In a new posting on its Web site, the Schools and Libraries Division has clarified how it will interpret the compliance deadlines for the new Children's Internet Protection Act.
The legislation specifies a filing deadline of Oct. 28, 2001 for certification of compliance, and also specifies that Funding Year 4 will be the first year schools and libraries will be expected to comply with the law's requirements that they "undertake actions" to comply.
The Oct. 28, 2001 filing deadline, however, will apply only in cases when an applicant has received its funding commitment decisions letter for either Internet access or internal connections, and has actually begun using those services. If either event occurs after Oct. 28, 2001, the certification will be required within 120 days of whichever date is later.
Further, the SLD clarified that the "first year" of compliance is defined by when the SLD successfully data enters a Form 486 covering Internet access or internal connections for a particular billed entity or consortium member. Schools and libraries that receive no support for Internet access or internal connections in Year 4 will not be required to undertake compliance actions until the first year they do file a Form 486 for support. After that point, they will be expected to be in full compliance the next year, whether or not they actually receive support the following year.
The SLD's Frequently Asked Questions are available at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/reference/CIPAfaq.asp.
