Vanity call sign fee poised to drop slightly later this year

The FCC wants to reduce the Fiscal Year 2006 regulatory fee to obtain an Amateur Radio vanity call sign to $20.10 for the 10-year license term. The current vanity fee is $21.90.

The Commission proposed the new fee in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), "Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2006," in MD Docket 06-68, released March 27.

If ordered as proposed, the new vanity fee would become effective in August or September. The FCC is obligated to collect nearly $289 million in regulatory fees during FY 2006 to fund its operations.

Comments on the proposed fee schedule are due Friday, April 14. Reply comments are due Friday, April 21. The FCC has projected collecting $171,188 in vanity call sign fee receipts from 8500 applications in FY 2006.

The vanity call sign fee has assumed somewhat greater significance this year as the renewal window is about to open for the first Amateur Radio licenses assigned vanity call signs in 1996. Applicants who wish to keep their post-1995 vanity call signs must pay the vanity call sign regulatory fee in effect at the time the renewal application reaches the FCC. Any Amateur Radio renewal application may only be filed within 90 days of the license expiration date.

Amateur Radio licensees holding vanity call signs granted prior to 1996 do not have to pay a regulatory fee when renewing. This is because Congress did not begin requiring the FCC to annually recover its regulatory costs until 1993. Additionally, such licensees are not specifically tagged as vanity call sign holders in the ULS.

Source: The American Radio Relay League

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