The FCC has re-affirmed a $7,000 fine against Sennheiser for marketing unauthorized RF devices.
In 2008, the commission began looking into Sennheiser’s manufacture, certification and marketing of wireless microphones. While preparing its response, Sennheiser notified the commission that one product was not certified. The FCC asked for more information. In February, Sennheiser told the agency that within the past year it manufactured and sold the wireless mic in the United States but has stopped.
The device was assigned several model numbers according to the frequencies on which it operates: SKM3072-U 470/600, SKM3072-U 574/702, and SKM3072-U 678/814. Sennheiser said it accidentally allowed a pending certification application to lapse, while its marketing department assumed the application had been granted. The violation was related to paperwork only, “not to the underlying properties of the device,” the company told the commission. Sennheiser notes that it has changed its procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
The FCC found the original penalty was just right and said in its decision reducing a fine is not justified because a company claims its actions or omissions occurred inadvertently. The company has 30 days to pay or ask for the amount to be reduced or cancelled.
