NEWS Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D. C. 20554 This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974). News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov TTY: 1-888-835-5322 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 18, 2012 STATEMENT OF FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI ON FCC’S FINAL PLAN FOR RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF EXISTING RULES I am pleased that the Commission has completed work on its Final Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Rules. It is important for us to review regularly the rules already on the books and determine whether they should be modified or eliminated in light of changing market and/or technological conditions. In that vein, I look forward to working with my colleagues in examining whether the rules listed in Section VI of the Final Plan should be modified or repealed. It is my hope that we will take prompt action with respect to many of these proceedings. I also am looking forward to the Commission’s 2012 Biennial Review. Section 11 of the Communications Act requires the Commission to review every two years all regulations that apply to the operations or activities of telecommunications service providers and determine whether those regulations are “no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between providers of such service.” Following this review, the Commission is then required “to repeal or modify any regulation it determines to be no longer necessary in the public interest.” In light of the importance of this comprehensive retrospective analysis, I believe that the 2012 Biennial Review should take the form of Commission-level action rather than Bureau-level recommendations -FCC-