A new FCC certification requirement for submarine cables is ‘burd...
A new FCC certification requirement for submarine cables is “burdensome,” duplicates other paperwork and doesn’t have “practical utility,” the North American Submarine Cable Association said in a letter sent Monday. The group said it has petitioned the FCC to…
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reconsider a rule that requires applicants for streamlined authority to build or change undersea systems to certify that they're not in states where cable landing licenses might be subject to “consistency certification requirements” of the Coastal Zone Management Act. Consistency certification requires users of water or other resources in a state’s coastal zone to certify that they are complying with the state’s policies. “The Commission seems to believe that the CZMA obligates it to prevent processing… of cable landing license applications unless an applicant certifies that the cable system will not be subject to any state consistency review procedures,” the letter said. “But the CZMA, as it has been interpreted and implemented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, places no such obligation on the Commission.” In cases where no state has sought review of a cable landing license, “the Commission simply has no role in state CZMA consistency review processes,” it said. But “it can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for an applicant to definitively determine whether or not a state requires a consistency certification for a cable landing license.”