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[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 64 (Thursday, April 3, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15868-15869]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8442]

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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 63

[IB Docket No. 96-261, DA 97-440]

International Settlement Rates

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: On December 19, 1996 the Federal Communications Commission 
released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the matter of International 
Settlement Rates, FCC No. 96-484 (61 FR 68702, December 30, 1996). In 
response to a request for an extension of time, on February 27, 1997, 
the Commission released an order granting an extension of time for 
filing reply comments in this proceeding.

DATES: Reply comments must be submitted on or before March 31, 1997.

ADDRESSES: All supplemental comments and supplemental reply comments 
should be addressed to: Office of the Secretary, Federal Communications 
Commission, Washington DC 20554. All supplemental comments and 
supplemental reply comments will be available for public inspection 
during regular business hours in the FCC Reference Center (Room 239) of 
the Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M St., NW., Washington, DC 
20554.

FOR  FURTHER  INFORMATION  CONTACT: John Giusti, Attorney-Advisor, 
Policy and Facilities Branch, Telecommunications Division, 
International Bureau, (202) 418-1407.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    1. On February 21, 1997, the Republic of Panama filed a motion to 
extend the reply comment date in the captioned proceeding from March 
10, 1997 to April 14, 1997. The Republic of Panama contends that the 
current schedule provides it insufficient time to prepare informed 
reply comments for two reasons. First, the Republic of Panama asserts 
that the failure of the Commission's Record Imaging Processing System 
(``RIPS'') has made it difficult for it and other interested parties to 
obtain a complete set of the comments filed in this proceeding. Second, 
the Republic of Panama states that it needs more time to review the 
recent agreement of the World Trade Organization's Group on Basic 
Telecommunications and assess the agreement's impact on the proposals 
made in this proceeding.
    2. Although we do not routinely grant extensions of time, See 47 
CFR Sec. 1.46(a), we believe that extending the reply comment date in 
this case will serve the public interest by allowing the Republic of 
Panama and other interested parties adequate time to review and reply 
to any comments that they had difficulty in obtaining because of the 
failure of RIPS. We believe that an extension to March 31, 1997 will 
provide sufficient time for interested parties to complete their reply 
comments. Interested parties may obtain copies of the comments filed in 
this proceeding from the Commission's Reference Center, 1919 M Street 
NW., Room 239, Washington, DC 20554. Copies of the comments filed in 
this proceeding are also available for purchase from the Commission's 
copy contractor, International Transcription Services, Inc. (``ITS''), 
2100 M Street NW., Suite 140, Washington, DC 20037. In order to 
compensate further for the RIPS outage, we will place copies of the 
comments filed in this proceeding in the International Bureau Reference 
Center, Room 102, 2000 M Street NW., Washington, DC 20554.
    3. Accordingly, it is ordered, pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j) and 
5(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 
154(j), and 155(c), and sections 0.51, 0.261, and 1.46 of the 
Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.51, 0.261, and 1.46, that the reply 
comment date in the captioned proceeding is extended from March 10, 
1997 to March 31, 1997.
    4. It is further ordered, pursuant to sections 4(i), 4(j) and 5(c) 
of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 154(i), 
154(j), and 155(c), and sections 0.51, 0.261, and 1.46 of the 
Commission's rules, 47 CFR 0.51, 0.261, and 1.46, that the Republic of 
Panama's motion to extend the reply comment date is granted to the 
extent it requests additional time up to March 31, 1997, but is denied 
to the extent it requests additional time beyond that date.

[[Page 15869]]

Federal Communications Commission.
Ruth Milkman,
Deputy Chief, International Bureau.
[FR Doc. 97-8442 Filed 4-2-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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