"a GMRS license will now cost significantly less than before. Up to now the application fee for a GMRS license was $70. With this Report and Order, the new GMRS license fee will be only $35, which is $15 less than the proposed fee and half the cost of the fees previously charged by the FCC. The license is still valid for 10 years and covers an entire family."
The FCC has just approved new license fees for Amateur Radio and the GMRS. These fees are actually lower than the original fees proposed in August, which were highly contested by hams, but welcomed by GMRS licensees.
www.buytwowayradios.com
The new fee schedules were published March 19, 2021, in the Federal Register.
Effective date is usually 30 days after publication, which normally would mean April 19, 2021. Which is the stated effective date.
But in Part II, Ordering Clauses, paragraph 44 says "
It is further ordered that Commission’s rules
are amended as set forth in in the back of this summary, and such rule amendments
shall be effective 30 days after the date of publication in the
Federal Register,
except for §§ 1.1102, 1.1103, 1.1104, 1.1105, 1.1106, 1.1107, and 1.1109, which require notice to Congress and also require certain updates to the FCC’s information technology systems and internal procedures to ensure efficient and effective implementation. Sections 1.1102, 1.1103, 1.1104, 1.1105, 1.1106, 1.1107, and 1.1109 will not take effect until the requisite notice has been provided to Congress, the FCC’s information technology systems and internal procedures have been updated, and the Commission publishes notice(s) in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of such rules."
So the actual effective date is still TBD. Suppose if you're holding off on a GMRS license this uncertainty is bad, if you're looking to get or update an Amateur ticket this is good. For their part the ARRL's lawyers say "sometime this summer" is their expectation.
