I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 954

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the authority of the

Federal Communications Commission to authorize foreign investment

in United States broadcast and common carrier radio licenses.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 5, 1997

Mr. OXLEY (for himself, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. UPTON, Mr. WHITE,

and Mr. DAN SCHAEFER of Colorado) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the

authority of the Federal Communications Commission

to authorize foreign investment in United States broadcast and common carrier radio licenses.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘International Tele5 communications Investment Clarification Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FOREIGN OWNERSHIP.

7 Section 310(b) of the Communications Act of 1934

8 (47 U.S.C. 310(b)) is amended to read as follows:
2

•HR 954 IH

1 ‘‘(b)(1) No broadcast or common carrier or aero2 nautical en route or aeronautical fixed radio station license

3 shall be granted to or held by—

4 ‘‘(A) any alien or the representative of any

5 alien;

6 ‘‘(B) any corporation organized under the laws

7 of any foreign government; or

8 ‘‘(C) any corporation of which more than one9 fifth of the capital stock is owned of record or voted

10 by a foreign government or representative thereof.

11 ‘‘(2) No broadcast radio station license shall be

12 granted to or held by—

13 ‘‘(A) any corporation of which more than one14 fifth of the capital stock is owned of record or voted

15 by aliens or their representatives or by any corpora16 tion organized under the laws of a foreign country;

17 or

18 ‘‘(B) any corporation directly or indirectly con19 trolled by any other corporation of which more than

20 one-fourth of the capital stock is owned of record or

21 voted by aliens, their representatives, or by a foreign

22 government or representative thereof, or by any cor23 poration organized under the laws of a foreign coun24 try, if the Commission finds that the public interest
3

•HR 954 IH

1 will be served by the refusal or revocation of such

2 license.

3 ‘‘(3) No common carrier or aeronautical en route or

4 aeronautical fixed radio station license shall be granted

5 to or held by any corporation of which more than one6 fifth of the capital stock is owned of record or voted by

7 aliens or their representatives or by any corporation orga8 nized under the laws of a foreign country, if the Commis9 sion finds that the public interest will be served by the

10 refusal or revocation of such license.

11 ‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection or subsection (a) pro12 hibits a common carrier or aeronautical en route or aero13 nautical fixed radio station license from being granted to

14 or held by any corporation directly or indirectly controlled

15 by any other corporation of which more than one-fourth

16 of the capital stock is owned of record or voted by aliens,

17 their representatives, or by a foreign government or rep18 resentative thereof, or by any corporation organized under

19 the laws of a foreign country.’’.

20 SEC. 3. SUBMARINE CABLE AMENDMENT.

21 Section 2 of the Act of May 27, 1921, entitled ‘‘An

22 Act relating to the landing and operation of submarine

23 cables in the United States’’ (47 U.S.C. 35), is amended
4

•HR 954 IH

1 by inserting before the period at the end thereof the fol2 lowing: ‘‘: And provided further, That the Federal Commu3 nications Commission shall not deny any license to land

4 or operate such a cable solely on the grounds that such

5 license will be issued to a corporation that is directly or

6 indirectly owned by aliens, their representatives, or by any

7 corporation organized under the laws of a foreign govern8 ment’’.

9 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; REGULATIONS.

10 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act and the amend11 ments made by this Act are effective upon enactment.

12 (b) REGULATIONS.—Within 90 days after the date of

13 enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Com14 mission shall take all actions necessary to implement this

15 Act, including amending its rules and regulations, but the

16 Commission shall not, after such effective date, take any

17 action to enforce any rule, regulation, order, or policy that

18 is inconsistent with the amendments made by this Act.

Æ