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The law › Title 47, Telecommunications › Chapter 5

47 U.S.C. 503: Forfeitures

Created in 1960 by Public Law 86-752. Changed by 10 later laws. No bill we track in this Congress changes it.

6 other sections of the Code cite this one, including 47 U.S.C. 227, 47 U.S.C. 227b–1, 47 U.S.C. 339, 47 U.S.C. 504, 47 U.S.C. 554.

3 parts of federal rules cite it as their authority, written by Federal Communications Commission (3).

This Congress

No bill we track in the 119th Congress changes this section.

    How it got here

    2010

    • Pub. L. 111–260 added subpar. (F). Law text · (b)

    2008

    • Pub. L. 110–385 substituted "1464, or 2252" for "or 1464". Law text · (b)

    2006

    • Pub. L. 109–235, §2(2), added subpar. (C). Former subpar. (C) redesignated (D). Law text · (b)
    • Pub. L. 109–235, §2(1), (3), redesignated subpar. (C) as (D) and substituted "subparagraph (A), (B), or (C)" for "subparagraph (A) or (B)". Former subpar. (D) redesignated (E). Law text · (b)
    • Pub. L. 109–235, §(2)(1), redesignated subpar. (D) as (E). Law text · (b)

    1992

    • Pub. L. 102–538, §210(b), substituted "system operator," for "system operator or" and inserted ", or in the case of violations of section 303(q) of this title, if the person involved is a nonlicensee tower owner who has previously received notice of the obligations imposed by sectio… · (b)
    • Pub. L. 102–538, §206(2), inserted at end "For purposes of this paragraph, 'date of commencement of the current term of such license' means the date of commencement of the last term of license for which the licensee has been granted a license by the Commission. A separate license te… · (b)
    • Pub. L. 102–538, §206(1), struck out "so long as such violation occurred within 3 years prior to the date of issuance of such required notice" after "whichever is earlier". · (b)

    1990

    • Pub. L. 101–396 inserted "and if such person is not an applicant for a license, permit, certificate, or other authorization issued by the Commission," before "unless, prior". · (b)

    1989

    • Pub. L. 101–239 inserted "(1)" before "Any person who" in first par., added par. (2), and struck out former par. (2) thereby resulting in increasing penalty if violator is a common carrier from $20,000 to $100,000 per day to a maximum of $1,000,000 per act and penalty if violat… · (b), (2)

    1983

    • Pub. L. 98–214 inserted "or if the person involved is transmitting on frequencies assigned for use in a service in which individual station operation is authorized by rule pursuant to section 307(e) of this title". · (b)

    1982

    • Pub. L. 97–259 inserted ", or is a cable television system operator" after "other authorization is required". · (b)

    1980

    • Pub. L. 96–507 conformed references in first paragraph to sections 509(a) and 507 of this title to reflect renumbering of those sections which required no change in text. · (b)

    1978

    • Pub. L. 95–234 substituted provisions relating to activities making persons liable for forfeiture penalties, amounts of forfeiture penalties, procedures applicable for imposition of forfeiture penalties, and exemptions from liability from imposition of forfeiture penalties, for provisi… · (b)

    1960

    • Pub. L. 86–752 amended section catchline substituting "Forfeitures" for "Rebates and offsets, forfeitures,", designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), and added subsec. (b).

    Text, outline and history from the official U.S. Code (2024 edition) on GovInfo, published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Changes made after that edition appear under This Congress.