July 25, 2001 The Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments (ACTA) has completed and approved guidelines to be used by telecommunications suppliers and manufacturers.
July 25, 2001 The Administrative Council for Terminal Attachments (ACTA) has completed and approved guidelines to be used by telecommunications suppliers and manufacturers for filing new, "Part 68-compliant" terminal equipment, and listing such equipment on ACTA's centralized database.
ACTA is the recently-formed industry council for terminal equipment certification requirements and administration following the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) decision to privatize its Part 68 responsibilities in December 2000. Both the database and the guidelines are accessible on the ACTA web site at www.part68.org.
Under ACTA's guidelines, suppliers must demonstrate compliance of terminal equipment to both FCC 47 CFR Part 68 and ACTA-adopted technical criteria, utilizing one of two filing procedures. Telecommunications Certification Body (TCB) filings are those where suppliers use a third party to conduct compliance testing, inspect, and submit proof of certification to ACTA. The second filing procedure, known as Supplier's Declaration of Conformity (SDoC), enables a supplier to conduct compliance testing on its own without use of a third party. A written declaration by the supplier that its terminal equipment meets applicable technical criteria is also required as part of the SDoC filing. As part of its decision to privatize Part 68 activities, the FCC ruled to allow the use of SDoC filings after the establishment of ACTA, in addition to use of TCBs.
