Report No. CI 98-7 COMPLIANCE AND INFORMATION ACTION April 29, 1998
The Federal Communications Commission announced today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the FCC's Compliance and Information Bureau (CIB), working in conjunction with the FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, and the Industrial Telecommunications Association, Inc. (ITA) to dramatically streamline the Commission's compliance and enforcement process in the resolution of interference complaints in the Land Mobile Communications industry.
According to the ITA, the MOU will introduce technical and administrative protocols that will significantly support the Commission's mandates under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The agreement promises to protect fair competition in the land mobile communications marketplace. According to CIB Bureau Chief Richard D. Lee and Mark E. Crosby, ITA President and CEO, today's agreement will provide the industry with a sense of confidence that their systems will be vigorously protected from interference caused by non-compliant and unlicensed operators.
The main objective of this agreement is to facilitate the Commission's certified Frequency Advisory Committee's (FAC) work in concert with CIB in protecting the technical and regulatory integrity of the land mobile environment. This will be accomplished by promotion of fair competition by preventing licensees who intentionally corrupt the spectrum environment and who operate beyond the technical or regulatory limits of their license authority from operating at the expense of compliant licensees. The MOU will greatly support conservation of Commission resources.
In executing the MOU, the FCC indicates its commitment to accept compliance and interference complaints submitted in the form of a standard Frequency Advisory Committee compliance request form. By agreeing to grant considerable weight and deference to an FAC-prepared compliance and interference report, the FCC will conserve the resources it would otherwise expend in the research and verification of a licensee-filed complaint. The agreement also seeks to educate the land mobile industry on compliance with FCC rules and regulations.
In signing today's agreement, the Commission and the ITA anticipate that a clear majority of interference complaints may be resolved through FAC negotiation, obviating the need for Commission action to stop such interference. Only when all attempts to identify the source of the interference are unsuccessful will the FAC solicit the assistance of the local FCC field office.
News Media contact: David Fiske at (202) 418-0500.
Compliance and Information Bureau contact: John Winston at (202) 418-1100.