Agencies and Commissions July 27, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (the ``agencies'') may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. On June 17, 2011, OMB approved the agencies' emergency clearance requests to implement assessment-related reporting revisions to the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report) for banks, the Thrift Financial Report (TFR) for savings associations, the Report of Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banks (FFIEC 002), and the Report of Assets and Liabilities of a Non-U.S. Branch that is Managed or Controlled by a U.S. Branch or Agency of a Foreign (Non-U.S.) Bank (FFIEC 002S), all of which currently are approved collections of information, effective as of the June 30, 2011, report date. Because the assessment-related reporting revisions will need to remain in effect beyond the limited approval period associated with an emergency clearance request, the agencies, under the auspices of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), are requesting public comment on a proposal to extend, with revision, the collections of information identified above. At the end of the comment period, the comments and recommendations received will be analyzed to determine the extent to which the FFIEC and the agencies should modify the proposed revisions prior to giving final approval. The agencies will then submit the revisions to OMB for review and approval.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is issuing public notice of its intent to establish a new system of records maintained in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended, entitled ``USAID-30, Google Apps Business Edition''. 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 record systems maintained by the agency (5 U.S.C. 522a(e)(4)).

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), and as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is inviting the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on this proposed continuing information collection. The full submission may be found at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. This is the second notice for public comment; the first was published in the Federal Register at 76 FR 28244 and no comments were received. NSF is forwarding the proposed submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance simultaneously with the publication of this second notice.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is advertising for nominations for the position of Agreement State representative on the Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes (ACMUI).

The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices or unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent orderembodied in the consent agreementthat would settle these allegations.

NCUA is amending its rules to conform to amendments made to the Federal Credit Union Act (FCU Act) by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). The interim final rule adds remittance transfers, as now defined under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), as an example of money transfer instruments Federal credit unions (FCUs) may provide to persons within their fields of membership.

Pursuant to the FTC's authority to enforce the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (``FDCPA''), 15 U.S.C. 1692l(a), and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (``FTC Act''), 15 U.S.C. 45, the Commission issues this final Statement of Policy Regarding Communications in Connection with the Collection of Decedents' Debts (``Statement'').\1\ When a person dies, creditors and the debt collectors they hire usually have the right to collect on the person's debts from the assets of his or her estate. Sections 805(b) and (d) of the FDCPA prohibit debt collectors from contacting individuals other than the debtor to collect a debt, unless the individual is the debtor's spouse, parent (if the debtor is a minor), guardian, executor, or administrator. The Commission has learned that, to recover on a decedent's debts, some debt collectors contact the decedent's relatives, although these relatives may have no authority to pay the debts from the decedent's estate and no legal obligation to pay the debts from their own assets. By contacting persons who are not specified in Section 805 of the FDCPA, and by engaging in practices that may deceive those persons about their obligations, these debt collectors may be violating the FDCPA. The Commission recognizes, however, that imposing unnecessary restrictions on a debt collector's ability to collect a decedent's debt from the person authorized to pay those debts may instead cause some debt collectors to seek to recover by invoking the probate process, imposing substantial costs on the estate and delaying the distribution of assets to heirs and beneficiaries. To balance these interests and protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices, this Statement announces that the FTC will forebear from enforcing Section 805(b) of the FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. 1692c(b), against a debt collector for communicating about a decedent's debts with persons specifically identified as appropriate to contact under Section 805 of the FDCPA (e.g., spouse, parent, guardian, executor, or administrator) or any other person who has the authority to pay the decedent's debts from the assets of the decedent's estate. The Statement also clarifies how a debt collector can comply with the law in locating the person who has the requisite authority with whom to discuss the decedent's debts. Finally, the Statement explains how a debt collector can avoid engaging in deceptive practices in communicating with a third party about a decedent's debts.

This is a notice of an Administrative declaration of a disaster for the State of Washington dated 07/19/2011. Incident: White Swan Fire. Incident Period: 02/12/2011 through 02/13/2011. Effective Date: 07/19/2011. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 09/19/2011. Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan Application Deadline Date: 04/19/2012.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'') is adopting regulations to implement certain statutory provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''). The Commission also is amending its existing regulations governing the submission of new products, rules, and rule amendments. The final regulations establish the Commission's procedural framework for the submission of new products, rules, and rule amendments by designated contract markets (``DCMs''), derivatives clearing organizations (``DCOs''), swap execution facilities (``SEFs''), and swap data repositories (``SDRs''). In addition, the final regulations prohibit event contracts involving certain excluded commodities, establish special submission procedures for certain rules proposed by systemically important derivatives clearing organizations (``SIDCOs''), and stay the certifications and the approval review periods of novel derivative products pending jurisdictional determinations.