June 7 Effective Date for Modified Foreign Sponsorship Identification Requirements

The portions of the FCC’s Foreign Sponsorship Identification rule implementing modified certification options and the rule’s applicability to paid issue advertising and public service announcements will become effective June 7.  Sponsor certifications using your own format or via FCC-provided template in Appendix C of its Report & Order, or programmer provided screen-shots, can be used as of that date, and the streamlined public file placement requirement will apply.

As for the revised rule’s applicability to the paid issue advertisements and public service announcements, a May 26^th public notice makes clear that unless a station knows that such ads or PSAs are foreign-sponsored, in which case on-air and public file disclosures are required, the FCC is suspending the rule’s technical requirements for paid issue ads and PSAs for two years or until further notice while it evaluates the costs and burdens of compliance to ensure an offsetting public benefit. This means that stations will not have to immediately begin getting certifications from all issue advertisers and PSA providers.