[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 248 (Thursday, December 28, 2023)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 89608-89610]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28617]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 1

[MD Docket Nos. 22-301, 23-159; FCC 23-34; FR ID 191170]


Review of the Commission's Assessment and Collection of 
Regulatory Fees; Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for 
Fiscal Year 2023

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final action.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) amends its rules to simplify and streamline the 
Commission's procedures for filing waiver, deferral, and reduction 
requests for regulatory fees and the procedures for filing installment 
payment requests for all debt owed to the Commission, including 
regulatory fees, to reduce administrative expenses and ensure more 
rapid disposition of such requests.

DATES: The revision to the Commission's waiver procedure, 47 CFR 
1.1166, became effective on October 16, 2023. The revision to 47 CFR 
1.1914 is delayed indefinitely until after review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB), as required by the Paperwork Reduction 
Act.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roland Helvajian, Office of Managing 
Director, at (202) 418-0444.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Report 
and Order (May Report and Order), in MD Docket Nos. 22-301 and 23-159, 
FCC 23-34, adopted on May 12, 2023, and released on May 15, 2023, as 
amended by the sua sponte technical corrections the Commission made to 
the language of 47 CFR 1.1166 and 1.1914 in the Commission's Report and 
Order, FCC 23-66, MD Docket Nos. 22-310 and 23-159, adopted and 
released on August 10, 2023 (August Report and Order), 88 FR 63694, 
(Sept. 15, 2023). The full text of the Commission's May Report and 
Order and August Report and Order are available for public inspection 
by downloading the text from the Commission's website at https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees/regulatory-fees.

I. Administrative Matters

A. Final Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Analysis

    1. The Commission adopted amendments to 47 CFR 1.1166 and

[[Page 89609]]

1.1914 in the May Report and Order, and made technical corrections to 
the language of those rules in the August Report and Order, which may 
contain new or substantively modified information collection 
requirements subject to the PRA and new or modified information 
collection burdens 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). The amendments to 47 CFR 
1.1166, as adopted in the May Report and Order, and as technically 
corrected in the August Report and Order, were approved by OMB on 
August 17, 2023, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act, as non-
substantive modifications to an information collection under the PRA. 
The effective date of the amended 47 CFR 1.1166 was October 16, 2023, 
which was 30 days after it was published in the Federal Register on 
September 15, 2023. The amendments to 47 CFR 1.1914 will not become 
effective until 30 days after publication of a document in the Federal 
Register announcing that the Office of Management and Budget has 
completed review of any information collection requirements that the 
Office of Managing Director determines are required under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act. The Commission will publish a document in the Federal 
Register announcing the effective date of the revisions to 47 CFR 
1.1914.

B. Congressional Review Act

    2. The Commission will not send a copy of the May Report and Order 
to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the 
Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), because the adopted 
rule is a rule of agency organization, procedure, or practice that does 
not ``substantially affect the right or obligations of non-agency 
parties.''

