Agencies and Commissions August 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is required to publish notice of permits issued under the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978. This is the required notice.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Regulatory Secretariat (VPR) will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to reinstate a previously approved information collection requirement concerning Integrity of Unit Prices.

The information collection requirements described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''). The FTC is seeking public comments on its proposal to extend through September 30, 2012, the current PRA clearance requirements contained in the FTC

The Committee is proposing to add to the Procurement List products and services to be furnished by nonprofit agencies employing persons who are blind or have other severe disabilities, and to delete a product previously furnished by such agencies.

Following receipt of a request on July 30, 2009, from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) under authority delegated by the President and pursuant to section 103 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3313), the Commission instituted investigation No. NAFTA-103-024, Certain Textile Articles Containing Acrylic and Modacrylic Fibers: Effect of Modifications of NAFTA Rules of Origin for Goods of Canada.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined to levy civil penalties in the above- captioned proceeding after finding violations of cease and desist orders and a consent order issued in the original investigation. The Commission has terminated the proceedings.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is issuing a final rule to redefine the geographic boundaries of the Boise, ID, and Utah appropriated fund Federal Wage System (FWS) wage areas. The final rule redefines Franklin County, ID, from the Boise wage area to the Utah wage area. These changes are based on consensus recommendations of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) to best match the counties proposed for redefinition to a nearby FWS survey area. FPRAC recommended no other changes in the geographic definitions of the Boise and Utah FWS wage areas.

OPM proposes to add a new system of records to its inventory of records systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. This action is necessary to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act to publish in the Federal Register notice of the existence and character of records maintained by the agency (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)). The system has been operational since March 24, 2003 without incident. Publication of this system of records was inadvertently delayed. In the meantime, appropriate measures were taken to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the information.

Summary of Application: Applicants request an order that would permit (a) certain open-end management investment companies and their series to issue shares (``Shares'') that can be redeemed only in large aggregations (``Creation Units''); (b) secondary market transactions in Shares to occur at negotiated prices; (c) certain series to pay redemption proceeds, under certain circumstances, more than seven days after the tender of Shares for redemption; (d) certain affiliated persons of the series to deposit securities into, and receive securities from, the series in connection with the purchase and redemption of Creation Units; and (e) certain registered management investment companies and unit investment trusts outside of the same group of investment companies as the series to acquire Shares.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is issuing a final rule to redefine the geographic boundaries of the Lake Charles- Alexandria and New Orleans, LA, appropriated fund Federal Wage System (FWS) wage areas. The final rule redefines Iberia and St. Martin Parishes, LA, from the New Orleans wage area to the Lake Charles- Alexandria wage area. These changes are based on consensus recommendations of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) to best match the counties proposed for redefinition to a nearby FWS survey area. FPRAC recommended no other changes in the geographic definitions of the Lake Charles-Alexandria and New Orleans wage areas.

The Presidio Trust is publishing as a final rule a regulation, limited to the Presidio Trust's organization and management, governing access to Presidio Trust information and records in connection with legal proceedings in which neither the United States nor the Presidio Trust is a party. This final rule establishes guidelines for use in determining whether Presidio Trust employees (as defined in the final rule) will provide testimony or records relating to their official duties. It also establishes procedures for requesters to follow when making demands on or requests to a Presidio Trust employee for official documents or to provide testimony. This final rule standardizes the Presidio Trust's practices, promotes uniformity in decisions, conserves the ability of the Presidio Trust to conduct official business, preserves its employee resources, protects confidential information, provides guidance to requestors, minimizes involvement in matters unrelated to the Presidio Trust's mission and programs, avoids wasteful allocation of agency resources and avoids spending public time and money for private purpose.

The Commission has before it a petition for rulemaking filed by Louisiana Media Company, LLC (``Louisiana Media''), the licensee of station WVUE-DT, channel 8, New Orleans, Louisiana. Louisiana Media requests the substitution of its pre-transition digital channel 29 for its post-transition digital channel 8 at New Orleans.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is announcing its implementation of Section 7009 of the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Act (42 U.S.C. 1862o-1). This section of the Act requires that ``each institution that applies for financial assistance from the Foundation for science and engineering research or education describe in its grant proposal a plan to provide appropriate training and oversight in the responsible and ethical conduct of research to undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers participating in the proposed research project.''