On August 11, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission issued an Order cancelling a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) that was issued to AT&T in 2016 due to violations of the E-rate program’s Lowest Corresponding Price rule. In its Order, the FCC determined that the NAL was issued more than one year after the violation occurred, which is beyond the statute of limitations imposed by the Communications Act of 1934:
Because the last bill or charge to the two school districts cited in the NAL was more than a year before the issuance of the NAL and in the absence of a continuing violation in this instance, the forfeiture is time-barred by the Act’s statute of limitations. Due to the expiration of the one-year statute of limitations… we find that a forfeiture against AT&T for apparent violation of the LCP Requirement against the Districts is time barred, and cancellation of the forfeiture proposed in the NAL is appropriate.
The FCC Order may be found here and the Commissioners’ statements at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-cancels-2016-nal-against-att.
