Michelle Cohen Explains Significance of Appeals Court Upholding of FCC Net Neutrality Rules

On 14 June 2016, theUS Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia upheld the validity of the Federal Communications
Commission’s (‘FCC’) net neutrality rules, which classify broadband services as telecommunication services as opposed to information services.

Michelle Cohen, Member of Ifrah Law, explains that “the court did not ask whether the agency’s decision is a good policy, but rather whether it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law.” In this case, the FCC’s rules did not meet those standards.

Following the Court of Appeal’s ruling, “the FCC is further empowered to watch the marketplace and to propose and implement additional regulations over broadband providers,” concludes Cohen.