[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 75 (Thursday, April 20, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18580-18581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07808]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 1, 25, 73, and 74

[GN Docket No. 15-236; FCC 16-128]


Review of Foreign Ownership Policies for Broadcast, Common 
Carrier and Aeronautical Radio Licensees

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule; announcement of effective date.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
has approved, for a period of three years, information collection 
requirements adopted in the Commission's Report and Order, FCC 16-128. 
This document is consistent with the Report and Order, which stated 
that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register 
announcing OMB approval and the effective date of the rules.

DATES: This final rule is effective on April 20, 2017. The amendments 
to 47 CFR 1.5000 through 1.5004, 25.105, 73.1010 and 74.5, published at 
81 FR 86586, December 1, 2016, are effective on April 20, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cathy Williams by email at 
[email protected] and telephone at (202) 418-2918.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that, on April 9, 
2017, OMB approved information collection requirements contained in the 
Commission's Report and Order, FCC 16-128, published at 81 FR 86586. 
The OMB Control Number is 3060-1163. The Commission publishes this 
notice as an announcement of the effective date of those information 
collection requirements.

Synopsis

    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3507), the FCC is notifying the public that it received OMB approval on 
April 9, 2017, for the information collection requirements contained in 
47 CFR 1.5000 through 1.5004, 25.105, 73.1010 and 74.5, as amended, in 
the Commission's Report and Order, FCC 16-128. Under 5 CFR part 1320, 
an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless 
it displays a current, valid OMB Control Number. No person shall be 
subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of 
information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act that does not 
display a current, valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number is 
3060-1163.
    The foregoing notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
    The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents 
are as follows:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1163.
    OMB Approval Date: April 9, 2017.
    OMB Expiration Date: April 30, 2020.
    Title: Regulations Applicable to Broadcast, Common Carrier and 
Aeronautical Radio Licensees Under Section 310(b) of the Communications 
Act of 1934, as amended.
    Form Number: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 81 respondents; 81 responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 2 hours-46 hours.
    Frequency of Response: On-occasion reporting requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The 
statutory

[[Page 18581]]

authority for this collection of information is contained in 47 U.S.C. 
151, 152, 154(i), 154(j), 160, 303(r), 309, 310 and 403.
    Total Annual Burden: 1,830 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: $524,400.
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: In submitting the information 
requested, respondents may need to disclose confidential information to 
satisfy the requirements. However, covered entities would be free to 
request that such materials submitted to the Commission be withheld 
from public inspection (see 47 CFR 0.459 of the Commission's rules).
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact(s).
    Needs and Uses: On September 29, 2016, the Commission adopted final 
rules in Review of Foreign Ownership Policies for Broadcast, Common 
Carrier and Aeronautical Radio Licensees under Section 310(b)(4) of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as Amended, Report and Order, 31 FCC Rcd 
11272 (2016) (2016 Foreign Ownership Report and Order). In the 2016 
Foreign Ownership Order, the Commission:
     Modified its foreign ownership filing and review process 
for broadcast licensees by extending to such licensees the streamlined 
rules and procedures developed for foreign ownership reviews of common 
carrier and certain aeronautical licensees (collectively, ``common 
carrier'' licensees) (previously codified in Part 1, Subpart F, 
Sections 1.990 through 1.994 of the Commission's rules), adopted in 
Review of Foreign Ownership Policies for Common Carrier and 
Aeronautical Radio Licensees under Section 310(b)(4) of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as Amended, IB Docket No. 11-133, Second 
Report and Order, 28 FCC Rcd 5741(2013), with certain modifications to 
tailor them to the broadcast context; and
     Reformed the methodology used by both common carrier and 
broadcast licensees that are, or are controlled by, U.S. publicly 
traded companies to assess their compliance with the foreign ownership 
limits in Sections 310(b)(3) and 310(b)(4) of the Act, respectively.
    The 2016 Foreign Ownership Report and Order incorporated 
broadcasters into the common carrier foreign ownership rules through 
various changes to the rules, including adding new paragraph (e) to 
Section 1.5000, which sets forth the new methodology for eligible 
public companies--both broadcast and common carrier--and new paragraphs 
(f)(2)-(3) of Section 1.5004, which sets forth new compliance 
provisions for such companies. Moreover, the rules adopted in the 2016 
Foreign Ownership Report and Order included the following broadcast-
specific provisions in lieu of provisions applicable to common carrier 
licensees:
     Broadcast licensees filing a petition for declaratory 
ruling (petition) to request Commission approval of foreign ownership 
in excess of the 25 percent benchmark in Section 310(b)(4) will use the 
broadcast ``attribution'' criteria to determine those U.S. and foreign 
ownership interests that must be disclosed in the petition. The 
disclosure will ensure the Commission has sufficient information to 
understand the licensee's ownership structure and to verify the 
identity and ultimate control of the foreign investor for which the 
petitioner seeks specific approval.
     Broadcast licensees will use the broadcast ``insulation 
criteria'' set forth in the broadcast attribution rules in determining 
whether the broadcaster must include in its petition a request for 
``specific approval'' of a particular foreign investor because the 
investor holds, or would hold, directly and/or indirectly, more than 5 
percent (or, in the case of certain passive investors, more than 10 
percent) of the total outstanding capital stock (equity) and/or voting 
stock (or a controlling share) of the licensee's controlling U.S.-
organized parent company. The current insulation criteria for common 
carrier licensees will continue to apply.
    In addition to these tailored changes to incorporate broadcast 
licensees into the existing foreign ownership rules applicable to 
common carrier licensees under Section 310(b)(4), the 2016 Foreign 
Ownership Report and Order clarified the Commission's foreign ownership 
compliance procedures (to be codified in Section 1.5004(f)(3)-(4)) 
allowing a broadcast or common carrier licensee to file a petition for 
declaratory ruling to remedy the licensee's inadvertent non-compliance 
with the statutory foreign ownership limits or the terms and conditions 
of the licensee's existing foreign ownership ruling with reasonable 
assurance that the Commission will not take enforcement action.
    The Commission also made non-substantial changes to this 
information collection to renumber the foreign ownership rules. There 
is for the most part a one-to-one correlation between the existing 
rules (1.990-1.994) and the new rules (1.5000-1.5004).

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Parts 1, 25, 73 and 74

    Communications common carriers, Radio, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Satellites, Telecommunications.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.

    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 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 79, et seq.; 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 
154(j), 155, 157, 160, 201, 225, 227, 303, 309, 310, 332, 1403, 
1404, 1451, 1452, and 1455.


Sec. Sec.  1.990 through 1.994   [Removed]

0
2. In Subpart F, remove the undesignated center heading ``Foreign 
Ownership of Common Carrier, Aeronautical en Route, and Aeronautical 
Fixed Radio Station Licensees'' and Sec. Sec.  1.990 through 1.994.

[FR Doc. 2017-07808 Filed 4-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P