This document describes the general requirements for requesting acceptance of any product by the Telecommunications Program of the Rural Development Utilities Programs (RDUP), a program administered by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency under USDA Rural Development. Additional requirements for acceptance of a specific product are included in the document for the product specific category found at http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/listing_procedures/index_listing_procedures.htm. If no specific category exists, the general procedures in this document should be followed. Questions regarding appropriate product categories and general acceptance procedures should be directed to Norberto Esteves at norberto.esteves@wdc.usda.gov. For questions regarding specific products, see the product specific acceptance procedures for contact persons.

An application for RDUP product acceptance is comprised of the information requested in this document and the document for the product specific category. Applications submitted must be complete. Requests for product acceptance must be made by the actual product manufacturer, or its authorized representative, and must be made for production items only.

Please note that unless the entity seeking product listing is a listed manufacturer, RDUP will not separately list OEM'ed equipment. That is, products exactly the same as listed products with different manufacturers' names and model designations will not be included as separate listings in the List of Materials. RDUP may include OEM'ed equipment as part of a product listed if a certification is provided by the listed manufacturer stating that it has an agreement with one or more other companies to resell the listed equipment. This certification must include these companies' names and product names. An explanation of the agreements must also be provided. Certifications must also be provided by the listed manufacturer and each of the resellers stating the product sold is unchanged from that sold by the listed manufacturer with the exception of the cosmetic changes required to change the suppliers' names and model designations. This certification must include company contact information for each company involved including contact name, mailing address, email address and telephone number.

1. Application Requests - Requests for RDUP acceptance of a product should be made by letter to:
Norberto Esteves
Chairman, Technical Standards
Committee "A" (Telecommunications)
1400 Independence Ave. SW
Room 2866-S, STOP 1550
Washington, DC 20250-1550
E-mail: norberto.esteves@wdc.usda.gov

The request needs to be made and signed by an authorized employee of the actual manufacturer of the product. The request needs to include the following information:

a. Identify the product by specific model or catalog number;

b. State that the product is in full production; and

c. Identify the plant address where the product is produced, contact information, and contact person.