FCC Adopts a Policy Statement on Forfeiture Methodology for Violations of Rules Governing Payment to Certain Federal Programs

As part of ongoing efforts to reform processes in ways that enhance the Federal Communications Commission’s efficiency and effectiveness, the FCC has reevaluated its methodologies for calculating forfeitures for violations of the Universal Service Fund and other federal program payment rules.

This reevaluation has made clear that the current methodologies are unnecessarily cumbersome and therefore prevent the FCC from resolving investigations quickly and efficiently, which in effect constrains our ability to deter non-compliance. The FCC therefore adopts a treble damages methodology to assess forfeitures for violations of federal program payment Rules. Assessing forfeitures for payment violations on this simpler and more straight-forward basis will enable the FCC to resolve investigations more quickly and thereby promote increased compliance with the federal program payment Rules.