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NEWS
Federal Communications Commission

News Media Information 202 / 418-0500

445 12th Street, S.W.

Internet: http://www.fcc.gov

Washington, D. C.  20554

TTY: 1-888-835-5322

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 18, 2012

STATEMENT OF FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI ON FCC’S FINAL PLAN FOR 

RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF EXISTING RULES

I am pleased that the Commission has completed work on its Final Plan for Retrospective 
Analysis of Existing Rules.  It is important for us to review regularly the rules already on the books and 
determine whether they should be modified or eliminated in light of changing market and/or technological 
conditions.  In that vein, I look forward to working with my colleagues in examining whether the rules 
listed in Section VI of the Final Plan should be modified or repealed.  It is my hope that we will take 
prompt action with respect to many of these proceedings.
I also am looking forward to the Commission’s 2012 Biennial Review.  Section 11 of the 
Communications Act requires the Commission to review every two years all regulations that apply to the 
operations or activities of telecommunications service providers and determine whether those regulations 
are “no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between 
providers of such service.”  Following this review, the Commission is then required “to repeal or modify 
any regulation it determines to be no longer necessary in the public interest.”  In light of the importance of 
this comprehensive retrospective analysis, I believe that the 2012 Biennial Review should take the form 
of Commission-level action rather than Bureau-level recommendations
-FCC-

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