Part 68 of the FCC rules (47 C.F.R. Part 68) cover the connection of terminal equipment (TE) to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and to wireline carrier-owned facilities used to provide private line services. In 2001, the FCC minimized the government’s role in Part 68 by privatizing significant portions of its rules governing the connection of customer premises equipment (landline telephone equipment) to the PSTN and certain private-line services, and privatized the standards development and terminal equipment approval processes. However, the FCC has retained the responsibility to enforce Part 68 rules.
The privatized technical and administrative functions mandated by Part 68 are now administered by the Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments (ACTA). The ACTA was formed in 2001 through the co-sponsorship and support of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and TIA with the mission to (1) adopt technical criteria for terminal equipment to prevent network harms through the act of publishing such criteria developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited Standards Development Organizations; and (2) establish and maintain database(s) of equipment approved as compliant with the technical criteria. For more information on the ACTA, we urge you to visit its website.
While responsibility for most of the technical requirements in Part 68 was turned over to industry in 2000, the HAC volume control gain requirements for TE were retained in Part 68. TIA’s TR-41 Engineering Committee (Performance and Accessibility for Communications Products) develops voluntary standards for telecommunications TE and systems, specifically those used for voice services, integrated voice and data services, and Internet protocol applications. Together with its three subcommittees and their working groups, the committee develops performance and interface criteria for equipment, systems and private networks, as well as the information necessary to ensure their proper interworking with each other, with public networks, with IP telephony infrastructures and with carrier-provided private-line services. TR-41's hearing aid compatibility standards are incorporated by reference into the FCC's regulations in 47 C.F.R. 68.317. In addition, TR-41 develops criteria for preventing harm to the telephone network, which becomes mandatory when adopted by the ACTA.
We hope that China will use this break in the negotiations to reexamine its approach to the negotiations to expand the ITA and focus on reducing its overly large list of sensitive products. If China is ready to move forward to conclude the expansion of the ITA this year then the ITA Expansion is achievable this year.
As part of a large U.S. industry delegation representing a broad array of ICT manufacturers, TIA is in Geneva, Switzerland this week to cheer on the trade negotiators who are working hard to conclude the negotiations to expand the product coverage of the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA). The ITA remains one of the most commercially important WTO trade agreements – by eliminating tariffs on a broad range of ICT products, the ITA lowers the cost and improves access to these products, which are vital to the economic competitiveness of all economies around the world.
The Telecommunications Industry Association was in Geneva last week along with AdvaMed, the Consumer Electronics Association, the Entertainment Software Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Liquid Crystal Polymer Coalition, the Motion Picture Association of America, and the Semiconductor Industry Association. This coalition of high-tech companies represents a broad spectrum of manufacturers and service providers in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
Last week was a busy one at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The signs are very encouraging that the member countries of the WTO are back on track to move the WTO’s trade liberalization agenda forward – from the new International Services Agreement (ISA) to the ongoing negotiations to expand the existing WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA).
