"Have to pay an annual fee to the FCC?" After the news was released, it caused extensive discussion among manufacturers, and the editor also received a lot of inquiries about the annual fee. After further communication and confirmation between the editor and major TCB and FCC officials, we have obtained more accurate and more information.

Next, the editor lists some of the most frequently consulted questions in the form of Q/A for your reference:

Q1: What are the differences between CORES 2 (new version) and CORES (old version)?

A1: In fact, CORES 2 (new version) only integrates the fees of CORES (old version), CORES 2 (new version) can manage all the fees involved in the corresponding FRN through the account, which is convenient for those people/companies who do have fees to manage and pay the fees.

Q2: The FCC Public Notice document “DA-22-508A1” on page 2 says “Users that need 

to pay annual regulatory”, how do you understand this sentence? 

A2: By stating “that need to pay” implies certain people/companies that already have a year fee and what they need to do. It is not discussing any sort of new fees. For those that DO have fees, the documents explain how to pay.  However, there is not a fee associated simply with having and FRN itself.

Q3: Is CORES 2 (new version) related to the payment of annual fees related to the application of FCC ID? 

A3: There will not be any new fees associated with their FRN for customers applying for FCC certification. That is, the annual regulatory fee does not apply to grantees of FCC certified products (The application for the FCC ID). In this regard, we have consulted the FCC official, and the official reply is as follows:

Q4: What exactly does this Annual Regulatory Fees refer to?

A4: Certain types of licensed services require that the service provides (e.g., Mass Media Bureau, carriers) pay annual fees, but these do not typically have any connection to equipment authorization. The annual regulatory fee described in the below link which is for those that DO have fees. The manufacturers just need to manage their FRNs in CORES2(new version). 

https://www.fcc.gov/licensing-databases/fees/regulatory-fees

Q5: Since there is no new fee, we don't need to pay the annual fee, so we don't need to manage the FRN fee in the FCC account, so do we still need to register FCC username account and associate username to an existing FRN?

A5: It is recommended to register an FCC username account as soon as possible, and then associate username to an existing FRN. If you do not perform this related operation, in addition to being unable to manage their FRN (s) in the future, it may also affect the application for FCC ID, because when uploading the submission information to the FCC official website, the FRN is required. If the FRN cannot be read in the FCC system, the certificate cannot be issued.

If you want to know more about FCC certification, please feel free to contact the BTL team at any time.