[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 232 (Tuesday, December 3, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 66078-66079]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-26118]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 1

[MD Docket No. 19-334; FCC 19-114]


Closure of FCC Lockbox 979095 Used To File Fees for Service 
Provided by the Office of Engineering and Technology

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 979095 and modifies 
the relevant rule provisions of filing and making fee payments in lieu 
of closing the lockbox.

DATES: Effective January 2, 2020.

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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order, 
FCC 19-114, MD Docket No. 19-334, adopted on November 7, 2019 and 
released on November 8, 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/amendment-part-1-commissions-rules.

I. Introduction

    1. In the Order, we reduce expenditures by the Commission and 
modernize procedures by amending Sec.  1.1103 of our rules, 47 CFR 
1.1103, which sets forth the application fees for services administered 
by the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). The rule 
amendment reflects the closure of the lockbox (P.O. Box) \1\ used for 
such manual payment of filing fees for four types of OET services: 
Experimental radio services; assignment of grantee codes; advance 
approval of subscription TV systems; and certification of equipment 
approval services. We discontinue the option of manual fee payments and 
instead require the use of an electronic payment for each service 
listed above.
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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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    2. Section 1.1103 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1103, 
provides a schedule of application fees for complaint proceedings 
handled by OET. 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 979095 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.
    3. 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 the 
services processed by OET reduces 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

[[Page 66079]]

Commission's regulatees, applicants, and the public.
    4. As part of this effort, we are now closing P.O. Box 979095 and 
modifying the relevant rule provision that requires payment of fees via 
the closed P.O. Box. The rule change is contained in the Appendix of 
the Order. We make this change without notice and comment because it is 
a rule 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).
    5. 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 979095. After that date, 
payments for these OET services must be made in accordance with the 
procedures set forth on the Commission's website, https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees/application-processing-fees (Office of 
Engineering and Technology 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.

II. Procedural Matters

A. Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    6. 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

    7. 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

    8. 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).

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 January 2, 2020.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 1

    Administrative practice and procedure.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.

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 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 47 U.S.C. chs. 2, 5, 9, 13; 28 U.S.C. 2461 note, 
unless otherwise noted.

0
2. Amend Sec.  1.1103 by revising the introductory text to read as 
follows:


Sec.  1.1103  Schedule of charges for assignment of grantee code, 
experimental radio services (or service).

    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.
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[FR Doc. 2019-26118 Filed 12-2-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P