STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL Re: Amendment of Parts 0, 1, 2, 15 and 18 of the Commission’s Rules regarding Authorization of Radiofrequency Equipment; Request for the Allowance of Optional Electronic Labeling for Wireless Devices, ET Docket No. 15-170, RM-11673 With the Internet of Things around the bend, we are on the brink of a whole new world of connected wireless devices. To facilitate this powerful shift we are going to need good spectrum policy for both licensed and unlicensed services. But equally as important, though less likely to get the glory, is the need to keep our equipment authorization practices both up-to-speed and up-to-date. Last year, the Commission got this effort going with its updated practices for Telecommunications Certification Bodies, which help ensure that many of the radiofrequency devices that consumers use every day comply with basic technical requirements. Here, we build on that effort with a rulemaking to update other aspects of our equipment authorization policies. This is important because manufacturers rely on swift, but thorough, equipment review to get their products to market. Existing spectrum users depend on the safeguards in our process to prevent harmful interference. In turn, that means consumers can trust the FCC symbol on the back of so many of their devices, which indicates that those devices make safe and authorized use of our airwaves. But with new devices so much more complex than the radios of old, it’s time to make sure that our equipment authorization procedures keep pace—and reflect modern equipment like modular and software-based transmitters. I look forward to the record that develops in this proceeding—and hope we can update our policies with dispatch. If we do, we can put ourselves on course for less-red tape for new services, more innovation, and a speedier path to the possibilities of the Internet of Things. In addition, this rulemaking begins the process to implement the E-Label Act, which calls on us to offer manufacturers the option to provide identification numbers and other regulatory information electronically on devices with display screens. This can reduce cost, improve device design, and accelerate the time it takes to get new services to market. This common sense change was championed by Senator Fischer, Senator Rockefeller, Representative Latta, Representative Eshoo, Representative Blackburn, and Representative Welch—and I look forward to seeing it both in our rules and in the marketplace.