Non-substantive Change Request

April 2014

NON-SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE REQUEST JUSTIFICATION

OMB CONTROL NUMBER 3060-0999

FCC FORM 655 -- HEARING AID COMPATIBILITY STATUS REPORTING FORM

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) is submitting this non-substantive change request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval of minor non-substantive changes to FCC Form 655. The Commission utilizes FCC Form 655 as the principle means to ensure that wireless handset manufacturers and wireless service providers comply with the Commission’s hearing aid compatibility requirements. Under the Commission’s hearing aid compatibility requirements, wireless handset manufacturers and wireless service providers must file FCC Form 655 with the Commission on an annual basis – wireless service providers file their annual reports by January 15 and wireless handset manufacturers file their annual reports by July 15. The FCC Form 655 is an electronic form that the Commission has revised from time to time as it revises its hearing aid compatibility rules to ensure that the rules are up to date and effective.

Most recently, on April 9, 2012, the Commission adopted final rules in a Third Report and Order, DA 12-550, that, among other changes, adopted the 2011 revision of the hearing aid compatibility technical standard (ANSI Standard) as an applicable technical standard alongside the 2007 version that was already in the Commission’s rules. Following release of the Third Report and Order, the Commission amended FCC Form 655 to capture information regarding new disclosure requirements as well as other information important to monitoring compliance with the hearing aid compatibility rules. OMB approved these disclosure requirements and changes to FCC Form 655 on November 20, 2012, under OMB Control Number 3060-0999.

Upon review of FCC Form 655, the Commission has determined that certain minor non-substantive changes need to be made in order to make the form more user-friendly, conform to the prior approved changes, and easier to follow. These changes do not affect the burden hours or the cost of compliance, and they do not require a change in the underlying supporting statement that was part of OMB’s most recent approval of FCC Form 655 on November 20, 2012. The non-substantive minor changes are outlined below:

1. Figure 11 Air Interfaces/Frequency Bands (see page 23 of the Instructions): add the 5 GHz frequency band to the left hand column after “2.5 GHz” and before “Other.” This change was discussed in the underlying justification, but was inadvertently not made to the form in 2012.

2. Figure 14 Handset Model Summary Section (see page 26 of the Instruction):

   1. Delete the current text: “The following table summarizes your reported handset model information for each air interface for which technical standards are stated in the 2007 version of the ANSI C63.19 standard (GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, iDEN). Prior to July 17, 2014, the FCC’s hearing aid compatibility benchmarks apply only to these air interfaces.” This text is now out of date and unnecessary.

   2. Delete the “Excluded Handsets” column that appears in the table. This column is associated with the text being deleted above and, as with the text, is now out of date and unnecessary.

   3. After “WCDMA” on the left hand side of the table add rows for LTE, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and “other” air interfaces provided by the filer. Rows for LTE, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and “other” air interfaces were added to Figure 11 and approved by OMB last time, but were inadvertently not added to Figure 14.

3. Edition Form Date: update the edition form date for the instructions and electronic form to reflect the current date.

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