FCC Continues Crack Down on Marketing of Unauthorized Equipment

The Federal Communications Commission is continuing its strict enforcement efforts against the marketing of unauthorized equipment, proposing a $75,000 forfeiture against one manufacturer, and affirming a $65,000 forfeiture order against another.

The proposed forfeiture was levied against San Jose Navigation, Inc. for marketing four models of the company’s GPS signal re-radiator kits that operated on restricted frequency bands allocated for safety-of-life operations.  In this instance, the Commission acted on complaints from the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the Department of Transportation and other federal agencies which had expressed concern that the GPS re-radiator equipment could potentially interfere with federal government GPS operations.

The Commission also issued a Forfeiture Order in the amount of $65,000 against ACR Electronics for willful and repeated violations of its equipment marketing requirements.  Specifically, the company was found liable for unlawfully marketing its personal location beacon device to the industry and the general public before it obtained certification and without the requisite disclaimer notice.

In a separate matter, the Commission affirmed its proposed forfeiture in the amount of $14,000 against Gibson Tech Ed, Inc. for marketing two models of unauthorized FM broadcast transmitters.

As we’ve previously reported, the Commission recently proposed a $1 million forfeiture against Behringer USA, Inc. for illegally marketing over a five year period as many as 66 different models of mixers, amplifiers and digital effects processors, none of which had been verified for compliance with FCC requirements.