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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 21, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 6839-6840]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00495]

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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 4

[PS Docket Nos. 21-346, 15-80; ET Docket No. 04-35; FCC 24-5; FR ID 
272202]

Resilient Networks; Disruptions to Communications

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule, announcement of compliance date.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
has approved the information collection associated with the rule 
adopted in a Second Report and Order and Second Further Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (Resilient Networks Second Report and Order) 
requiring cable communications, wireless, wireline, and interconnected 
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers to report their 
infrastructure status information in the Disaster Information Reporting 
System (DIRS) daily when the Commission activates DIRS in geographic 
areas in which they provide service, even when their reportable 
infrastructure has not changed compared to the prior day. It also 
codifies, in the Commission's outage reporting rules, that a subject 
provider's Networks Outage Reporting System reporting obligations are 
waived while they report in DIRS and requires that subject providers 
who report in DIRS provide a single, final DIRS report to the 
Commission, within 24 hours of the Commission's deactivation of DIRS, 
that provides the status of their infrastructure identified to the 
Commission during the DIRS reporting period that has not yet been fully 
restored at the time of the deactivation. This document is consistent 
with the Resilient Networks Second Report and Order, which states the 
Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing a 
compliance date for the rule section and revise the rule accordingly.

DATES: Effective February 20, 2025. Compliance with 47 CFR 4.18, 
published at 89 FR 25535, on April 11, 2024, and 89 FR 32373 on April 
26, 2024, is required as of February 20, 2025. In addition, this 
document removes 47 CFR 4.18(c), which advised that compliance with the 
new rules would not be required until Sec.  4.18(c) is removed or the 
Commission announces a compliance date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Logan Bennett, Attorney Advisor, 
Cybersecurity and Communications Reliability Division, Public Safety 
and Homeland Security Bureau, at (202) 418-7790 or 
[email protected]. For additional information concerning the 
Paperwork Reduction Act information collection requirements contact 
Nicole Ongele at (202) 418-2991 or via email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document announces that OMB approved 
the information collection requirement in Sec.  4.18 on December 5, 
2024.
    The Commission publishes this document as an announcement of the 
compliance date of the rules.
    If you have any comments on the burden estimates listed in the 
following, or how the Commission can improve the collections and reduce 
any burdens caused thereby, please contact Nicole Ongele, Federal 
Communications Commission, 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554. Please 
include OMB Control Number, 3060-1033, in your correspondence. The 
Commission will also accept your comments via email at [email protected]. To 
request materials in accessible formats for people with disabilities 
(Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format), send an email 
to [email protected] or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau 
at (202) 418-0530 (voice).

Synopsis

    As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
3507), the FCC is notifying the public that it received final OMB 
approval as approved with changes on December 5, 2024, for the 
information collection requirement contained in Sec.  4.18.
    Under 5 CFR part 1320, an agency may not conduct or sponsor a 
collection of information unless it displays a current, valid OMB 
Control Number.
    No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply 
with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act 
that does not display a current, valid OMB Control Number.
    The foregoing notice is required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, Public Law 104-13, October 1, 1995, and 44 U.S.C. 3507.
    The total annual reporting burdens and costs for the respondents 
are as follows:
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1003.
    OMB Approval Date: December 5, 2024.
    OMB Expiration Date: December 31, 2027.
    Title: Communications Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS).
    Form Number: N/A.
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities, and State, 
local or tribal governments, and Federal Government.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 18,306 respondents; 292,896 
responses.
    Estimated Time per Response: 0.166 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Annual and on occasion reporting 
requirements and recordkeeping requirements.
    Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this 
collection of information is contained in sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), 4(n), 
201, 214, 218, 251(e)(3), 301, 303(b), 303(g), 303(j), 303(r), 307, 309 
316, 332, and 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and 47 
U.S.C. 151, 154(i)-(j) & (n), 201, 214, 218, 251(e)(3), 301, 303(b), 
303(g), 303(r), 307, 309(a), 309(j), 316, 332, 403; sections 2, 3(b), 
and 6-7 of the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999, 
47 U.S.C. 615 note, 615, 615a-1, 615b, section 106 of the Twenty First 
Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, 47 U.S.C.

[[Page 6840]]

615c, section 506(a) of the Repack Airways Yielding Better Access for 
Users of Modern Services Act of 2018 (RAY BAUM'S Act), and section 6206 
of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, 47 U.S.C. 
1426.
    Total Annual Burden: 48,816 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: No Cost.
    Needs and Uses: Using DIRS, participating communications companies 
provide the Commission with their emergency contact information and can 
subsequently inform the Commission of damage to their infrastructure 
and facilities, as well as request resources for restoration from the 
Commission. DIRS respondents provide this information using web-based 
electronic forms tailored to their types of networks and facilities.
    In the Mandated Disaster Information Reporting System Order, 89 FR 
32373, April 26, 2024 (previously 89 FR 25535, April 11, 2024), the 
Commission is requiring cable communications, wireless, wireline and 
interconnected VoIP providers (Subject Providers) to report their 
infrastructure status information in DIRS on a daily basis while DIRS 
is activated. During that time, Subject Providers will not be required 
to file reports of system outages in the FCC's Network Outage Reporting 
System (NORS) that arise during the DIRS activation and that are timely 
reported in DIRS.
    The new rules also require Subject Providers to provide a final 
report to the Commission within 24 hours of the Commission's 
deactivation of DIRS and the termination of required daily reporting 
that details the state of their infrastructure at the time of DIRS 
deactivation and provides an estimated date of resolution of any 
remaining outages. This mandatory reporting requirement replaces the 
former voluntary DIRS reporting framework because, after almost two 
decades of observation, the Commission notes that the United States has 
been experiencing an increasing number of perilous floods, hurricanes, 
winter storms, tornados, and wildfires necessitating a more regular 
activation of DIRS.

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 4

    Communications equipment, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Telecommunications.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.

Final Rules

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Federal 
Communications Commission amends 47 CFR part 4 as follows:

PART 4--DISRUPTIONS TO COMMUNICATIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 4 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 34-39, 151, 154, 155, 157, 201, 251, 307, 
316, 615a-1, 1302(a), and 1302(b); 5 U.S.C. 301, and Executive Order 
no. 10530.

Sec.  4.18  [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  4.18 by removing paragraph (c).

[FR Doc. 2025-00495 Filed 1-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P
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