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NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 27, 2006--The FCC wants to reduce the Fiscal Year 2006 regulatory fee to obtain an Amateur Radio vanity call sign by $1.80 to $20.10 for the 10-year license term. The current vanity call sign fee is $21.90. The Commission proposed the new fee in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), "Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2006, in MD Docket 06-68, released March 27. If ordered as proposed, the new vanity fee would become effective in August or September. The FCC is obligated to collect nearly $289 million in regulatory fees during FY 2006 to fund its operations.
"Consistent with our established practice, we plan to collect these regulatory fees in the August-September 2006 time frame in order to collect the required amount by the end of the fiscal year," the FCC said in its NPRM. Comments on the proposed fee schedule are due Friday, April 14. Reply comments are due Friday, April 21. The FCC has projected collecting $171,188 in vanity call sign fee receipts from 8500 applications in FY 2006.
The vanity call sign fee has assumed somewhat greater significance this year as the renewal window is about to open for the first Amateur Radio licenses assigned vanity call signs in 1996. Applicants who wish to keep their post-1995 vanity call signs must pay the vanity call sign regulatory fee in effect at the time the renewal application reaches the FCC. Any Amateur Radio renewal application may only be filed within 90 days of the license expiration date.
Vanity call sign holders are not obliged to keep their current call signs, however, as the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau recently explained in a recent public notice to clarify filing procedures.
"Licensees of stations assigned vanity call signs have the option of keeping the vanity call sign or requesting that it be changed to a sequentially assigned call sign," the WTB pointed out. Those opting to keep their vanity call signs for the new 10-year license term must pay the current regulatory fee, now $21.90, when renewing. If the licensee no longer wants to keep a vanity call sign, no fee is required, and the applicant should request that the FCC issue a sequentially assigned call sign instead.
Amateur Radio licensees holding vanity call signs granted prior to 1996 do not have to pay a regulatory fee when renewing. This is because Congress did not begin requiring the FCC to annually recover its regulatory costs until 1993. Additionally, such licensees are not specifically tagged as vanity call sign holders in the ULS.
To renew via the Universal Licensing System (ULS), licensees should log into ULS License Manager Online Filing (click on "Log In") using their FCC Registration Number (FRN) and Commission Registration System (CORES) password. Anyone doing business with the FCC must supply an FRN on any application.
Licensees wishing to keep a vanity call sign should select "Renew" under the "Work on this License" option. Fees for electronically filed applications may be paid online or mailed to Federal Communications Commission, Regulatory Fees, PO Box 358835, Pittsburgh, PA 15251-5835.
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