Sec. 21.29  Ownership changes and agreements to amend or to dismiss 
          applications or pleadings.

    (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, applicants 
or any other parties in interest to pending applications shall comply 
with the provisions of this section whenever:
    (1) They participate in any agreement (or understanding) which 
involves any consideration promised or received, directly or indirectly, 
including any agreement (or understanding) for merger of interests or 
the reciprocal withdrawal of applications; and
    (2) The agreement (or understanding) may result in either:
    (i) A proposed substantial change in beneficial ownership or control 
(de jure or de facto) of an applicant such that the change would 
require, in the case of an authorized station, the filing of a prior 
assignment or transfer of control application under section 310(d) of 
the Communications Act of 1934 [47 U.S.C. 310(d)], or
    (ii) Proposed withdrawal, amendment or dismissal of any 
application(s), amendment(s), petition(s), pleading(s), or any 
combination thereof, which would thereby permit the grant without 
hearing, comparative evaluation under of Sec. 21.35, or random selection 
of an application previously in contested status.
    (b) The provisions of this section shall not be applicable to any 
engineering agreement (or understanding) which:
    (1) Resolves frequency conflicts with authorized stations or other 
pending applications without the creation of new or increased frequency 
conflicts; and
    (2) Does not involve any consideration promised or received, 
directly or indirectly (including any merger of interests or reciprocal 
withdrawal of applications), other than the mutual benefit of resolving 
the engineering conflict.
    (c) For any agreement subject to this section, the applicant of an 
application which would remain pending pursuant to such an agreement 
will be considered responsible for the compliance by all parties with 
the procedures of this section. Failure of the parties to comply with 
the procedures of this section shall constitute a defect in those 
applications which are involved in the agreement and remain in a pending 
status.
    (d) The principals to any agreement or understanding subject to this 
section shall comply with the standards of paragraph (e) of this section 
in accordance with the following procedure:
    (1) Within ten (10) days after entering into the agreement, the 
parties thereto shall jointly notify the Commission in writing of the 
existence and general terms of such agreement, the identity of all of 
the participants and the applications involved;
    (2) Within thirty (30) days after entering into the agreement, the 
parties thereto shall file any proposed application amendments, motions, 
or requests together with a copy of the agreement which clearly sets 
forth all terms and provisions, and such other facts and information as 
necessary to satisfy the standards of paragraph (e) of this section. 
Such submission shall be accompanied by the certification by affidavit 
of each principal to the agreement declaring that the statements made 
are true, complete, and correct to the best of their knowledge and 
belief, and are made in good faith.

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    (3) The Commission may request any further information which in its 
judgment it believes is necessary for a determination under paragraph 
(e) of this section.
    (e) The Commission will grant an application (or applications) 
involved in the agreement (or understanding) only if it finds upon 
examination of the information submitted, and upon consideration of such 
other matters as may be officially noticed, that the agreement is 
consistent with the public interest, and the amount of any monetary 
consideration and the cash value of any other consideration promised or 
received is not in excess of those legitimate and prudent costs directly 
assignable to the engineering, preparation, filing and advocacy of the 
withdrawn, dismissed, or amended application(s), amendment(s), 
petition(s), pleading(s), or any combination thereof. Where such costs 
represent the applicant's in-house efforts, these costs shall include 
only directly assignable costs and shall exclude general overhead 
expenses. [The treatment to be accorded such consideration for 
interstate rate making purposes will be determined at such time as the 
question may arise in an appropriate rate proceeding.] An itemized 
accounting shall be submitted to support the amount of consideration 
involved except where such consideration (including the fair market 
value of any non-cash consideration) promised or received does not 
exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). Where consideration involves a 
sale of facilities or merger of interests, the accounting shall clearly 
identify that portion of the consideration allocated for such facilities 
or interests and a detailed description thereof, including estimated 
fair market value. The Commission will not presume an agreement (or 
understanding) to be prima facie contrary to the public interest solely 
because it incorporates a mutual agreement to withdraw pending 
application(s), amendment(s), petition(s), pleading(s), or any 
combination thereof.
    (f) Notwithstanding Sec. 21.29(e), amendments will not be granted 
that seek more than a pro forma change of ownership or control 
(bankruptcy, death, or legal disability) of a pending Multipoint 
Distribution Service application, and any Multipoint Distribution 
Service application will be dismissed that seeks more than a pro forma 
change of ownership or control.
[ 44 FR 60534 , Oct. 19, 1979, as amended at  50 FR 5993 , Feb. 13, 1985;  58 FR 11797 , Mar. 1, 1993]