[SMCARA] FCC no longer will routinely issue paper license documents to Amateur Radio applicants and licensees

[Daniel Metcalf]

Source:
http://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-paperless-amateur-radio-license-policy-goes-into-effect-on-february-17

[UPDATED 2015-01-29 1939 UTC] Starting February 17, the FCC no longer
will routinely issue paper license documents to Amateur Radio applicants
and licensees. The Commission has maintained for some time now that the
official Amateur Radio license authorization is the electronic record
that exists in its Universal Licensing System (ULS), although the FCC
has continued to print and mail hard copy licenses. In mid-December the
FCC adopted final procedures to provide access to official electronic
authorizations, as proposed in WT Docket 14-161 as part of its “process
reform” initiatives.

Under the new procedures, licensees will access their current official
authorization (“Active” status only) via the ULS License Manager. The
FCC will continue to provide paper license documents to all licensees
who notify the Commission that they prefer to receive one. Licensees
also will be able to print out an official authorization — as well as an
unofficial “reference copy” — from the ULS License Manager.

“We find this electronic process will improve efficiency by simplifying
access to official authorizations in ULS, shortening the time period
between grant of an application and access to the official
authorization, and reducing regulatory costs,” the FCC Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) said. According to the WTB, the new
procedures will save at least $304,000 a year, including the cost of
staff resources.

In comments filed November 5, the ARRL had strongly recommended that the
FCC “give serious consideration to continuing a default provision for
sending an initial paper license document to new licensees in the
Amateur Radio Service, along with detailed, simple instructions for how
to make the elections set forth in the notice relative to future
modified or renewed licenses.”

Under the new procedures, a new license applicant who already has an FCC
Registration Number (FRN) and provides a valid e-mail address under
“Applicant Information” in the ULS will receive an official
ULS-generated electronic authorization via e-mail. New license
applicants lacking an FRN will receive in the mail an FRN and a
temporary password to access the Commission Registration System (CORES).

New applicants will no longer automatically receive a license document
and must request one by changing their "Paper Authorization Preference"
in the ULS License Manager.

The ARRL and other Amateur Radio commenters also worried that unless a
license document is printed on distinctive paper stock, its authenticity
could be questioned in such situations as obtaining vanity call sign
license plates. To address this, the FCC said the watermark “Official
Copy” will be printed on each page of an official authorization that a
licensee prints out from the ULS. The WTB recently stopped using
distinctive paper stock to produce hard copy licenses and has been
printing these on “standard, white recycled paper.” The Bureau noted
that the distinctive paper stock it had used was six times more
expensive than the plain recycled paper it now uses.

The ULS License Manager now includes settings that allow licensees to
notify the WTB that they prefer to receive official authorizations on
paper. Once the final procedures go into effect designating electronic
access as the default, licensees can change the ULS License Manager
setting so that the Bureau will print and mail a license document.
Licensees also may contact FCC Support via the web, telephone or mail to
request paper licenses.

The FCC rejected as “outside the scope of this proceeding” an ARRL
argument that Section 97.23 of the Amateur Service rules be amended to
replace “licensee mailing address” with other alternatives, including
e-mail, for use in Commission correspondence. The rule, which requires
that any licensee mailing address be in an area where the licensee has
US Postal Service access, has precluded FCC issuance of
location-specific call signs in such areas as Navassa Island (KP1) and
some Pacific islands.

__._,_.___
Posted by: JVG <n3mps at comcast.net>
Reply via web post	•	 Reply to sender	•	 Reply to group	•	Start a New
Topic	•	Messages in this topic (1)
VISIT YOUR GROUP New Members 1
Yahoo! Groups • Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
.
 

__,_._,___