The Federal Communications Commission said a District of Columbia Circuit Court ruling in the Comcast/BitTorrent case (Comcast Corp. v. FCC) will adversely affect implementation of its National Broadband Plan.

That plan, which was released in mid-March, includes more than 200 recommendations and a main goal of getting 100 million homes wired with 100 mbps broadband by 2020.

The Comcast/BitTorrent case began in 2007 when Internet users discovered that Comcast was secretly interfering with its customers’ lawful use of BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer applications. Comcast agreed to end the practice, and in 2008 the FCC issued an order that found Comcast in violation of federal Internet policy.

However, an April 6 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the 2008 order lacked sufficient statutory basis because it didn’t identify “any express statutory delegation of authority” for putting an end to Comcast’s undisclosed interference with its customers’ communications, according to an FCC release.

The ruling essentially said the FCC doesn’t have the authority to enforce “net neutrality,” according to Techcrunch.com.

“That’s an important ruling. It undermines the legal approach the FCC adopted in 2005 to fulfill its statutory duty of being the cop-on-the-beat for 21st century communications networks,” wrote Austin Schlick, general counsel for the FCC.

Though the FCC said the ruling has “no effect at all on most of the plan,” it said the decision “may affect a significant number of important plan recommendations.”

The FCC said some of the recommendations that might be affected include accelerating broadband access and adoption in rural America; connecting low-income Americans, Native American communities and Americans with disabilities; supporting robust use of broadband by small businesses; lowering barriers that hinder broadband deployment; cyber security; consumer privacy; and transparency and disclosure.

“The Commission must have a sound legal basis for implementing each of these recommendations,” Schlick wrote. “We are assessing the implications of yesterday’s decision for each one, to ensure that the Commission has adequate authority to execute the mission laid out in the Plan.”