The Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) has proposed, in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), three new ex parte rules. The ex parte rules, which have not been updated since 2011 govern when and how outside parties may communicate with the FCC about pending matters. The NPRM seeks comment on proposals to: (1) exempt government-to-government consultations between the FCC and federally-recognized Tribal Nations from the ex parte rules, in certain proceedings; (2) extend the exemption to the FCC’s ex parte rules for communications with certain program administrators to include the Toll-Free Numbering Administrator and the Reassigned Numbers Database Administrator; and (3) require all written ex parte presentations and written summaries of oral ex partes to be submitted before the Sunshine period begins and require replies to these ex partes to be filed within the first day of the Sunshine period.
