The working group that’s required as a condition of a waiver...
The working group that’s required as a condition of a waiver by the FCC International Bureau of mobile satellite service rules for LightSquared doesn’t fall under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the International Bureau and the Office of Engineering and…
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.
Technology (OET) said Friday. The working group is required to take up interference concerns about LightSquared’s coming service raised by the GPS industry and others (CD Jan 27 p1). The GPS Industry Council recently filed an emergency clarification request (CD Feb 17 p8) asking the FCC whether the group is covered by the act. It said some federal agencies may not participate, because of confusion over the matter. Rules under the act require working groups created by federal agencies to publish Federal Register notices of meetings, allow those interested to attend, and make information about the meetings public. The bureau and the OET said they were advised by the Office of General Counsel that the group doesn’t come under the law’s requirements, because the FCC won’t choose the members and the group isn’t asked to provide a consensus. The waiver order urges participation from the GPS industry and federal interests, but LightSquared isn’t required to get them involved, the bureau and the office told the company by letter. They said a working group consensus isn’t required and the final report on the GPS interference issue may include more than one interference analysis and set of recommendations. FCC staffers generally won’t attend the group’s meetings and they will leave scheduling and agendas up to LightSquared, they said. If commission staff do attend, normal ex parte rules will apply, they said in a footnote.