It takes money to run a spectrum regulatory agency. The resources the spectrum management agency requires include: skilled labour, IT resources, investment in technical monitoring equipment, and expenditures to pay for participation in ITU and other international meetings. As well, the normal inputs such as office space and utility services needed to be funded. Governments can remunerate such costs directly from general revenue and in certain circumstances they should do so (for example if full cost recovering would deter spectrum use). It is usually efficient, however, for licensees or groups of licensees to be liable for the direct regulatory costs which they impose, on the ground that such costs are ‘caused’ by each licensee. Each user should then expect a direct cost based licence charge when it seeks access to spectrum, just as it takes account of other costs which it incurs or imposes.