The FCC has announced revised filing deadlines for documents due during the government shutdown. Since parties did not have access to electronic dockets and other online FCC resources during the suspension of operations, the FCC extended the filing deadline for regulatory and enforcement filings to provide filers with access to FCC resources for the period they would have had absent the suspension of operations. There are some exceptions.
What are the new deadlines?
- Filings that were due between October 1 and October 6 will be due on October 22, 2013.
- Filings that were due between October 7 and October 16 will be due 16 days after the original filing date, an extension equivalent to the period of the FCC’s closure. Thus, for example, a filing that would have been due on October 7, will be due on October 23. To the extent the revised due dates fall on a weekend or other FCC holiday, they will be due on the next business day.
- Any regulatory and enforcement filings that would otherwise be required to be filed between October 17 and November 4 will be due for filing on November 4, 2013 (which is the first business day following a 16-day period after the Commission’s October 17 reopening).
- To the extent the due dates for filings to which reply or responsive pleadings are allowed are extended by the Public Notice, the due dates for the reply or responsive pleadings are extended by the same number of days. Thus, for example, if comments were originally due on October 30 and reply comments due ten days later, comments would now be due on November 4 and reply comments on November 14.
Are there any exceptions?
These new deadlines do NOT apply to Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) filings and certain other proceedings listed in the FCC’s notice. Read the notice here. For example, reply comments in the FCC’s proceeding considering changes to the E-rate program are now due November 8, 2013.
What about pending 214 Applications?
The FCC originally said that comments addressing domestic section 214 transfer of control applications would be due on the next business day after it reopened. However, it now supersedes the earlier Public Notice. Instead, filing deadlines will be governed by the deadlines specified above. Reply comments for domestic section 214 transfer of control applications will be due seven days after the comment dates established in the Public Notice.
What about Petitions for Reconsideration?
The FCC said that it cannot waive statutory filing deadlines such as those associated with petitions for reconsideration. Nonetheless, because of the disruption and uncertainty associated with the suspension of FCC activities and the relaunch of its filing systems, it not consider itself open for filing of documents with statutory deadlines until Tuesday, October 22, 2013.
What about Special Temporary Authorities (STAs)?
Any STAs expiring between October 1, 2013 and October 22, 2013 are extended until November 4, 2013.
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