[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 60 (Friday, March 27, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 17283-17285]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-05800]



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 Rules and Regulations
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains regulatory documents 
 having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed 
 to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 60 / Friday, March 27, 2020 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 17283]]



FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 1 and 63

[MD Docket No. 20-64; FCC 20-16; FRS 16561]


Closure of FCC Lockbox 979093 Used to File Fees for Services 
Provided by the International Bureau

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC 
or Commission) adopts an Order that closes Lockbox 979093 and modifies 
the relevant rule provisions to require electronic filing and fee 
payments.

DATES: Effective April 27, 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 20-16, MD Docket No. 20-64, adopted on February 26, 2020 and 
released on March 4, 2020. 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-lockbox-used-services-provided-international-bureau.

I. Procedural 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), Pub. 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, Pub. 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.  1.1107 of our rules, 47 CFR 
1.1107, which sets forth the application fees for services administered 
by the FCC's International Bureau (IB). The rule amendment reflects the 
closure of the lockbox (P.O. Box) \1\ used for such manual payment of 
filing fees for thirteen types of IB services: (1) International Fixed 
Public Radio; (2) Section 214 Applications; (3) Fixed Satellite 
Transmit/Receive Earth Stations; (4) Fixed Satellite Transmit/Receive 
Earth Stations (2 meters or less operating in the \4/6\ GHz frequency 
band); (5) Receive Only Earth Stations; (6) Fixed Satellite Very Small 
Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Systems; (7) Mobile Satellite Earth Stations; 
(8) Space Stations (Geostationary); (9) Space Stations (NGSO); (10) 
Direct Broadcast Satellites; (11) International Broadcast Stations; 
(12) Permit to Deliver Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations; and (13) 
Recognized Operating Agency. We discontinue the option of manual fee 
payments and instead require the use of an electronic payment for each 
service listed above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    5. Section 1.1107 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1107, 
provides a schedule of application fees for proceedings handled by IB. 
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 979093 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 the 
services processed by IB 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 Commission's regulatees, applicants, and the public.
    7. As part of this effort, we are now closing P.O. Box 979093 and 
modifying the relevant rule provision that requires payment of fees via 
the closed P.O. Box. In addition, we make minor modifications to 
reflect the replacement of the International Bureau Filing System 
(IBFS) with a new system, MyIBFS. Finally, we make a minor adjustment 
to rule Sec.  1.10006 to reflect that applications for which an 
electronic form is not available must now be filed through the 
Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) solely in PDF format until new 
forms are introduced. The rule changes are contained in the Appendix of 
the Order and the Final Rules of this document. 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

[[Page 17284]]

Federal Register, U.S. Bank will continue to process payments to P.O. 
Box 979093. After that date, payments for these IB 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 (International 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 27, 2020.

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 1

    Administrative practice and procedure.

47 CFR Part 63

    Cable television, Communications common carriers, Radio, Reporting 
and recordkeeping requirements, Telegraph, Telephone.

Federal Communications Commission.
Cecilia Sigmund,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, Office of the Secretary.

Final Rules

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal 
Communications Commission amends 47 CFR parts 1 and 63 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.  1.1107 by revising the introductory text to read as 
follows:


Sec.  1.1107   Schedule of charges for applications and other filings 
for the international 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.
* * * * *

0
3. Amend Sec.  1.10001 by revising the definition of ``All other 
applications'' to read as follows:


Sec.  1.10001   Definitions.

    All other applications. We consider all other applications 
officially filed once you file the application in the International 
Bureau Filing System (MyIBFS) and applicable filing fees are received 
and approved by the FCC, unless the application is determined to be 
fee-exempt. We determine your official filing date based on one of the 
following situations:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) You file your Satellite Space        Your official filing date is
 Station Application or your              the date and time (to the
 Application for Earth Stations to        millisecond) you file your
 Access a Non-U.S. Satellite Not          application and receive a
 Currently Authorized to provide the      confirmation of filing and
 Proposed Service in the Proposed         submission ID.
 Frequencies in the United States in
 MyIBFS.
(2) You file all other applications in   Your official filing date is:
 MyIBFS and then do one of the
 following:
    (i) Pay by online Automatic             The date your online payment
     Clearing House (ACH) payment,           is approved. (Note: You
     online Visa, MasterCard, American       will receive a remittance
     Express, or Discover credit card        ID and an authorization
     payment, or wire transfer payment       number if your transaction
     denominated in U.S. dollars and         is successful).
     drawn on a United States financial
     institution and made payable to
     the Federal Communications
     Commission (through MyIBFS).
    (ii) Determine your application         The date you file in MyIBFS
     type is fee-exempt or your              and receive a confirmation
     application qualifies for               of filing and submission
     exemption to charges as provided        ID.
     in this part.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *

0
4. Revise Sec.  1.10006 to read as follows:


Sec.  1.10006   Is electronic filing mandatory?

