Sec.  1.1208   Restricted proceedings.

   Unless  otherwise  provided by the Commission or its staff pursuant to
    Sec. 1.1200(a) of this section, ex parte presentations (other than ex parte
   presentations exempt under  Sec. 1.1204(a) of this section) to or from Commission
   decision-making personnel are prohibited in all proceedings not listed as
   exempt in  Sec. 1.1204(b) or permit-but-disclose in  Sec. 1.1206(a) of this section
   until the proceeding is no longer subject to administrative reconsideration
   or review or judicial review. Proceedings in which ex parte presentations
   are prohibited, referred to as “restricted” proceedings, include, but are
   not limited to, all proceedings that have been designated for hearing,
   proceedings involving amendments to the broadcast table of allotments,
   applications for authority under Title III of the Communications Act, and
   all waiver proceedings (except for those directly associated with tariff
   filings).

   Note 1 to  Sec. 1.1208: In a restricted proceeding involving only one “party,” as
   defined  in   Sec. 1.1202(d),  the party and the Commission may freely make
   presentations to each other because there is no other party to be served or
   with  a  right  to  have an opportunity to be present. See  Sec. 1.1202(b).
   Therefore,  to  determine  whether  presentations are permissible in a
   restricted proceeding without service or notice and an opportunity for other
   parties to be present the definition of a “party” should be consulted.

   Examples:    After  the filing of an uncontested application or waiver
   request,  the  applicant or other filer would be the sole party to the
   proceeding. The filer would have no other party to serve with or give notice
   of  any  presentations to the Commission, and such presentations would
   therefore not be “ex parte presentations” as defined by  Sec. 1.1202(b) and would
   not be prohibited. On the other hand, in the example given, because the
   filer is a party, a third person who wished to make a presentation to the
   Commission concerning the application or waiver request would have to serve
   or  notice the filer. Further, once the proceeding involved additional
   “parties” as defined by  Sec. 1.1202(d) (e.g., an opponent of the filer who
   served the opposition on the filer), the filer and other parties would have
   to serve or notice all other parties.

   Note 2 to  Sec. 1.1208: Consistent with  Sec. 1.1200(a), the Commission or its staff
   may  determine that a restricted proceeding not designated for hearing
   involves primarily issues of broadly applicable policy rather than the
   rights  and  responsibilities of specific parties and specify that the
   proceeding will be conducted in accordance with the provisions of  Sec. 1.1206
   governing permit-but-disclose proceedings.

   [ 62 FR 15857 , Apr. 3, 1997, as amended at  64 FR 68948 , Dec. 9, 1999]

Prohibition on Solicitation of Presentations