Section 10 of the Communications Act requires the Commission to forbear from applying to a telecommunications carrier any Communications Act provision or Commission regulation if certain statutory criteria are met. Under section 10(c), any telecommunications carrier or class of telecommunications carriers may file a petition with the Commission asking that it exercise this forbearance authority. If the Commission fails to act on a forbearance petition within one year (extended by three months, if necessary), the petition is "deemed granted" by operation of law. In its June 2009 Forbearance Procedures Order, the Commission adopted procedural rules to govern its consideration of forbearance petitions. Most of those rules took effect on September 8, 2009, but the "complete as filed" rule will not take effect until after the Office of Management and Budget reviews it for consistency with the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Congress enacted section 10 in 1996. Since then, the Commission has addressed numerous forbearance petitions. The following table lists the forbearance petitions currently pending before the Commission.