Equipment Certification Re-vamp Update: Deadlines for Responses to Petitions for Reconsideration Announced

Way back in December of last year the Commission re-vamped its equipment certification rules. It took six months for those revised rules to make it into the Federal Register, and another month for the rules to become effective. The effective date also marked the deadline for petitions for reconsideration of the December order adopting the new rules. Two petitions were filed on the July 13 deadline, one by Motorola Solutions, Inc., the other by the Telecommunications Industry Association. Continuing its leisurely approach to this proceeding, the Commission issued its own public notice of the filing of those petitions three months later. And now that notice has been published in the Federal Register.

This last publication is important because it establishes the deadlines for pleadings responsive to the two reconsideration petitions. Initial responses to either or both petitions are due by December 15, 2015, and replies are due by December 28.

For anyone potentially interested in chiming in at this point, here's a brief summary of the two petitions for reconsideration.

Motorola seeks clarification on how the new processes for accreditation of equipment testing laboratories will be done. It's particularly concerned with accreditation of laboratories located in countries with which the Commission does not have a Mutual Recognition Agreement allowing such laboratories to be recognized by the FCC. Motorola also seeks additional time - a minimum of two years after the FCC clarifies its new accreditation processes - before the authorizations for the currently authorized laboratories expire.

TIA similarly seeks clarification and additional time with regard to test labs located in non-MRA counties. TIA asks that the Commission set out - ASAP - the processes by which these laboratories may become accredited, or delay action that would remove their current accreditation status. And TIA seeks an extension of the expiration date for Commission acceptance of data from these laboratories.