Sec. 101.29  Amendment of pending applications.

    (a) Any pending application may be amended as a matter of right if 
the application has not been designated for hearing, or for comparative 
evaluation pursuant to Sec. 101.51, or for the random selection process, 
or is not subject to the competitive bidding process, provided, however, 
that the amendments must comply with the provisions of Sec. 101.41 as 
appropriate.
    (b) Requests to amend an application designated for hearing or for 
comparative evaluation, or tentatively selected by the random selection 
process may be granted only if a written petition demonstrating good 
cause is submitted and properly served upon the parties of record.
    (c) The Commission will classify amendments on a case-by-case basis. 
Whenever previous amendments have been filed, the most recent amendment 
will be classified by reference to how the information in question stood 
as of the latest Public Notice issued which concerned the application. 
An amendment will be deemed to be a major amendment subject to 
Sec. 101.37 and Sec. 101.45 under any of the following circumstances:
    (1) If the amendment results in a substantial modification of the 
engineering proposal such as (but not necessarily limited to):
    (i) A change in, or an addition of a radio frequency channel;
    (ii) A change in polarization of the transmitted signal;
    (iii) An increase in the equivalent isotropically radiated power of 
three (3) dB or more;
    (iv) A change in type of transmitter emission or an increase in 
emission bandwidth of more than ten (10) percent;
    (v) A change in the geographic coordinates of a station's 
transmitting antenna of more than five (5) seconds of latitude or 
longitude, or both;
    (vi) A change of more than one (1) degree in the azimuth of the 
center of the main lobe of radiation of a point-to-point station's 
transmitting antenna (including any deflections by repeating devices);
    (vii) Any change which increases the antenna center line height by 
3.0 meters (ten (10) feet) or more;
    (viii) Any changes or combination of changes which would cause 
harmful electrical interference to an authorized facility or result in a 
mutually exclusive conflict with another pending application; or
    (ix) Any technical change that would increase the effective radiated 
power in any direction by more than one and

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one-half (1.5) dB in the Digital Electronic Message Service.
    (2) If the amendment would convert a proposal, such that it may have 
a significant impact upon the environment under Sec. 1.1307 of this 
chapter, which would require the submission of an environmental 
assessment, see Sec. 1.1311 of this chapter, and Commission 
environmental review, see Secs. 1.1308 and 1.1312 of this chapter.
    (3) If the amendment results in a substantial and material 
alteration of the proposed service.
    (4) If the amendment specifies a substantial change in beneficial 
ownership or control (de jure or de facto) of an applicant such that the 
change would require, in the case of an authorized station, the filing 
of a prior assignment or transfer of control application under section 
310(d) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 310(d)). Such a 
change would not be considered major where the assignment or transfer of 
control is for legitimate business purposes other than the acquisition 
of applications.
    (5) If the amendment, or the cumulative effect of the amendment, is 
determined by the Commission otherwise to be substantial pursuant to 
section 309 of the Communications Act of 1934.
    (d) A pending application may be amended by a major amendment to 
reflect the relocation of a proposed station site and a new application 
will not be required if:
    (1) The geographic coordinates of the new station site are within 
32.2 kilometers of the coordinates of the original site; and
    (2) The relocated station would serve essentially the same purpose 
in the system as originally proposed.
    (e) The applicant must serve copies of any amendments or other 
written communications upon the following parties:
    (1) Any applicant whose application appears on its face to be 
mutually exclusive with the application being amended, including those 
applicants originally served under Sec. 101.509;
    (2) Any applicant whose application has been found by the 
Commission, as published in a public notice, to be mutually exclusive 
with the application being amended; and
    (3) Any party who has filed a petition to deny the application or 
other formal objection, when that petition or formal objection has not 
been resolved by the Commission.
    (f) The Commission may waive the service requirements of paragraph 
(e) of this section and prescribe such alternative procedures as may be 
appropriate under the circumstances to protect petitioners' interests 
and to avoid undue delay in a proceeding, if an applicant submits a 
request for waiver which demonstrates that the service requirement is 
unreasonably burdensome. Requests for waiver must be served on 
petitioners. Oppositions to the petition may be filed within five (5) 
days after the petition is filed and must be served on the applicant. 
Replies to oppositions will not be entertained.
    (g) Any amendment to an application must be signed and must be 
submitted in the same manner, and with the same number of copies, as was 
the original application. Amendments may be made in letter form if they 
comply in all other respects with the requirements of this chapter.
[ 61 FR 26677 , May 28, 1996, as amended at  62 FR 23164 , Apr. 29, 1997]