 26(a)(2). That rule applies 
``in computing any period of time specified in these rules or in any 
local court rule, court order, or applicable statute,'' and now states 
that computations must ``[e]xclude intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and 
legal holidays when the period is less than 11 days, unless stated in 
calendar days.'' \1\ Thus, Rule 26(a)(2), in contrast to existing 47 
CFR 1.13, excludes weekends and holidays in making the relevant ten-day 
computation under 28 U.S.C. 2112. Because the Commission's Rules should 
be consistent with, rather than conflict with, the Federal Rules of 
Appellate Procedure, the Commission amends Sec.  1.13(a)(2) to replace 
the

[[Page 6381]]

reference to Sec.  1.4 of the Commission's Rules with a reference to 
Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, thus making clear 
that the ten-day period under Sec.  1.13 excludes weekends and 
holidays.\2\
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    \1\ Prior to amendments made in 2002, Rule 26(a)(2), consistent 
with existing Sec.  1.13, provided that weekends and holidays would 
be excluded when ``the period is less than 7 days, unless stated in 
calendar days.''
    \2\ Rule 26(a)(4) defines legal holidays to mean New Year's Day, 
Martin Luther King's Birthday, President's Day, Memorial Day, 
Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans' Day, 
Thanksgiving Day, or other various government-declared holidays. It 
does not, however, define other days that the court is closed as 
``holidays.'' Rather, if the act to be done is filing a paper in 
court, Rule 26(a)(3) excludes from being counted as a day the last 
day of the filing period when the weather or other conditions makes 
the clerk's office inaccessible. The Commission will apply the same 
rule when it is closed on the last day of the filing period. In 
those cases, the petition must be filed the next business day on 
which the Commission is open.
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    4. The Commission will not send a copy of this Order pursuant to 
the Congressional Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), because the 
adopted rules are rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice 
that do not ``substantially affect the rights or obligations of non-
agency parties.''
    5. Accordingly, it is ordered, that 47 CFR 1.13 is amended as set 
forth in the rules changes.\3\
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    \3\ Notice and comment is not required to amend a procedural 
rule. See 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
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List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1

    Administrative practice and procedure.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.

0
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal Communications 
Commission amends 47 CFR part 1 as follows:

PART 1--PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

0
1. The authority citation for part 1 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154, 303, and 309(j) unless otherwise 
noted.


0
2. Section 1.13 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(2) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  1.13  Filing of petitions for review and notices of appeals of 
Commission orders.

    (a) * * *
    (2) Computation of time of the ten-day period for filing copies of 
petitions for review of a Commission order shall be governed by Rule 26 
of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. The date of issuance of a 
Commission order for purposes of filing copies of petitions for review 
shall be the date of public notice as defined in Sec.  1.4(b) of the 
Commission's Rules, 47 CFR 1.4(b).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 06-1099 Filed 2-7-06; 8:45 am]
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