II. Discussion

    3. In the May Report and Order, the Commission codified several of 
the temporary measures it had implemented in FY 2020 through FY 2022 to 
permanently simplify and streamline the process for filing waiver, 
deferral, and reduction requests for regulatory fees and the process 
for filing installment payment requests for all debt owed to the 
Commission, including regulatory fee debt. Specifically, it amended 47 
CFR 1.1166 and 1.1914 as follows: (i) parties seeking multiple forms of 
regulatory fee relief, including installment payment of their 
regulatory fees, may file a single pleading in which all requested 
relief is included; (ii) parties must submit their requests 
electronically to [email protected]; and (iii) parties seeking only 
installment payment relief to pay debt owed to the Commission, 
including regulatory fee debt, must submit such requests in writing, 
electronically to [email protected]. The Commission received many 
more requests for waiver, reduction, deferral, and installment payment 
relief in FYs 2020, 2021, and 2022 than it had received in previous 
years. As in other years, many of the requests were submitted by 
regulatory fee payors without the assistance of counsel. The Commission 
found that the procedural flexibility used during this time eased the 
Commission's administrative burden and thereby reduced administrative 
expenses of collection. The Commission made 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.
    4. On August 10, 2023, the Commission adopted the August Report and 
Order, which included sua sponte technical corrections to the amended 
language of 47 CFR 1.1166 and 1.1914. Specifically, the Commission 
deleted ``or installment payment'' in the introductory paragraph of 47 
CFR 1.1166 and in 47 CFR 1.1166(a), made grammatical changes to move 
the word ``or'' twice, and deleted ``and 1.1914'' in 47 CFR 1.1166(a). 
The Commission also restored the following text (bolded) that was 
inadvertently deleted from 47 CFR 1.1166(a) in the May Report and 
Order: ``All requests for waiver, reduction and deferral shall be acted 
upon by the Managing Director with the concurrence of the General 
Counsel.'' The Commission also (1) modified the heading of section 
1.1166 to delete ``and installment payment'' and to add ``and'' before 
the word ``deferrals''; (2) revised the final sentence of the 
introductory paragraph of section 1.1166 to delete the phrase 
``interest charges or penalties''; and (3) revised section 1.1166(b) to 
delete a comma and the phrase ``from the date of the filing of the 
deferral request''.
    5. The Commission also made technical corrections to 47 CFR 1.1914 
to clarify the language of the rule. Specifically, the third sentence 
of 47 CFR 1.1914(a) was revised to read as follows: ``Requests for 
installment payment of non-regulatory fee debt shall be filed 
electronically, by submission to the following email address: 
[email protected].'' The Commission explained that it made 
this change to ensure that, for administrative simplicity purposes, 
installment payment requests that are non-regulatory fee in nature are 
submitted to a different email address than the email address to which 
all regulatory fee relief requests, including for installment payment 
of regulatory fees, are to be submitted. The Commission also revised 
the fourth sentence of 47 CFR 1.1914(a) to more clearly state that 
requests for installment payment of regulatory fees may be combined 
with other regulatory fee relief requests that are filed pursuant to 47 
CFR 1.1166. Additionally, the Commission revised the fifth sentence of 
section 1.1914(a) to delete the phrase ``their debt to the 
Commission.'' Further, the Commission stated that the amendments to 47 
CFR 1.1914 in the May Report and Order will continue as temporary 
measures until such time as they become effective.
    6. On August 17, 2023, OMB approved the amendments to 47 CFR 
1.1166, including the technical language corrections the Commission 
made in the August Report and Order. On September 15, 2023, the August 
Report and Order was published in the Federal Register, including 47 
CFR 1.1166 and 1.1914, as fully amended and technically corrected. The 
effective date of 47 CFR 1.1166 was October 16, 2023, which was 30 days 
after it was published in the Federal Register. The Commission will 
publish a document in the Federal Register to announce the effective 
date for the revisions to 47 CFR 1.1914, once OMB has approved the 
rule.

III. Ordering Clauses

    7. Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to sections 4(i), 
4(j), 9, 9A, and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 
47 U.S.C. 154(i), 154(j), 159, 159a, 303(r), this May Report and Order 
is hereby adopted.
    8. It is further ordered that the amendments to section 1.1914 of 
the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1914, which were technically corrected 
by the Commission on August 10, 2023, WILL BECOME EFFECTIVE 30 days 
after publication of a document in the Federal Register announcing that 
the Office of Management and Budget has completed review of any 
information collection requirements that the Office of Managing 
Director determines as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The 
Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing 
the effective date of the amendments to 47 CFR 1.1914. The amendments 
to section 1.1166 of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 1.1166, which were 
technically corrected by the Commission on August 10, 2023, and 
approved by the Office of Management and Budget, pursuant to the 
Paperwork

[[Page 89610]]

Reduction Act, on August 17, 2023, became effective on October 16, 
2023.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-28617 Filed 12-27-23; 8:45 am]
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