ACT NO.

3846
(November 11, 1931)

As amended by
Commonwealth Act No. 365 dated August 23, 1938
Commonwealth Act No. 571 approved on June 7, 1940
Republic Act No. 584, approved on September 18, 1950

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE REGULATION OF PUBLIC AND RADIO

COMMUNICATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

SECTION 1. No person, firm, company, association, or corporation shall

construct, install, establish, or operate radio transmitting station, or a radio
receiving station used for commercial purposes, or a radio broadcasting station,
without having first obtained a franchise therefor from the National Assembly:
Provided, However, That no franchise from the National Assembly shall be
necessary for the construction, installation, establishment, or operation of an
amateur station, an experimental station, a training station, a station on board a
mobile vessel, train, or aircraft, or a private station in a place so outlying and so
remote as to afford no public communication system with the outside world:
Provided, Further, That radio broadcasting stations established and operating at
the time of the approval of this Act without the franchise herein required shall be
exempt from obtaining such franchise.

Unless otherwise specified, ‘station’ or ‘radio station’ as used in this Act

shall refer to a radio transmitting station used for commercial purposes, or a radio
broadcasting station. (As amended by Commonwealth Act No. 365 dated August
23, 1938 and by Commonwealth Act No. 571 approved on June 7, 1940)

SECTION 1-A. No person, firm, company, association or corporation shall

possess or own radio transmitters or transceivers (combination transmitter
receiver), without registering the same with the Secretary of Commerce and
Industry, nor sell or transfer the same to another without his prior approval, and no
person, firm, company, association or corporation shall construct or manufacture,
or purchase radio transmitters or transceivers without a permit issued by the
Secretary of Commerce and Industry. (As inserted by Republic Act No. 584,
approved September 18, 1950)

SECTION 2. The construction or installation of any station shall not be

begun, unless a permit therefor has been granted by the Secretary of Commerce
and Industry. No station shall be operated except under and in accordance with
the provisions of a license issued therefor by the Secretary of Commerce and
Industry. The license shall state the dates between which the station may be
operated. If a renewal is desired, the licensee shall submit an application to the
Secretary of Commerce and Industry at least two months before the expiration

Page 1 of 5
date of the license to be renewed. The Secretary of Commerce and
Communication shall determine the period for which each license is issued;
Provided, that no license shall be issued for a longer period than three (3) years.

SECTION 3. The Secretary of Commerce and Industry is hereby

empowered to regulate the construction or manufacture, possession, control, sale
and transfer of radio transmitters or transceivers (combination transmitter receiver)
and the establishment, use and operation of all radio stations and of all forms of
radio communications and transmissions within the Philippines. In addition to the
above, he shall have the following specific powers and duties:

(a) He shall prescribe rules and regulations covering the construction and
manufacture, possession, purchase, sale or transfer of radio
transmitters or transceivers;

(b) He shall classify radio stations and prescribe the nature of the services
to be rendered by each class and by each station within any class;

(c) He shall assign call letters and assign frequencies for each station
licensed by him and for each station established by virtue of a franchise
granted by the Congress of the Philippines and specify the stations to
which each of such frequencies may be used;

(d) He shall promulgate rules and regulations to prevent and eliminate

interference between stations and carry out the provisions of this Act
and the provisions of the International Radio Regulations: Provided,
however, That changes in the frequencies or in the authorized power,
or in the character of emitted signals, or in the type of the power supply,
or in the hours of operations of any licensed station, shall not be made
without first giving the station licensee a hearing;

(e) He may establish areas or zones to be served by any station;

(f) He may promulgate rules and regulations applicable to radio stations

engaging in chain broadcasting;

(g) He may promulgate rules and regulations requiring stations to keep

record of traffic handled, distress frequency watches, programs,
transmission of energy, communications or signs;

(h) He may conduct such investigations as may be necessary in

connection with radio matters and hold hearings; summon witnesses,
administer oaths and compel the production of books, logs, documents,
and papers, and he may examine the books or persons, companies or
associations engaged in the construction or manufacture of radio

Page 2 of 5
 transmitters or transceivers, or of merchants dealing in the purchase
and sale of radio equipment;

(i) He may prescribe rules and regulations to be observed by radio training

schools; he may supervise the course and method of instruction
therein; and he may refuse to admit to examinations for radio operator's
licenses graduates of radio schools not complying with the regulations;

(j) He shall prescribe rates of charges to be paid to the Government for

the inspection of stations, for the licensing of stations, for the
examination of operators, for the licensing of operators, for the renewal
of station or operator license, and for other services as may be
rendered;

(k) He is hereby empowered to approve or to disapprove any application

for the construction, installation, establishment or operation of a radio
station;

(l) He may approve or disapprove any application for renewal of station or

operator license: Provided, however, That no application for renewal
shall be disapproved without giving the licensee a hearing;

(m) He may, at his discretion, bring criminal action against violators of the
radio laws or the regulations and confiscate the radio apparatus in case
of illegal operation; or simply suspend or revoke the offender's station
or operator licenses or refuse to renew such licenses; or just reprimand
and warn the offenders;

