[W3GV] FCC Not Yet Collecting $35 Application Fee

[ucdavid at aol.com]

The majority of the FCC's revised Part 97 rules (adopted in December 2020) establishing new application fees become effective on April 19, but the new amateur radio application fees will not become effective on April 19. The FCC announced on March 19 that the amateur radio application fees, including those associated with Form 605 filings, would not become effective until the "requisite notice has been provided to Congress, the FCC's information technology systems and internal procedures have been updated, and the Commission publishes notice(s) in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of such rules."

The $35 fee, when it becomes effective, would apply to new, modification (upgrade and sequential call sign change), renewal, and vanity call sign applications, as well as applications for a special temporary authority (STA) or a rule waiver. All fees will be per application. Administrative updates, such as a change of mailing, email address, or name, are exempt.

It is expected that such fees will not become effective before summer 2021. The FCC has stated that amateurs will have advance warning of the actual effective date, because it will publish such date in the Federal Register.

ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said VECs and Volunteer Examiner (VE) teams will not have to collect the $35 fee at exam sessions. Once the FCC application fee takes effect, new and upgrade applicants will pay the $15 exam session fee to the VE team as usual, and pay the $35 application fee directly to the FCC via the Fee Filer System or License Manager System. Somma said this information was provided in a VE Newsletter distributed this past week. "Further news and instructions will follow when we have them," she said.