[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 172 (Thursday, September 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72398-72399]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19910]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-0174; FR ID 242812]


Information Collection Being Reviewed by the Federal 
Communications Commission

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burdens, 
and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) invites the 
general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to 
comment on the following information collection(s). Comments are 
requested concerning: whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
Commission, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the 
respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology; and ways to further reduce the 
information collection burden on small business concerns with fewer 
than 25 employees. The FCC may not conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) control number. No person shall be subject to any 
penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject 
to the PRA that does not display a valid OMB control number.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before November 4, 
2024. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments but find 
it difficult to do so within the period of time allowed by this notice, 
you should advise the contacts below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Direct all PRA comments to Cathy Williams, FCC, via email to 
[email protected] and to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information about the 
information collection, contact Cathy Williams at (202) 418-2918.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 3060-0174.
    Title: Sections 73.1212, 76.1615, and 76.1715, Sponsorship 
Identification.

[[Page 72399]]

    Form Number: Not applicable.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities and Individuals 
or households.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 52,760 respondents, 1,939,422 
responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 0.0011 hour-2.166 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Recordkeeping requirement; Third party 
disclosure requirement; On occasion reporting requirement.
    Obligation to Respond: Required to obtain or retain benefits. The 
statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in 
47 U.S.C. 151, 152, 154(i), 154(j), 303(r), 307, 317, and 325(c) of the 
Communications Act, as amended.
    Total Annual Burden: 332,922 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: $2,010,723.
    Needs and Uses: The Commission, in the Second Report and Order, FCC 
24-61, takes steps to ensure clear and reasonable foreign sponsorship 
identification rules. Section 73.1212(j) of the Commission's rules, 47 
CFR 73.1212(j), requires radio and television broadcast stations to 
disclose to their audiences, at the time of broadcast, when material 
aired pursuant to the lease of time on the station has been sponsored, 
paid for, or furnished by a foreign governmental entity. Section 
73.1212(k) of the Commission's rules, 47 CFR 73.1212(k), imposes 
corresponding obligations on stations with section 325(c) permits. The 
Commission's authority to impose these regulations stems from section 
317 of the Communications Act, which requires broadcast licensees to 
inform their audiences when the station has been paid to air a 
particular program, in furtherance of the longstanding broadcasting 
tenet that the public has a right to know the identity of those that 
solicit its support.
    The foreign sponsorship identification rules require broadcast 
licensees, at the time of entering or renewing a lease agreement 
(unless a once-a-year exception applies), to exercise reasonable 
diligence to ascertain whether a programming disclosure is required. To 
ensure that licensees are complying with their reasonable diligence and 
disclosure obligations, the foreign sponsorship identification rules 
require licensees to memorialize their required inquiries of lessees 
and to maintain records of their programming disclosures and their 
reasonable diligence efforts.
    In the Second Report and Order, the Commission modified the rule's 
information collection requirements by adopting an approach that 
provides licensees with two options for demonstrating that they have 
met their duty of inquiry in seeking to obtain the information needed 
to determine whether the programming provided by a lessee is sponsored 
by a foreign governmental entity. The Commission designed this approach 
to provide licensees with as much flexibility as possible and to 
minimize their paperwork costs and burdens while still ensuring 
compliance with the reasonable diligence requirements.
    One option available to licensees is the use of certifications, 
where both the licensee and the lessee complete a certification 
reflecting the communications and inquiries required under the existing 
rules. Licensees and lessees have the option either to use sample 
certification language set forth in simple, one-page, ``check-box'' 
templates appended to the Second Report and Order or to use language of 
the parties' own choosing. Most licensee and lessee employees should be 
able to complete the forms quickly and readily, based upon their 
existing knowledge and understanding. It is highly unlikely that either 
the licensee or the lessee would need to engage in any type of research 
to respond to the queries contained in the certifications. Notably, 
these are the same inquiries the Commission adopted in the First Report 
and Order, only formatted now as a certification. If licensees and 
lessees prefer not to use the Commission's templates, they may use 
their own certification language, provided that language addresses the 
points listed in Sec.  73.1212(j)(3)(i) through (iii) of the rules, 
which were adopted in the First Report and Order. The Commission 
granted this flexibility to alleviate or minimize costs for licensees 
that already had developed their own certifications based on the 
existing foreign sponsorship identification rules. A lessee's 
certification should convey the information needed to determine whether 
a disclosure is required and the information needed for a broadcast 
disclosure if one is required.
    As an alternative to the certification option, licensees may choose 
to ask their lessees for screenshots of lessees' search results of two 
federal government websites (the Department of Justice's FARA database 
and the Commission's U.S.-based foreign media outlet report). Licensees 
choosing this option must still comply with all other aspects of the 
current rules, as they have been required to do since the compliance 
date of the First Report and Order. Licensees are encouraged to include 
in their lease agreements a requirement for lessees to provide notice 
of any change in status so as to trigger the need for a foreign 
sponsorship disclosure.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-19910 Filed 9-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P