47 CFR Part 97, Subpart F - Qualifying Examination Systems

The Federal Communications Commission (the Commission) acts to improve the Commission's efficiency, effectively manage Commission resources, and align the Commission's field enforcement activities with contemporary needs for a field enforcement presence. The Commission, the Office of Managing Director and the Enforcement Bureau will take several actions to realign the mission and resources of its 24 field offices. The Bureau's field offices will primarily support the enforcement of the Commission's radio frequency spectrum rules and other key regulations in a manner likely to have the greatest impact, in the most cost effective way possible.

In this document, the Commission implemented allocation changes from the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2007) (WRC-07) and updated related service rules. The Commission took this action in order to conform its rules, to the extent practical, to the decisions that the international community made at WRC-07. This action will promote the advancement of new and expanded services and provide significant benefits to the American people. In addition, the Commission revised the International Table of Frequency Allocations within its rules to generally reflect the allocation changes made at the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2012) (WRC-12).

In this document, the Commission proposes to implement certain allocation changes from the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2012) (WRC-12) and to update related service rules. The Commission took this action in order to conform its rules, to the extent practical, to the decisions that the international community made at WRC-12. This action will promote the advancement of new and expanded services and provide significant benefits to the American people. In addition, the Commission proposes to address several matters that pertain to unresolved issues from a previous Conference.

This document contains a correction to the final regulations of the Commission's rules, which were published in the Federal Register on Friday, June 20, 2014, 79 FR 35290. The final regulations address the rules for the Amateur Radio Service.

This document amends the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by modifying the qualifying examination system to grant partial examination credit for certain expired amateur operator licenses, permits examinations to be administered remotely, and allows amateur stations to transmit certain additional emission types. The rule amendments are necessary to implement these changes. Additionally, this document amends certain rules to conform them to prior Commission decisions. The effect of this action is to enhance the usefulness of the amateur service rules by making the amateur service more accessible to former licensees and to allow amateur stations to transmit certain additional emission types.

This document seeks comment on proposals developed in the course of the Federal Communications Commission's (Commission's) proceeding regarding compliance with our guidelines for human exposure to RF electromagnetic fields. The Commission's further proposals reflect an effort to provide more efficient, practical, and consistent application of evaluation procedures to ensure compliance with its guidelines limiting human exposure to RF energy from Commission-regulated transmitters and devices. In addition the Commission has initiated a Notice of Inquiry ( NOI ) in a new proceeding to determine whether there is a need for reassessment of the Commission radiofrequency (RF) exposure limits and policies. The NOI acknowledges the research that has occurred in recent years and the changing nature of RF devices and their uses, and focuses on the propriety of the Commission's existing standards and policies, including its fundamental exposure guidelines and aspects of its equipment authorization process and policies as they relate to RF exposure in light of these changes since its rules were adopted.

This document proposes to amend the Commission's rules to implement allocation decisions from the World Radiocommunication Conference (Geneva, 2007) (WRC-07), make other allocation changes that are not related to WRC-07, and make certain updates to its service rules. The proposed actions are designed to conform the Commission's rules to the WRC-07 Final Acts and to provide significant benefits to the American public.

In this document, the Commission proposes to amend the amateur radio service rules to grant examination credit for expired and beyond-the-grace-period-for renewal amateur radio operator licenses; to shorten the grace period during which an expired amateur license may be renewed to 180 days; to revise the time a call sign is not available to the vanity call sign system correspondingly; and to reduce to two the number of volunteer examiners needed to administer an amateur license examination. This document also asks for comment on amending the rules to permit remote test administration, and proposes to amend the amateur radio service rules to allow amateur stations to transmit certain additional emission types.