PUBLIC NOTICE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 1919 M STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� News Media Information (202) 418-0500. Recorded listing of releases and texts (202) 418-2222. March 14, 1996 COMMISSION STREAMLINES WRC PREPARATORY PROCESS The Commission has given the International Bureau permission to streamline its preparatory process for World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) by eliminating Notice of Inquiry (NOI) proceedings. Scott Blake Harris, Chief of the International Bureau, made the announcement at the second meeting of the Commission s WRC-97 Advisory Committee. The NOI proceeding duplicated much of the work of the Commission s WRC Advisory Committees, and eliminating this time-consuming procedure will help the Commission more effectively promote U.S. interests given the new two-year WRC schedule. The Commission will now be able to formulate its draft proposals more quickly and discuss them with other countries as they develop. This streamlined process will help the U.S. build support for its proposals, and allow it to consider the views of other countries as it finalizes its positions. In the absence of an NOI proceeding, the Commission will still seek a full airing of views prior to releasing preliminary conference proposals, including views of parties who cannot participate directly in WRC Advisory Committee meetings. In that regard, the International Bureau staff will develop procedures to ensure that the public is given full opportunity for participating in developing preliminary U.S. proposals. The streamlined WRC preparatory process features the following elements: o the WRC-97 Advisory Committee will be the focal point for the Commission s WRC preparatory efforts; o a joint FCC-NTIA-Department of State Steering Committee of the Advisory Committee will review draft proposals as they are received from the Advisory Committee s working groups and will forward them to the Commission for consideration for release as preliminary U.S. proposals for public comment; o FCC Bureaus and Offices will review draft proposals and provide input; o all Advisory Committee draft proposals will be put on Public Notice to allow for public comment; o FCC Commissioners will consider the proposals; o Commission-approved proposals that have had the full agreement of the joint NTIA- FCC-Department of State Steering Committee of the Advisory Committee will be released via Public Notice as Preliminary U.S. Proposals for information; o the final product of the WRC-97 Advisory Committee will be a compilation of preliminary U.S. proposals to WRC-97, accompanied by a narrative report. These proposals will be forwarded to the Department of State as a basis for final U.S. proposals to WRC-97. Interested parties should note that input to the Advisory Committee may be sent at any time directly to the Chair of the WRC-97 Advisory Committee; the Chairs of the Advisory Committee s Informal Working Groups; Cecily C. Holiday, the FCC s federal officer of the WRC-97 Advisory Committee, or to Damon C. Ladson, the alternate federal officer (see attached Annex for the Advisory Committee's Structure). All meetings of the Advisory Committee and its Informal Working Groups are open to the public and are announced in advance. For additional information, contact Cecily C. Holiday, director of the FCC WRC-97 Preparatory Team, at the FCC s International Bureau, (202) 418-0719, or consult the WRC-97 Homepage on the Internet (http://www.fcc.gov). Annex WRC-97 Advisory Committee Structure Chairman: Gary Epstein Vice-Chair: Lon Levin Federal Officer: Cecily C. Holiday Alt. Federal Officer: Damon C. Ladson Steering Committee FCC Representatives: Cecily C. Holiday/Damon C. Ladson NTIA Representatives: William T. Hatch/Richard Parlow Department of State Representative: Warren G. Richards Advisory Committee Chair: Gary Epstein Informal Working Groups (IWG) IWG-1: Regulatory/Procedural Matters Chair: Frank Williams Vice Chair: James Carroll Vice-Chair: Wayne Longman FCC Rep.: Audrey L. Allison IWG-2: Satellite Service Matters Chair: Warren G. Richards Vice-Chair: William T. Hatch FCC Reps.: Cecily C. Holiday/Damon C. Ladson IWG-2A - NGSO MSS Below 1 GHz Chair: Warren G. Richards Vice-Chair: Tom Keller FCC Rep.: Tracey Weisler IWG-2B - MSS Between 1 and 3 GHz, Including Feederlinks Chair: Raul Rodriguez Vice-Chair: Jack Wengryniuk FCC Reps.: Damon C. Ladson/Ron Repasi IWG-2C - KA-Band Matters, Including NGSO FSS, MSS Feederlinks and GSO FSS Chair: Donald Jansky Vice-Chair: Donna Bethea FCC Rep.: Cecily C. Holiday IWG-3: Appendices 30/30A (Broadcasting-Satellite Service) Chair: Larry Olson Vice-Chair: John Janka FCC Rep.: Giselle Gomez IWG-4: Space Science, Maritime and Aeronautical Services Matters Chair: Diane Garfield Vice-Chair: James Carroll Vice-Chair: Robert Raisch FCC Reps.: Kal Krautkramer (space), Richard Swanson (maritime), Marcus Wolf (aeronautical) IWG-5: High Frequency Broadcasting Matters Chair: Ed Bailey Vice-Chair: Dexter Anderson FCC Rep.: Charles Breig IWG-6: Other WRC-97 Matters Chair: William A. Luther Vice-Chair: Karl Nebbia FCC Reps.: Allen Yang/Marcus Wolf