11194 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 47 / Tuesday, March 11, 1997 / Notices

the creation or maintenance of new

documents, the burden imposed by

these regulations is none. The estimated

total number of hours of annual burden

is estimated to be 0.

Dated: March 4, 1997.

For the Commission

Maria Borrero,

Executive Director.

[FR Doc. 97–5962 Filed 3–10–97; 8:45 am]

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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

Preparation for the 1997 World

Radiocommunication Conference

(WRC–97)

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission and National

Telecommunications and Information

Administration.

ACTION: Notice; announcement of Draft

Preliminary Proposals to WRC–97.

SUMMARY: The FCC and NTIA have

released a second set of Joint Draft

Preliminary Proposals for WRC–97. The

public is provided a 30-day period, from

the date of the release of the notice, to

provide comment on the draft

proposals. Copies of the draft proposals

are available for inspection and

photocopying at the FCC’s International

Reference Center, 2000 M Street, N.W.,

Room 102, Washington, D.C., and online at http://www.fcc.gov/ib/wrc97/.

Final U.S. proposals will be determined

by the Department of State based on the

recommendations of the FCC and NTIA.

DATE: Comments must be submitted on

or before March 25, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Office of the Secretary,

Federal Communications Commission,

1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

20554; Director, Office of Spectrum

Plans and Policies, National

Telecommunications and Information

Administration, Department of

Commerce, Room 4099, Washington,

D.C. 20230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Crystal

Foster, FCC, 202–418–0749, and

William T. Hatch, NTIA, at 202–482–

1138.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FCC’s

WRC–97 Advisory Committee and

NTIA, through the Interdepartment

Radio Advisory Committee, announced

on February 25, 1997, their approval of

a second set of draft preliminary

proposals for WRC–97. In accordance

with the streamlined procedures

developed to improve the United States

conference preparation process, the

agencies are providing the public with

this early opportunity to review and

comment on draft proposals before

further consideration. Final U.S.

proposals will be determined by the

Department of State based on the

recommendations of the FCC and NTIA.

The joint preliminary draft proposals

seek to:

(10) Propose 3 levels of priority above

routine priority, to protect maritime

safety telecommunications: distress,

urgency and safety. (Agenda Item 1.6.3)

(11) Provide for the common

worldwide primary allocation of spacebased active sensors in the bands 13.25–

13.4 GHz and 13.4–13.75 GHz (Agenda

Item 1.9.2)

(12) Realign allocations between 50.2–

71 GHz to not only protect passive

systems operating in the unique oxygen

absorption frequency range, but also

those of the inter-satellite service and

the fixed and mobile services. Provide

for changes to the allocations for the

inter-satellite service to preclude

interference to passive sensors. Provide

for the allocation of the inter-satellite

service in the band 65–71 GHz. (Agenda

Item 1.9.4.3)

(13) Provide for the common

worldwide primary allocation of spacebased active sensors in the band 9500–

9800 MHz. (Agenda Item 1.9.2)

(14) Upgrade the secondary allocation

to provide for frequency spectrum at

35.5–36 GHz and 94–94.1 GHz for use

by space-based active earth sensors.

Add a footnote to limit the use of the

94–94.1 GHz band to spaceborne cloud

radars. (Agenda Item 1.9.2)

(15) Provide for the common

worldwide primary allocation of spacebased active sensors in the band 17.2–

17.3 GHz. (Agenda Item 1.9.2)

(16) Modify the simplified Radio

Regulations developed at WRC–95.

Modifications are presented in three

parts. Part One, Chapter N–IX, Distress

and Safety Communications for the

Global Maritime Distress and Safety

System; Part Two, Modifications to

Article S18 (Articles 24 Licenses):

Article S47 Operators Certificates

(Article 55, Certificates for Personnel of

Ship Stations and Ship Earth Stations,);

Article S48 Personnel (Article 56,

Personnel of Stations in the Maritime

Mobile and the Maritime Mobile

Satellite Service); and Part Three,

Suppress Resolutions 200, 210 and 330

and No Change to Resoluation 331.

(Agenda Item 1.6.1)

(17) Modify notification and

registration of frequency assignments

under Article S11. (Agenda Item 1)

(18) Modify Appendix S18 [18], Table

of Transmitting Frequencies of the band

156–174 MHz for stations in the

maritime mobile services; propose NOC

for S5.287[669], propose a new

resolution to review efficiency of use of

the 156–174 MHz Band by the Maritime

Mobile service,and modify Resolution

310 (Rev Mob.-87). (Agenda Item 1.6.2)

(19) Modify provisions of Articles S13

and S14. (Agenda Item 1)

(20) Revise Article S12/17 of the

Radio Regulations. (Agenda Item 1.4)

Members of the public are invited to

provide to the FCC and NTIA comments

on the joint preliminary draft proposals.

The deadline for comments on this

second set of joint preliminary draft

proposals is March 25, 1997. Timely

comments will be considered by the

FCC WRC–97 Advisory Committee.

Commenters should send an original

plus one copy of their comment to the

Office of the Secretary, Federal

Communications Commission, 1919 M

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20554.

Comments should clearly note

‘‘Reference No. ISP–96–005’’ to ensure

proper routing and should refer to

specific proposals by their Joint

Preliminary Draft Proposal number.

Copies of then comments should also be

submitted to the Director, Office of

Spectrum Plans and Policies, National

Telecommunications and Information

Administration, Department of

Commerce, Room 4099, Washington,

D.C. 20230. Parties preferring to e-mail

their comments should address their

comments to WRC97@fcc.gov and

WRC97@ntia.doc.gov and they should

reference ‘‘Second Draft Proposals’’ in

the subject line.

The draft proposals and comments

received will be made available for

public inspection at the FCC’s

International Reference Center, 2000 M

Street, N.W., Room 102, Washington,

D.C., 202–418–1492. Copies of the

documents can also be purchased

through the FCC’s duplication

contractor, ITS, Inc., 202–857–3800.

Further information about the FCC

WRC–97 Advisory Committee,

including its schedule of meetings and

the draft proposals, is available on the

Internet at http://www.fcc.gov/ib/

wrc97/. Meetings of the Advisory

Committee and its Informal Working

Groups are open to the public.

Federal Communications Commission.

William F. Caton,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–5985 Filed 3–10–97; 8:45 am]

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