Space Bureau regulatory fees rise sharply in fiscal 2024 | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

The Federal Communications Commission (the “Commission”) has published a number of documents relating to its annual regulatory assessment and collection process, including: (1) 2024 Regulatory Fee Notice for Proposed Rulemaking regarding the assessment and collection of regulatory fees across the agency; and (2) a concise Space and Earth Station Report and Order on certain regulatory fees for operators facilitating the servicing, assembly and production of small satellites and in-space service facilities (“ISAM”) resulting from Notice of Proposed Regulation Space and Ground Station Fee. Together, these documents reflect the Commission’s continuing efforts to refine its regulatory fee assessment methodology in light of the demands that the rapidly evolving space industry places on the Commission, as well as significant internal reorganization to help meet these challenges. In short: All current and future Space Office beneficiaries will be subject to assessment significantly higher fees in FY 2024 than in previous years. It remains to be determined (1), who will be responsible for which part? And how much will it be?

Industry and other interested parties are strongly encouraged to participate in these regulatory fee proceedings, even if only to provide comment on how significant increases in annual regulatory fees are expected to impact business. Comment dates and guidelines for filing are provided below.

2024 Regulatory Fee Notice for Proposed Rulemaking

This NPRM Regulatory Fee for 2024 proposes significantly higher annual regulatory fees for space and ground station ratepayers than in fiscal year 2023 and prior years. This is because fiscal year 2024 is the first year in which satellite and ground station ratepayers will face the monetary costs of the Commission’s internal restructuring in 2023, which eliminated the International Office and replaced it with the Office of Space Affairs and the Office of International Affairs. The creation of the Office of Space Affairs and the wave of hiring that followed means that the Office of Space Affairs accounts for $42.14 million of the Commission’s annual recovery, compared with $30.32 million for the International Office in fiscal year 2023. The Commission must therefore collect significantly more from approximately the same number of Space Office ratepayers than in prior years to cover the costs of a larger, dedicated office.

The way in which the Commission will assess the fees charged by payers using satellite and earth stations depends on the results of the ongoing proceedings Space and ground station fee proceedings. Released March 2024. Notice of Proposed Space and Earth Station Regulatory Site extended the discussion of recent years on how to best allocate regulatory fees among the various and increasingly diverse categories of space station and ground payers, and determined whether it was time to adopt new categories for new technologies and short-term missions. In addition to proposing changes that could be made to the existing allocation model, the Commission proposed a comprehensive “alternative methodology” for assessing space station regulatory fees that would eliminate all distinctions between space station payers (except those licensed under the streamlined small satellite rules).

The Commission estimates that if no changes are adopted, the current situation will require an approximate doubling of the fees for each call sign in fiscal years 2023–2024 (See Appendix B). However, if any of the proposed changes in Space and Ground Station Fee NPRM are accepted, the fees may differ significantly from the current estimates (See Annex E).

Report and Order on Fees for the Use of Space and Ground Stations

This Report and Order on Space and Ground Station Charges is of a limited nature, adopting the two proposals set out in Space and Ground Station Fee Notice of Proposed Regulatory Position. First, it adopts a proposal to set the fiscal year 2024 regulatory fee for non-GSO small satellites at the level established for fiscal year 2023 ($12,215), with annual adjustments in subsequent years to reflect the percentage change in the Commission’s allocation, number of units, and percentage of staff from the previous year. Second, it adopts a proposal to assess regulatory fees for ISAM at the same level as non-GSO small satellites, regardless of the orbit in which they operate, on an interim basis.

Comments on the 2024 Regulatory Fee and Space and Ground Station Fee Regulations

This 2024 Regulatory Fee Notice for Proposed Rulemaking (setting the amount of fees) is an open procedure in which comments must be submitted July 15, 2024 and reply to comment July 29, 2024.

Deadline for submitting comments regarding Space and Ground Station Fee Notice of Proposed Regulatory Position (how the fees are divided between payers) has been accepted, however additional comments can be sent to the Space Office via on the other hand now that the industry is seeing the impact of fees on proposals.