The ARRL, the national association for amateur radio, has requested that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waive its recently proposed fee for amateur radio applications.
The ARRL’s waiver request was filed in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued last month by the FCC, in which the agency proposed a fee of $50 for amateur radio applications to help recover the cost of processing those applications.
According to the ARRL, fees for amateur licenses have been excluded from the agency’s fee collection schedule since 1985. The ARRL further argues that “unlike other FCC services, the Amateur Radio Service is all volunteer and largely self-governing with examination preparation, administration, and grading handled by volunteers, who submit licensing paperwork to the FCC.”
“These volunteer services lessen the regulatory burden…on the Commission’s resources and budget in ways that licensees in other services do not,” the ARRL contends.
Read the posting on the ARRL website detailing the ARRL’s waiver request.
