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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 303. Powers and duties of Commission
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the Commission from
time to time, as public convenience, interest, or necessity
requires, shall -
(a) Classify radio stations;
(b) Prescribe the nature of the service to be rendered by each
class of licensed stations and each station within any class;
(c) Assign bands of frequencies to the various classes of
stations, and assign frequencies for each individual station and
determine the power which each station shall use and the time
during which it may operate;
(d) Determine the location of classes of stations or individual
stations;
(e) Regulate the kind of apparatus to be used with respect to its
external effects and the purity and sharpness of the emissions from
each station and from the apparatus therein;
(f) Make such regulations not inconsistent with law as it may
deem necessary to prevent interference between stations and to
carry out the provisions of this chapter: Provided, however, That
changes in the frequencies, authorized power, or in the times of
operation of any station, shall not be made without the consent of
the station licensee unless the Commission shall determine that
such changes will promote public convenience or interest or will
serve public necessity, or the provisions of this chapter will be
more fully complied with;
(g) Study new uses for radio, provide for experimental uses of
frequencies, and generally encourage the larger and more effective
use of radio in the public interest;
(h) Have authority to establish areas or zones to be served by
any station;
(i) Have authority to make special regulations applicable to
radio stations engaged in chain broadcasting;
(j) Have authority to make general rules and regulations
requiring stations to keep such records of programs, transmissions
of energy, communications, or signals as it may deem desirable;
(k) Have authority to exclude from the requirements of any
regulations in whole or in part any radio station upon railroad
rolling stock, or to modify such regulations in its discretion;
(l)(1) Have authority to prescribe the qualifications of station
operators, to classify them according to the duties to be
performed, to fix the forms of such licenses, and to issue them to
persons who are found to be qualified by the Commission and who
otherwise are legally eligible for employment in the United States,
except that such requirement relating to eligibility for employment
in the United States shall not apply in the case of licenses issued
by the Commission to (A) persons holding United States pilot
certificates; or (B) persons holding foreign aircraft pilot
certificates which are valid in the United States, if the foreign
government involved has entered into a reciprocal agreement under
which such foreign government does not impose any similar
requirement relating to eligibility for employment upon citizens of
the United States;
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this subsection, an
individual to whom a radio station is licensed under the provisions
of this chapter may be issued an operator's license to operate that
station.
(3) In addition to amateur operator licenses which the Commission
may issue to aliens pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection,
and notwithstanding section 301 of this title and paragraph (1) of
this subsection, the Commission may issue authorizations, under
such conditions and terms as it may prescribe, to permit an alien
licensed by his government as an amateur radio operator to operate
his amateur radio station licensed by his government in the United
States, its possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
provided there is in effect a multilateral or bilateral agreement,
to which the United States and the alien's government are parties,
for such operation on a reciprocal basis by United States amateur
radio operators. Other provisions of this chapter and of subchapter
II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5 shall not be applicable
to any request or application for or modification, suspension, or
cancellation of any such authorization.
(m)(1) Have authority to suspend the license of any operator upon
proof sufficient to satisfy the Commission that the licensee -
(A) has violated, or caused, aided, or abetted the violation
of, any provision of any Act, treaty, or convention binding on
the United States, which the Commission is authorized to
administer, or any regulation made by the Commission under any
such Act, treaty, or convention; or
(B) has failed to carry out a lawful order of the master or
person lawfully in charge of the ship or aircraft on which he is
employed; or
(C) has willfully damaged or permitted radio apparatus or
installations to be damaged; or
(D) has transmitted superfluous radio communications or signals
or communications containing profane or obscene words, language,
or meaning, or has knowingly transmitted -
(1) false or deceptive signals or communications, or
(2) a call signal or letter which has not been assigned by
proper authority to the station he is operating; or
(E) has willfully or maliciously interfered with any other
radio communications or signals; or
(F) has obtained or attempted to obtain, or has assisted
another to obtain or attempt to obtain, an operator's license by
fraudulent means.
