On December 7, 2010, the Federal Communications Commission established of the Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC), an advisory committee required by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA). The purpose of the EAAC is to determine the most effective and efficient technologies and methods by which to enable access to Next Generation 911 emergency services by individuals with disabilities.
In order to fulfill this mission, the CVAA directs that within one year after the EAAC’s members are appointed, the Committee shall conduct a national survey, with the input of groups represented by the Committee’s membership, after which the Committee shall develop and submit to the FCC recommendations to implement such technologies and methods. Under the CVAA and the charter and by-laws adopted by the EAAC, the FCC is responsible for oversight of the EAAC, including its informal working groups and subcommittees. As a result, FCC staff may participate in meetings or other activities held by the EAAC or its informal working groups or subcommittees. The FCC is therefore announcing that presentations to the EAAC will be treated as exempt presentations for ex parte purposes. This treatment is appropriate because presentations to the EAAC, like comments in response to a Notice of Inquiry, will not directly result in the promulgation of rules.
The FCC recognizes, however, that issues that may be considered or addressed by the EAAC are the subject of a number of pending FCC proceedings. The FCC will not rely in these proceedings on any information submitted to the EAAC, or to any of its subcommittees or working groups, unless that information has been filed in the record of the relevant
proceeding.