(n) The location of any station and the power and kind or type of apparatus
to be used shall be subject to his approval;

(o) He shall prescribe rules and regulations to be observed by stations for

the handling of SOS messages and distress traffics: Provided, That
such rules and regulations shall not conflict with the provisions of the
International Radio Regulations. (As amended by Republic Act. No.
584, approved September 18, 1950)

SECTION 4. No radio station license shall be transferred to any person,

firm, company, association or corporation without express authority of the
Secretary of Commerce and Communications, and no license shall be granted or
transferred to any person who is not a citizen of the United States of America or of
the Philippine Islands; or to any firm or company which is not incorporated under
the laws of the Philippine or of any state or territory of the United States of America;
or to any company or corporation in which any alien is employed as officer or
director, or to any company or corporation twenty percent of whose capital stock
may be voted by aliens or their representatives, or by a foreign government or its

Page 3 of 5
representatives, or by any company, corporation, or association organized under
the laws of a foreign country.

SECTION 5. The privileges granted in any station license shall not be

exclusive.

SECTION 6. The President of the United States of America, or the

Governor-General of the Philippine Islands, in time of war, public peril, calamity, or
disaster, may cause the closing of any radio station in the Philippine Islands; or
may authorize the temporary use or possession thereof by any department of the
Government upon just compensation to the owners.

SECTION 7. A person to whom or through whom a message has been

submitted for transmission shall not willfully publish or divulge the contents,
substance, purport, effect, or meaning thereof to any unauthorized person; and no
person not being authorized by the sender or the addressee shall intercept any
message or communication and willfully divulge or publish the contents,
substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such intercepted message or
communication to any person; and no person not being entitled thereto shall
receive, or assist in receiving, any message or communications and use the same
or any information therein contained for his benefit or for the benefit of another not
entitled thereto; and no person having received such intercepted message or
communication, or having become acquainted with the contents, substance,
purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, knowing that such
information was so obtained, shall divulge or publish the contents, substance,
purport, effect, or meaning of the same or any part thereof, or use the same or any
information therein contained for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not
entitled thereto: Provided, that this section shall not apply to the transmitting,
receiving, divulging, publishing or utilizing the contents of any message or
communication broadcasted or transmitted by amateurs or others for the use of
the general public or relating to ships in distress.

SECTION 8. The Secretary of Commerce and Communication is hereby

authorized to create a Radio Regulation Section, Division, or Office, which shall
take charge of carrying out the provisions of this Act and of the regulations
prescribed by him, or to delegate temporarily the duties herein conferred upon him
and the enforcement of the regulations prescribed by him, to any bureau or office
under his department, subject to his general supervision and control.

SECTION 9. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to radio stations of
the United States Government and those of the Philippine Government. Foreign
mobile stations temporarily located within the Philippine Islands shall be exempt
from the provisions of this Act: Provided, however, That they shall be subject to
the provisions of the International Radiotelegraph Regulations.

Page 4 of 5
 SECTION 10. The powers vested in and the duties imposed upon the
Director of Posts by Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six are hereby
transferred to the Secretary of Commerce and Communication, who is hereby
empowered to include in the general radio regulations under this Act, regulations
governing radio apparatus compulsory required on vessels of Philippine registry
by Act Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six, notwithstanding the fact that
such regulations may be different from those specifically provided in said Act
Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six: Provided however, that such
regulations shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of the International
Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea: Provided further, that this section or any
part thereof shall not be construed as in any way affecting the provisions of Act
Numbered Thirty-three hundred and ninety-six making compulsory the installation
of radio apparatus on certain vessels and penalizing violations thereof.

SECTION 11. Act Numbered Thirty-two hundred and seventy-five, entitled,

"An Act to Amend Article One of Chapter Fifty-two and Section Twenty-seven
hundred and fifty-seven of the Administrative Code, Providing for the Effective
Radio Control," is hereby repealed: Provided however, that such repeal shall not
affect any act done, or any right accrued, or any suit or proceeding had or
commenced in any criminal or civil cause, prior to said repeal.

SECTION 12. Any person who shall violate any provision of this Act, or any
regulation prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and Industry under this Act,
or of any provision of the International Radio Regulations, shall be punished by a
fine of not more than two thousand pesos or by imprisonment of not more than two
years, for each and every offense, or both, in the discretion of the court. (As
amended by Commonwealth Act No. 365 dated August 23, 1938 and Republic Act
No. 584, approved September 18, 1950)

SECTION 13. Any firm, company, corporation or association failing or

refusing to observe or violating any provision of this Act, or any provision of the
Regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and Industry under this Act,
or any provision of the International Radio Regulations shall be punished by a fine
of not more than five thousand pesos for each and every offense. (As amended by
Republic Act No. 584, approved September 18, 1950)

SECTION 14. This Act shall take effect three months after approval.

APPROVED, November 11, 1931.

Page 5 of 5