[Federal Register: January 28, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 18)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 4105-4107]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28ja03-11]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 54
[CC Docket 96-45; FCC 02-339]
The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission grants relief to parties who
have, after September 12, 2001, mailed
[[Page 4106]]
to the Commission requests for review of an action of the Universal
Service Administrative Company (Administrator) pursuant to section 54
of the Commission rules. We're deeming certain request filed after
September 12, 2001 with the Commission as timely and we grant others a
60 day opportunity to resubmit their pleadings. The Commission takes
this action to ensure that these parties are not prejudiced by
continuing disruptions in the mail service.
DATES: Effective February 27, 2003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sheryl Todd (202) 418-7400 TTY: (202)
418-0484.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order
in CC Docket No. 96-45 released on January 7, 2003. The full text of
this document is available on the Commission's Web site Electronic
Comment Filing System and for public inspection during regular business
hours in the FCC Reference Center, Room CY-A257, 445 Twelfth Street,
SW., Washington, DC 20554.
I. Introduction
1. In this Order, the Commission deems certain requests for review
as timely filed with the Commission, and we grant other petitioners a
60-day opportunity to resubmit their pleadings electronically.
Specifically, this relief is provided to parties who have, after
September 12, 2001, mailed to the Commission requests for review of an
action of the Universal Service Administrative Company (Administrator)
pursuant to section 54 of our rules, or petitions for reconsideration
or applications for review arising from such pleadings (hereinafter
collectively referred to as ``requests for review''). The Commission
takes this action to ensure that these parties are not prejudiced by
continuing disruptions in the mail service.
2. On December 24, 2001, we released the Interim Filing Procedures
Order, 67 FR 3620, January 25, 2002, in response to disruptions in mail
service arising from the events of September 11, 2001. In the Interim
Filing Procedures Order, we established that, in addition to the then-
available methods of filing requests for review with the Commission,
including mail or electronic submission through the Commission's
Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), parties could also file by
facsimile or electronic mail. We instructed that, if requests for
review were filed by electronic mail, pleadings should be filed at the
following e-mail address: CCBSecretary@fcc.gov and could be submitted
in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), Word, WordPerfect, or any
other widely used word processing format. We further instructed that,
if filed by facsimile, pleadings should be faxed to 202-418-0187, and
that the fax transmission should include a cover sheet listing contact
name, phone number, and, if available, an e-mail address. We made these
methods optional. Thus, parties could, if they wished, continue to file
requests for review by mail, manual delivery, or overnight delivery.
3. The Commission further provided that, where a party had mailed a
request for review to the Commission on or after September 12, 2001,
and that request for review was timely as of the date of mailing, the
party could resubmit its request for review electronically within 30
days of the effective date of the Interim Filing Procedures Order, and
have the request for review treated as having been filed with the
Commission on the date that it was originally mailed. We provided this
refiling option so that parties who had submitted their requests for
review prior to the issuance of the Interim Filing Procedures Order
might take advantage of the new electronic filing methods to ensure
that their requests for review were timely received despite delays with
the mail.
4. Since the Interim Filing Procedures Order was published in the
Federal Register on January 24, 2002, we have received many requests
for review that were submitted via United States mail. These parties
did not take advantage of the new electronic filing options or the
existing option to file via ECFS.
5. Under Commission rules, documents are considered to be filed
with the Commission only upon receipt. Upon receipt, the Office of the
Secretary date-stamps the appeals as received. Based on our review of
the FCC date-stamp of the appeals, many mailed requests for review
arrived at the Commission more than 60 days from the issuance of the
decision being appealed. Thus, even under our Interim Filing Procedures
Order, these appeals would be considered untimely. When comparing the
FCC date-stamp to the postmark date or the date of the pleading,
however, it is evident that some of these mailed requests for review
were substantially delayed in transit due to continuing disruptions in
mail service to federal agencies.
6. In our Interim Filing Procedures Order, we granted certain
relief based on our belief that the mail system would return to normal
operation. We have reviewed appeals filed by mail that were received
after the release of the Interim Filing Procedures Order. From that
review, we determined that there continued to be significant delays for
appeals filed by mail. Only recently have we found that we are
receiving requests for review within a reasonable time of the
applicants' postmark. As such, we believe it is appropriate to extend
the relief we originally ordered. Therefore, because of the
unprecedented mail delays caused by the September 11, 2001 attacks and
the subsequent appearance of anthrax in the United States mail system,
we now conclude that it is appropriate to grant relief to certain
parties that continued to rely on the United States mail to file
pleadings with the FCC. The filings made by these petitioners fall into
two categories. The first category of filings include petitions that
are actually dated and/or have a postmarked date on the envelope that
indicates that the petitioners took reasonable steps to ensure that its
application would be timely filed. The second category of filings
include requests that are not dated and arrived at the FCC secretary's
office without proof of postmark.
7. Petitioners in the first category are set forth in Attachment C.
Based on the dates of the requests for review and/or the postmarked
dates on the envelopes when compared with the FCC-date stamp, we find
that these petitioners reasonably complied with the terms of the
Interim Filing Procedures Order. We find that these petitioners mailed
their requests for review in a timely fashion. But for the disruptions
in the mail service, their pleadings would have arrived at the
Commission within the 60-day appeal period. Accordingly, we deem these
requests for review as timely filed pursuant to this Order. Therefore,
we direct that these requests for review shall be reviewed on their
merits.
8. The Commission has also received several requests for review
that either were not dated or did not have a postmark date. During the
disruptions in the mail service and the implementation of the ensuing
security measures, these pleadings were separated from their envelopes
before they arrived in the FCC's Office of the Secretary. Thus, we do
not have proof of postmark for these pleadings. We shall afford these
petitioners an opportunity to resubmit their requests for review with
proof that their original submissions were timely filed. These requests
for review may be resubmitted electronically or by facsimile within 60
days of the release date of this Order. All requests for review re-
submitted pursuant to this paragraph shall be accompanied by a signed
affidavit or a declaration pursuant to Commission rule Sec. 1.16
stating the date on which the
[[Page 4107]]
pleading was originally sent for delivery to the Commission and by what
means (i.e., by U.S. mail, express courier, or hand delivery). For this
purpose only, the new pleading will be considered filed as of the date
on which the original pleading was sent for delivery. The provisions of
this paragraph are applicable to the petitioners listed in Attachment D
of this Order. To the extent that it is determined that other filings
not listed herein merit relief, we delegate to the Bureau the authority
to grant such relief in keeping with this Order.
9. In addition, although we will continue to allow parties to
submit requests for review by mail, express courier, or hand delivery,
we note that mail in-take and processing procedures may continue to
result in delivery disruption and affect the timeliness of their
filings with the Commission. The Commission's filing procedures are
designed to receive documents through the ECFS system. We strongly
encourage parties to make use of the ECFS filing option to ensure that
their requests for review arrive at the Commission in a timely fashion.
Our ECFS filing option ensures accurate and more efficient processing.
Parties will still be able to file by facsimile at 202-418-0187.
List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 54
Communications common carriers, Health facilities, Libraries,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirement, Schools, Telecommunications
and Telephone.
Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene H. Dortch,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-1747 Filed 1-27-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P