Justification Statement for requesting reinstatement of 3060-0741

JUSTIFICATION FOR EMERGENCY CLEARANCE

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) is requesting reinstatement under the “emergency processing” provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 44 U.S.C. § 3507, for the information collection (IC) requirements contained in 3060-0741, Implementation of the Local Competition Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, CC Docket No. 96-98, Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order; Second Order on Reconsideration; CC Docket No. 99-273, First Report and Order. Specifically, we request that OMB approve the information collection requirements by February 11, 2014, pursuant to 5 C.F.R. § 1320.13(b).

In April 1996, the Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning certain provisions in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (“the Act”), including section 251. Section 251 is designed to accelerate private sector development and deployment of telecommunications technologies and services by spurring competition. The Commission adopted rules and regulations designed to implement certain provisions of Section 251, and to eliminate operational barriers to competition in the telecommunications services markets. Some crucial areas that the Commission specifically addressed include local exchange carrier (LEC) obligations to provide competitors with dialing parity and non-discriminatory access to certain services and functionalities, and incumbent LEC obligations to provide network information disclosures.

Thus, as noted above, the IC requirements under Section 251 are essential to the continued development of private sector telecommunications technologies and services. Compliance with the normal clearance procedures set forth in 5 C.F.R. § 1320 would delay the implementation of these provisions of Section 251, which might result in unnecessary confusion and delays.  Therefore, the Commission is requesting OMB emergency reinstatement by February 11, 2014 to avoid any public harm that will result from applying the normal clearance procedures to these provisions of Section 251.

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