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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 84 / Tuesday, May 4, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
harmonizes the deadline for exclusive use of the new standard with the March 1, 2021 volume control deadline required by the Commissions current rules.
61. The adoption of the 2019 ANSI
Standard for wireless handsets and elimination of the currently applicable standard after a transition period will alter the compliance obligations of wireless handset manufacturers and service providers that are small entities, as well as all other wireless handset manufacturers and service providers, by requiring them to use a different method for testing and evaluating wireless handset compliance, including with a new volume control requirement.
62. The 2019 ANSI Standard applies to wireless handsets in a wider frequency rangefrom 614 MHz to 6
GHzas compared to the 2011 ANSI
Standards frequency range of 698 MHz to 6 GHz. The Report and Order states that a handset operating only in the ranges specified in the standard would need to satisfy the standard for all frequency bands and air interfaces over which it operates. Because the hearing aid compatibility rules e.g., labeling and certification apply to handsets certified under the new standard using the new frequency range except as specified in the de minimis exception, small entities that did not previously have to comply with the requirements may be subject to new obligations.
63. Before adoption of the Report and Order, subject to a de minimis exception, handset manufacturers and service providers were required to offer a minimum number of hearing aidcompatible handsets for each covered air interface over which its models operate. Depending on the type and size of an entity and the point in time, manufacturers and providers must ensure that either 66% or 85% of their handset models are hearing aidcompatible. Under the rules adopted by the Report and Order, manufacturers and service providers may meet their requirement to offer minimum numbers of hearing aid-compatible handsets with handsets certified under either the 2019
or 2011 ANSI Standards, or an earlier standard. Consequently, small entities will not have to recertify existing handsets and incur additional compliance costs.
64. The Report and Order simplifies the current labeling requirements so that consumers will have the information that they need in order to easily understand and evaluate the hearing aid compatibility of a particular handset.
Handset manufacturers and service providers are able to design their own package labels and provide
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supplemental information in a way that best meets their needs. For hearing aidcompatible handsets, the handsets package label must state that the handset is hearing aid-compatible and must provide the handsets amplification capability if the handset is certified using the 2019 ANSI Standard.
The Report and Order also requires handset manufacturers and service providers to include in package inserts or user manuals more detailed information about the hearing aid compatibility of the handset, including information about the ANSI standard used, an explanation of the ANSI rating system, and an explanation of a handsets volume control amplification capabilities.
65. The Report and Order maintains the current in-store testing obligation applicable to service providers so that those with hearing loss have an opportunity to become comfortable with a handset before purchasing it.
66. The Report and Order also revises 20.19c to delete the refresh and differing levels of functionality requirements, which require manufacturers to refresh the hearing aid-compatible handset models they offer each year and require service providers to offer a range of hearing aidcompatible handset models with differing levels of functionality, respectively. The Commissions current deployment benchmarks require 66% of handsets to be hearing aid-compatible and, in the near future, will require 85%
of all handsets to be hearing aidcompatible. The Commissions deployment benchmarks ensure that consumers have robust choices among hearing aid-compatible handsets and confirm that its decision to eliminate the refresh and differing levels of functionality requirements will not adversely affect consumers. Removing unnecessary provisions such as these could streamline compliance requirements, which could reduce the cost of compliance for small entities.
67. The date that service providers must file certifications of compliance with the Commissions hearing aid compatibility provisions and the date that manufacturers must file compliance reports is also revised in Report and Order. Prior to adoption of the Report and Order, service provider certifications were due January 15 each year and manufacturer reports were due July 15 each year. The Report and Order moves these dates to January 31 and July 31, respectively, to ensure that service provider certifications and manufacturer reports are up-to-date as of the last day of the calendar month
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preceding the due date of each report and certification.
68. Small entities may be required to hire attorneys, engineers, consultants, or other professionals to comply with the rule changes adopted in the Report and Order. The Commission does not believe, however, that the costs and/or administrative burdens associated with any of the rule changes will unduly burden small entities because the adopted 2019 ANSI Standard for evaluating the hearing aid compatibility of wireless handsets was developed in collaboration with the industry through a voluntary, consensus-driven approach and is broadly supported by the industry, and expanding the frequency bands covered by the standard and replacing the current rating system will reduce regulatory burdens for handset manufacturers and service providers.
While the Commission cannot quantify the cost of compliance with the rule changes and compliance obligations adopted in the Report and Order, in the 2020 ANSI Standard NPRM the Commission requested cost and benefit analyses from the parties in the proceeding to help it identify and evaluate compliance costs and burdens for small entities that may result from the proposed rules and the matters on which the Commission requested comments. The Commission did not receive any comments, cost data or analyses on the impact of the rules and other matters on small entities.
Significant Alternatives Considered 69. Regarding the alternatives the Commission considered in adopting the final rules, the Commission notes that it declined to modify the 2019 ANSI
Standard as requested by Schmid and Partner Engineering AG Schmid. The record indicated that the Schmid requests were already considered and mitigated in 2019 ANSI standards the Commission adopted. The Commission also declined to lift the statutory exemption that currently excludes frequencies above 6 GHz from hearing aid compatibility requirements, choosing instead to allow the ANSI
Committee, in coordination with relevant industry participants, to develop a consensus-driven standard for these frequencies that the Commission can incorporate into its rules when the new standard is available. In addition, the Commission declined to add a callout card requirement to its labeling requirement as suggested by the Hearing Loss Association of America HLAA.
The addition of such a requirement would have mandated the use of callout cards at the point of sale indicating whether a handset is hearing aid-

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