The minimum time interval between generation of successive CDL defect indication 'notification-events' by this agent. A 'notification-event' is the transmission of a single trap or inform PDU to a list of notification destinations. If more than one change occurs within a short time span, for for example if hop-by-hop forward defect indications are received for multiple interfaces, then notification-events for these changes should be deferred by the agent so that each notification-event occurs at least one throttle interval after the previous notification-event. At the end of each throttle interval, one notification-event should be generated if the current defect indication state on any interface is different from the last state indicated in a notification-event. In such a case, another throttle interval is started immediately.