[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 47 (Monday, March 11, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 8617-8619]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04257]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 1
[MD Docket No. 19-40; FCC 19-13]
Closure of FCC Lockbox 979094 Used To File Fees for Complaint
Proceedings Handled by the Enforcement Bureau
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC
or Commission) adopts an Order that closes Lockbox 979094 and modifies
the relevant rule provisions of filing and making fee payments in lieu
of closing the lockbox.
DATES: Effective April 10, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Warren Firschein, Office of Managing
Director at (202) 418-2653 or Roland Helvajian, Office of Managing
Director at (202) 418-0444.
[[Page 8618]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order,
FCC 19-13, MD Docket No. 19-49, adopted on February 20, 2019 and
released on February 25, 2019. The full text of this document is
available for public inspection and copying during normal business
hours in the FCC Reference Center (Room CY-A257), 445 12th Street SW,
Washington, DC 20554, or by downloading the text from the Commission's
website at https://www.fcc.gov/document/closure-enforcement-bureau-lockbox-979094.
I. Administrative Matters
A. Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
1. Section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended,
requires a regulatory flexibility analysis in notice and comment
rulemaking proceedings. See 5 U.S.C. 603(a). As we are adopting these
rules without notice and comment, no regulatory flexibility analysis is
required.
B. Final Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Analysis
2. This document does not contain new or modified information
collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), Public Law 104-13. In addition, therefore, it does not contain
any new or modified information collection burden for small business
concerns with fewer than 25 employees, pursuant to the Small Business
Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, Public Law 107-198, see 44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(4).
C. Congressional Review Act
3. The Commission will not send a copy of the 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. See 5 U.S.C. 804(3)(C).
II. Introduction
4. In the Order, we reduce expenditures by the Commission and
modernize procedures by amending Sec. 1.1106 of our rules, 47 CFR
1.1106, which sets forth the application fee for certain complaints
delegated to the FCC's Enforcement Bureau (EB) and currently handled by
its Market Disputes Resolution Division. The rule amendment reflects
the closure of the mailing drop box (P.O. Box) \1\ used for such manual
payment of filing fees for two types of EB complaints, section 208
formal complaints and section 224 pole attachment complaints. We
discontinue the option of manual fee payments and instead require the
use of an electronic payment for each complaint type. Consistent with
this change, we also make conforming revisions to Sec. 1.734 of the
Commission's rules to account for the electronic fee payment
requirements of formal complaint proceedings, as described more fully
below.
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\1\ A P.O. Box used for the collection of fees is referred to as
a ``lockbox'' in our rules and other Commission documents. The FCC
collects application processing fees using a series of P.O. Boxes
located at U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri. See 47 CFR 1.1101-
1.1109 (setting forth the fee schedule for each type of application
remittable to the Commission along with the correct lockbox).
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5. Section 1.1106 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1106,
provides a schedule of application fees for complaint proceedings
handled by the EB. The rule had also directed filers that do not
utilize the Commission's on-line filing and fee payment systems to send
manual payments to P.O. Box 979094 at U.S. Bank in St. Louis, Missouri.
In recent years, there have been a decreasing number of lockbox filers,
and it now is rare that the Commission receives a lockbox payment.
6. The Commission has begun to reduce its reliance on P.O. Boxes
for the collection of fees, instead encouraging the use of electronic
payment systems for all application and regulatory fees and closing
certain lockboxes. We find that electronic payment of fees for
complaints processed by EB will reduce the agency's expenditures
(including eliminating the annual fee for the bank's services) and the
cost of manually processing each transaction, with little or no
inconvenience to the Commission's regulatees, applicants, and the
public.
7. As part of this effort, we are now closing P.O. Box 979094 and
modifying the relevant rule provisions that require payment of fees via
the closed P.O. Box. Our action here to close this lockbox and require
electronic payments for any EB-related complaints has implications for
existing Commission regulations other than section 1.1106. Thus, we
also revise Sec. 1.734 of the Commission's rules to account for the
electronic fee payment requirements adopted in this Order. We note that
in 2014, the Commission adopted rules requiring that, with the
exception of confidential material, complaints should be submitted
electronically via the agency's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS)
after filers have paid the appropriate fee, and therefore this change
does not impact the filing of the complaints themselves. The rule
changes are contained in the Appendix of the Order. We make these
changes without notice and comment because they are rules of agency
organization, procedure, or practice exempt from the general notice-
and-comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, see 5
U.S.C. 553(b)(A).
8. Implementation. As a temporary transition measure, for 90 days
after publication of this document in the Federal Register, U.S. Bank
will continue to process payments to P.O. Box 979094. After that date,
payments for any EB-related complaint proceeding must be made in
accordance with the procedures set forth on the Commission's website,
https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees (Enforcement Bureau Fee
Filing Guide). For now, such payments will be made through the Fee
Filer Online System (Fee Filer), accessible at https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees/fee-filer. As we assess and implement U.S.
Treasury initiatives toward an all-electronic payment system, we may
transition to other secure payment systems with appropriate public
notice and guidance.
III. Ordering Clauses
9. Accordingly, it is ordered, that pursuant to sections 4(i),
4(j), 158, 208, and 224 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 158, 208, and 224, the Order is hereby
adopted and the rules set forth in the Appendix of the Order are hereby
amended effective April 10, 2019.
List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1
Administrative practice and procedure, Communications common
carriers.
Federal Communications Commission.
Cecilia Sigmund,
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
Final Rules
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: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 155, 157, 225, 227,
303(r), 309, 1403, 1404, 1451, and 1452.
0
2. Amend Sec. 1.734 by revising paragraph (b) to read as follows:
Sec. 1.734 Fee remittance; electronic filing; copies; service;
separate filings against multiple defendants.
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[[Page 8619]]
(b) The complainant shall remit separately the correct fee
electronically, in accordance with part 1, subpart G (see Sec. 1.1106
of this chapter) and shall file an original copy of the complaint using
the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System. If a complaint is
addressed against multiple defendants, the complainant shall pay a
separate fee for each additional defendant.
* * * * *
0
3. Revise Sec. 1.1106 to read as follows:
Sec. 1.1106 Schedule of charges for applications for enforcement
services.
Remit payment for these services electronically using the
Commission's electronic payment system in accordance with the
procedures set forth on the Commission's website, www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees.
[FR Doc. 2019-04257 Filed 3-8-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P