    Electronic filing is mandatory for all applications for 
international and satellite services for which an International Bureau 
Filing System (MyIBFS) form is available. Applications for which an 
electronic form is not available must be filed through the Electronic 
Comment Filing System (ECFS) in PDF format until new forms are 
introduced. See Sec. Sec.  63.20 and 63.53 of this chapter. As each new 
MyIBFS form becomes available for electronic filing, the Commission 
will issue a public notice announcing the availability of the new form 
and the effective date of mandatory filing for this particular type of 
filing. As each new form becomes effective, manual filings will not be 
accepted by the Commission and the filings will be returned to the 
applicant without processing. Mandatory electronic filing requirements 
for applications for international and satellite services are set forth 
in this part and parts 25, 63, and 64 of this chapter. A list of forms 
that are available for electronic filing can be found on the MyIBFS 
homepage. For information on electronic filing requirements, see 
Sec. Sec.  1.1000 through 1.10018 and the MyIBFS homepage at http://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs.

0
5. Amend Sec.  1.10007 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec.  1.10007   What applications can I file electronically?

    (a) For a complete list of applications or notifications that must 
be filed electronically, log in to the MyIBFS website at http://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs.
* * * * *

0
6. Amend Sec.  1.10009 by revising paragraphs (c)(2)(i), (e)(1)(iii), 
(e)(2), (e)(3)(i) and (ii), and (e)(4), removing paragraph (e)(5), 
redesigning paragraph (e)(6) as paragraph (e)(5), revising newly 
redesignated paragraph (e)(5), and removing paragraph (e)(7) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  1.10009   What are the steps for electronic filing?

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (2) * * *
    (i) The referenced information is filed in MyIBFS.
* * * * *
    (e) * * *
    (1) * * *

[[Page 17285]]

    (iii) You can run a draft electronic submission of payment online 
form through MyIBFS, in association with a filed application, and the 
system will automatically enter your required fee on the form.
    (2)(i) A complete FCC electronic submission of payment online form 
must accompany all fee payments. You must provide the FRN for both the 
applicant and the payer. You also must include your International 
Bureau (IB) submission ID number on the electronic submission of 
payment online form in the box labeled ``FCC Code 2.'' In addition, for 
applications for transfer of control or assignment of license, call 
signs involved in the transaction must be entered into the ``FCC Code 
1'' box on the FCC electronic submission of payment online form. (This 
may require the use of multiple rows on the electronic submission of 
payment online form for a single application where more than one call 
sign is involved.)
    (ii) You can generate a pre-filled FCC electronic submission of 
payment online form from MyIBFS using your IB submission ID. For 
specific instructions on using MyIBFS to generate your FCC electronic 
submission of payment online form, go to the MyIBFS website (http://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs) and click on the ``Getting Started'' button.
    (3) * * *
    (i) Pay by credit card (through MyIBFS);
    (ii) Pay by online Automatic Clearing House (ACH) payment; or
* * * * *
    (4) You must electronically submit payment on the date you file 
your application in MyIBFS. If not, we will dismiss your application.
    (5) For more information on fee payments, refer to Payment 
Instructions found on the MyIBFS internet site at http://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs, under the Using IBFS link.

0
7. Revise Sec.  1.10010 to read as follows:


Sec.  1.10010   Do I need to send paper copies with my electronic 
applications?

    When you file electronically through MyIBFS, the electronic record 
is the official record. You do not need to submit paper copies of your 
application.

0
8. Amend Sec.  1.10011 by revising paragraphs (a) through (c) and (d) 
introductory text to read as follows:


Sec.  1.10011   Who may sign applications?

    (a) The Commission only accepts electronic applications. An 
electronic application is ``signed'' when there is an electronic 
signature. An electronic signature is the typed name of the person 
``signing'' the application, which is then electronically transmitted 
via MyIBFS.
    (b) For all electronically filed applications, you (or the signor) 
must actually sign a paper copy of the application, and keep the signed 
original in your files for future reference.
    (c) You only need to sign the original of applications, amendments, 
and related statements of fact.
    (d) Sign applications, amendments, and related statements of fact 
as follows:
* * * * *

0
9. Amend Sec.  1.10015 by revising paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  1.10015   Are there exceptions for emergency filings?

* * * * *
    (b) Emergency authorizations stop at the end of emergency periods 
or wars. After the emergency period or war, you must submit your 
request by filing the appropriate form electronically.
* * * * *

PART 63--EXTENSION OF LINES, NEW LINES, AND DISCONTINUANCE, 
REDUCTION, OUTAGE AND IMPAIRMENT OF SERVICE BY COMMON CARRIERS; AND 
GRANTS OF RECOGNIZED PRIVATE OPERATING AGENCY STATUS

0
10. The authority citation for part 63 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 160, 201-205, 214, 
218, 403, 571, unless otherwise noted.

0
11. Amend Sec.  63.53 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:


Sec.  63.53   Form.

    (a) Applications for international service under section 214 of the 
Communications Act must be filed electronically with the Commission. 
Subject to the availability of electronic forms, all applications and 
other filings described in this section must be filed electronically 
through the International Bureau Filing System (MyIBFS). A list of 
forms that are available for electronic filing can be found on the 
MyIBFS homepage. For information on electronic filing requirements, see 
Sec. Sec.  1.10000 through 1.10018 of this chapter and the MyIBFS 
homepage at http://www.fcc.gov/ibfs. See also Sec.  63.20.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2020-05800 Filed 3-26-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P