(2) No order of suspension of any operator's license shall take
effect until fifteen days' notice in writing thereof, stating the
cause for the proposed suspension, has been given to the operator
licensee who may make written application to the Commission at any
time within said fifteen days for a hearing upon such order. The
notice to the operator licensee shall not be effective until
actually received by him, and from that time he shall have fifteen
days in which to mail the said application. In the event that
physical conditions prevent mailing of the application at the
expiration of the fifteen-day period, the application shall then be
mailed as soon as possible thereafter, accompanied by a
satisfactory explanation of the delay. Upon receipt by the
Commission of such application for hearing, said order of
suspension shall be held in abeyance until the conclusion of the
hearing which shall be conducted under such rules as the Commission
may prescribe. Upon the conclusion of said hearing the Commission
may affirm, modify, or revoke said order of suspension.
(n) Have authority to inspect all radio installations associated
with stations required to be licensed by any Act, or which the
Commission by rule has authorized to operate without a license
under section 307(e)(1) of this title, or which are subject to the
provisions of any Act, treaty, or convention binding on the United
States, to ascertain whether in construction, installation, and
operation they conform to the requirements of the rules and
regulations of the Commission, the provisions of any Act, the terms
of any treaty or convention binding on the United States, and the
conditions of the license or other instrument of authorization
under which they are constructed, installed, or operated.
(o) Have authority to designate call letters of all stations;
(p) Have authority to cause to be published such call letters and
such other announcements and data as in the judgment of the
Commission may be required for the efficient operation of radio
stations subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and for
the proper enforcement of this chapter;
(q) Have authority to require the painting and/or illumination of
radio towers if and when in its judgment such towers constitute, or
there is a reasonable possibility that they may constitute, a
menace to air navigation. The permittee or licensee, and the tower
owner in any case in which the owner is not the permittee or
licensee, shall maintain the painting and/or illumination of the
tower as prescribed by the Commission pursuant to this section. In
the event that the tower ceases to be licensed by the Commission
for the transmission of radio energy, the owner of the tower shall
maintain the prescribed painting and/or illumination of such tower
until it is dismantled, and the Commission may require the owner to
dismantle and remove the tower when the Administrator of the
Federal Aviation Agency determines that there is a reasonable
possibility that it may constitute a menace to air navigation.
(r) Make such rules and regulations and prescribe such
restrictions and conditions, not inconsistent with law, as may be
necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter, or any
international radio or wire communications treaty or convention, or
regulations annexed thereto, including any treaty or convention
insofar as it relates to the use of radio, to which the United
States is or may hereafter become a party.
(s) Have authority to require that apparatus designed to receive
television pictures broadcast simultaneously with sound be capable
of adequately receiving all frequencies allocated by the Commission
to television broadcasting when such apparatus is shipped in
interstate commerce, or is imported from any foreign country into
the United States, for sale or resale to the public.
(t) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 301(e) of this
title, have authority, in any case in which an aircraft registered
in the United States is operated (pursuant to a lease, charter, or
similar arrangement) by an aircraft operator who is subject to
regulation by the government of a foreign nation, to enter into an
agreement with such government under which the Commission shall
recognize and accept any radio station licenses and radio operator
licenses issued by such government with respect to such aircraft.
(u) Require that apparatus designed to receive television
pictures broadcast simultaneously with sound be equipped with
built-in decoder circuitry designed to display closed-captioned
television transmissions when such apparatus is manufactured in the
United States or imported for use in the United States, and its
television picture screen is 13 inches or greater in size.
(v) Have exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the provision of
direct-to-home satellite services. As used in this subsection, the
term "direct-to-home satellite services" means the distribution or
broadcasting of programming or services by satellite directly to
the subscriber's premises without the use of ground receiving or
distribution equipment, except at the subscriber's premises or in
the uplink process to the satellite.
(w) Omitted.
(x) Require, in the case of an apparatus designed to receive
television signals that are shipped in interstate commerce or
manufactured in the United States and that have a picture screen 13
inches or greater in size (measured diagonally), that such
apparatus be equipped with a feature designed to enable viewers to
block display of all programs with a common rating, except as
otherwise permitted by regulations pursuant to section 330(c)(4) of
this title.
(y) Have authority to allocate electromagnetic spectrum so as to
provide flexibility of use, if -
(1) such use is consistent with international agreements to
which the United States is a party; and
(2) the Commission finds, after notice and an opportunity for
public comment, that -
(A) such an allocation would be in the public interest;
(B) such use would not deter investment in communications
services and systems, or technology development; and
(C) such use would not result in harmful interference among
users.
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