Agencies and Commissions July 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On January 7, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') issued a final order (``January Order'') that granted market participants temporary conditional relief from certain provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA''), as amended by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act'' or ``Dodd-Frank'') (and Commission regulations thereunder). The January Order expires on July 12, 2013. In this Exemptive Order (``Exemptive Order''), the Commission provides temporary conditional relief effective upon the expiration of the January Order in order to facilitate transition to the Dodd-Frank swaps regime.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined not to review an initial determination (``ID'') (Order No. 8) of the presiding administrative law judge (``ALJ'') terminating the investigation based on a settlement agreement.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has submitted the following information collection requirement to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. This is the second notice for public comment; the first was published in the Federal Register at 78 FR 23598, and no comments were received. NSF is forwarding the proposed renewal submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for clearance simultaneously with the publication of this second notice. The full submission may be found at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Comments regarding (a) whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions f the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology should be addressed to: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for National Science Foundation, 72517th Street NW. Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, and to Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1265, Arlington, Virginia 22230 or send email to splimpto@nsf.gov. Comments regarding these information collections are best assured of having their full effect if received within 30 days of this notification. Copies of the submission(s) may be obtained by calling 703-292-7556. NSF may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such persons are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a previously approved information collection requirement concerning Bankruptcy. A notice was published in the Federal Register at 77 FR 73660, December 11, 2012. No comments were received.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are announcing that a proposed collection of information renewal is being submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).

The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing concerning the amendment to Priority Mail Contract 48 negotiated service agreement. This notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps.

The NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public and is required under Section 205 of the Federal Credit Union Act (FCU Act) to allow federally-insured credit unions (FICUs) to purchase assets or assume liabilities of privately- insured credit unions, other financial institutions, or their successor in interest.

The NCUA, as part of their continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). NCUA is soliciting comments concerning the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). As Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) administrator, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) transitioned from a system originally designed for collecting industry specific paper forms to a modernized information technology environment centered on electronic reporting. Based on financial institution type, depository institutions, broker-dealers in securities, futures commission merchants and introducing brokers in commodities, insurance companies, mutual funds, money services businesses, and casinos currently filed reports on four separate forms. FinCEN's objective is to have one electronically-filed dynamic and interactive BSA-SAR that will be used by all filing institutions to report suspicious activity as of April 1, 2013. There are no proposed changes to the regulatory reporting criteria for information collection. Federally insured credit unions will continue to follow the regulation, interagency guidance, and filing instructions to determine when a report should be filed and what information should be included on the report. The interactive BSA-SAR includes several new data fields and introduces data fields from the SARs of other industries. On March 29, 2012, FinCEN released guidance \1\ titled, ``Filing FinCEN's new Currency Transaction Report and Suspicious Activity Report''. This guidance clarified expectations and notes that FinCEN is making available additional and more specific data elements (i.e., characterizations of suspicious activity and types of financial services) as a more efficient way to bring information about suspicious activity to the attention of FinCEN and law enforcement. The guidance clarified the addition of new and expanded data elements; however, the guidance does not create an expectation that financial institutions will revise internal programs, or develop new programs, to capture information that reflects the expanded lists.

The NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public. Section 741.2 of the NCUA Rules and Regulations (12 CFR part 741) places a maximum borrowing limit on federally insured credit unions. State chartered federally insured credit unions must seek a waiver of the borrowing limit from the NCUA Regional Director prior to exceeding this limitation.

The NCUA is submitting the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for reinstatement under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). Notice of this information collection is published to obtain comments from the public. Under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), financial institutions that meet the reporting criteria must compile and make available data about their housing-related lending activity. The data is made available to the public for the purposes of: (i) Helping to determine whether financial institutions are serving the housing needs of their communities; (ii) assisting public officials in distributing public-sector investment so as to attract private investment to areas where it is needed; and (iii) assisting in identifying possible discriminatory lending patterns and enforcing anti-discrimination statutes. The information collection will assist NCUA to ensure credit unions are in compliance with fair lending laws and regulations.

The NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public. The information collection applies to credit unions that engage in member business lending and requires written loan policies that address the various aspects of the member business loan program. Credit unions desiring a waiver from appraisal requirements, aggregate construction and development loan, loan-to-value ratios, personal liability and guarantee requirements, unsecured lending limits to one borrower, aggregate unsecured lending limits, or outstanding loans to one borrower limits of Part 723 must submit certain information to NCUA for consideration. Finally, a credit union seeking regulatory approval to purchase certain business loans in addition to those, which are statutorily limited, must submit certain information to NCUA for consideration.

The NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public. Section 701.32 of the NCUA Rules and Regulations (12 CFR 701) limits nonmember and public unit deposits in federally insured credit unions to 20 percent of their shares or $3.0 million, whichever is greater.

The NCUA intends to submit the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public.

The United States Postal Service[supreg] is proposing to modify four General Privacy Act Systems of Records. These updates are being made to account for additional methods that the Postal Service uses to contact applicants, employees, and former employees. Additionally, changes are being made to one record system to include assessments of postal employees and to expand the locations where information from such assessments may be stored. Lastly, changes are being made to another record system pertaining to personnel research to include former Postal Service employees as a category of individuals covered by that system and to modify one of the purposes of the system.

The Postal Service gives notice of filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to add a domestic shipping services contract to the list of Negotiated Service Agreements in the Mail Classification Schedule's Competitive Products List.