The FCC should act now to ensure automotive companies can’t commercialize the 5.9 GHz spectrum, set aside for dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) systems designed to curb traffic accidents, for uses that have nothing to do with public safety, public interest and consumer groups told the agency. It also should address cyber concerns, the groups said. Comments were due Wednesday on a June Public Knowledge and New America Open Technology Institute emergency petition (see 1606280066) for a stay of operations of DSRC.

The FCC should act now to ensure automotive companies can’t commercialize the 5.9 GHz spectrum, set aside for dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) systems designed to curb traffic accidents, for uses that have nothing to do with public safety, public interest and consumer groups told the agency. It also should address cyber concerns, the groups said. Comments were due Wednesday on a June Public Knowledge and New America Open Technology Institute emergency petition (see 1606280066) for a stay of operations of DSRC.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's legacy on cybersecurity remains up for considerable debate in what are likely the closing months of his chairmanship, stakeholders said in interviews. Wheeler's stated focus on improving sector cybersecurity through public-private partnerships generated early progress, but more-recent FCC actions stemming from Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband as a telecom service raise uncertainty about that commitment, experts said. The FCC announced in 2014 that it would be making cybersecurity a bigger public safety focus (see report in the Feb. 19, 2014, issue). Wheeler that year began calling for what he called a “new paradigm” on cybersecurity risk management in which the private sector would lead development of standards on cybersecurity issues (see report in the June 13, 2014, issue).

The FCC exceeds all but one other federal commission in after-hours document issuances, Communications Daily found, a practice that has the effect of delaying reaction by affected parties and that raises transparency concerns. Almost every other business day last quarter, the FCC on average posted something online about an hour after regular hours end at 5:30 p.m. Eastern. Only the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) exceeded during Q2 the 27 items the FCC released after business hours, and most other agencies issued no evening items, we found through Freedom of Information Act and other requests to independent federal commissions with a national purview. Over half of late FCC items were from Chairman Tom Wheeler's office. The FCC released another 32 items between 5 p.m. and 5:29 p.m., also after most agencies stop issuing documents.

The Senate Commerce Committee is gearing up for a September FCC oversight hearing, industry officials told us, with broadcast and media industry lobbyists citing Sept. 15 as the tentative date. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and all commissioners except Commissioner Mignon Clyburn are expected to testify, the media lobbyist said.

The Senate Commerce Committee is gearing up for a September FCC oversight hearing, industry officials told us, with broadcast and media industry lobbyists citing Sept. 15 as the tentative date. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and all commissioners except Commissioner Mignon Clyburn are expected to testify, the media lobbyist said.

The U.S. should press the East African Community (EAC) to lower duties on recycled and used textiles, industry members said to the Trade Policy Staff Committee, an interagency group led by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, during an Aug. 22 hearing on African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) eligibility. Among other issues discussed were the removal of the Republic of the Congo from the list of AGOA beneficiaries, and whether to keep Lesotho on the AGOA beneficiary list. The hearing was part of USTR's annual review of country eligibility for AGOA benefits in 2017.

Neustar moved to update a court on events the company said backed its challenge to a March 2015 FCC order that conditionally selected Telcordia (iconectiv) to replace Neustar as the local number portability administrator. Neustar cited the controversy over Telcordia's initial use of foreign nationals on number portability system software coding, documents the FCC released in response to a Communications Daily Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and the commission's July order approving Telcordia's contract terms as administrator, which the LNPA incumbent last week also challenged.

The Food and Drug Administration is pushing back certain compliance dates for its Food Safety Modernization Act regulations, including deadlines for some importers to comply with the Foreign Supplier Verification Program, it said in a notice (here). FDA will now give food facilities, farms and importers an extra two years to implement provisions that allow them to rely on downstream customers to control food safety hazards if they get written assurances from those customers. The agency will also give importers another two years to comply with FSVP requirements for food contact surfaces, and extend other deadlines for provisions of its preventive controls rules for human and animal food safety facilities and produce safety rule for farms.

NTIA “intends to allow” its current contract with ICANN to administer the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to expire just before midnight Sept. 30 and therefore allow the IANA transition to occur Oct. 1 as planned, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said Tuesday. NTIA believes a Friday report from ICANN on its progress with pre-transition implementation work shows the transition can occur “barring any significant impediment,” Strickling said in a letter to ICANN CEO Göran Marby. ICANN told NTIA it believes it will be able to complete all necessary governance changes before the IANA transition, including all but three of the recommendations NTIA made in its June assessment of transition-related plans. The three remaining recommendations require ICANN’s Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) subsidiary, which will be in charge of administering the IANA functions post-transition, to be engaged in post-transition operations (see 1608150056).