FCC Seeks Comment on Terminating Some Proceedings

The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (“CGB”) seeks comment on whether certain docketed FCC proceedings should be terminated as dormant.

FCC rules direct the CGB to periodically review all open dockets and, in consultation with the responsible Bureaus or Offices, to identify those dockets that appear to be candidates for termination. Those dockets could be ones in which no further action is required or contemplated as well as those in which no pleadings or other documents have been filed for several years. The FCC specified that proceedings in which petitions addressing the merits are pending should not be terminated, absent the parties’ consent. The termination of a dormant proceeding also includes dismissal as moot of any pending petition, motion, or other request for relief that is procedural in nature or otherwise does not address the merits of the proceeding.