FCC Circulates Order on Remington’s Part 15 Waiver Request
A Remington Arms Co. petition to waive Part 15 rules has tentative conditional FCC approval, with the FCC circulating an order to that effect, FCC sources said. Remington needs the waiver to sell a device intended for law enforcement, counter-terrorism and security use. The agency is considering whether to impose eligibility and operational restrictions to minimize interference to other unlicensed devices in the band where Remington’s device would operate, an FCC source said. The draft order looks at granting the petition but limiting the device’s use to law enforcement agencies.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The Remington Eyeball R1 makes it possible to conduct live video and audio surveillance of locations that can’t otherwise be observed directly, such as building interiors, caves, tunnels and alleys. The devices would operate at 2.4 GHz with 1000 mW for transmitting audio and video to a control point and at 902-928 MHz with emitted power of less than 1000 mW for command and control data transmission. The device has received “strong endorsement” from law enforcement and emergency responder agencies, Remington said.
The petition has spurred opposition in the industry, with some issues resolved through negotiation. Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) dropped its resistance after Remington agreed to limit sale of devices made or imported pursuant to the waiver to certain eligible users. “We have no problem with the proposal as modified” and “we informed the FCC about that,” said Mitchell Lazarus, an attorney for FWCC.
Cisco remains the main opponent to the waiver. Following negotiations, Remington agreed to Cisco demands to include information on frequency interference avoidance in the device user guide and to train its on-line support personnel on the issue. It also agreed that it would sell the devices only to eligible users of the Public Safety Pool under Sec. 90.20 of Commission rules, federal agencies that would be eligible if they were state agencies and state licensed security and investigative services. But Cisco wants more curbs, including a sunset on the waiver after 24 months and requiring that the device be powered only by battery, with any other power source banned. Cisco also wants more limits on the potential market.
“It would be a serious mistake to try to force this product to a digital mode and to limit the length of the waiver,” said Gregg Skall, an attorney representing Remington. “Cisco wants the waiver to be limited to 24 months so we can develop it into a digital device,” he said: “There doesn’t seem to be any reason and there is no technical justification [for] asserting that a device operating in an analog mode would be more dangerous than the one operating in the digital mode.”
Skall said Remington also couldn’t agree with Cisco on the eligible device user issue. “Cisco’s proposed definition would be dangerous and un-useful,” he said, noting that many govt. buildings are being guarded by private security firms. He said the agreement Remington reached with FWCC was already “quite restrictive.” Skall said Cisco’s request that the device be limited to battery power “would be fine if we could guarantee that siege and standoff situations would all be limited to two hours.” But since most of the time they aren’t, he said alternative power source may be needed. “We feel very confident that we made a very persuasive showing as for importance of this technology for first respondents,” Skall said. Cisco didn’t return call for comment.