May 8, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission hereby gives notice of the scheduling of full reviews pursuant to section 751(c)(5) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675(c)(5)) (the Act) to determine whether revocation of the antidumping duty orders on silicon metal from Brazil and China would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time. For further information concerning the conduct of these reviews and rules of general application, consult the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, part 201, subparts A through E (19 CFR part 201), and part 207, subparts A, D, E, and F (19 CFR part 207).

In an earlier notice of proposed amendments (NPA), the FHWA proposed to amend the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) to include methods to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity. Based on the review and analysis of the numerous comments received in response to the NPA, the FHWA has decided to substantially revise the proposed amendments to the MUTCD and, as a result, is issuing this SNPA. With this SNPA, the FHWA proposes to amend the MUTCD to include a standard for minimum maintained levels of traffic sign retroreflectivity and methods to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity at or above these levels.

The Department of Homeland Security has given notice of a new Department-wide system of records pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 for Department of Homeland Security General Training Records. In this proposed rulemaking, the Department proposes to exempt portions of this system of records from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act in order to preserve the objectivity and fairness of testing and examination material.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is publishing this document to inform establishments that prepare meat and poultry products of the need to ensure that they maintain proper control over the use of ingredients, especially those that present a potential public health concern, and over the ingredient labeling of their products. Establishments should ensure that their systems provide such control as part of their next reassessment of their HACCP systems. FSIS invites comments on the matters presented in this document.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b(e)(3)), of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit Administration Board (Board).

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has received requests from Shell Offshore, Inc. (Shell), ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. (CPAI), and GXT Houston (GXT) for authorizations to take small numbers of marine mammals by harassment incidental to conducting open-water seismic operations in the Chukchi Sea. In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, the Service requests comments on its proposed authorization for the operators identified above to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of Pacific walrus and polar bears in the Chukchi Sea area between June 1, 2006, and November 30, 2006.

NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring 5,871 lb (2,663 kg) of commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Virginia from its 2006 quota. By this action, NMFS adjusts the quotas and announces the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

Change in Location of May MeetingThe Hood/Willamette Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet on Friday, May 26, 2006. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., and will conclude at approximately 4 p.m. The meeting will be held at Oregon Department of Forestry Veneta Office; 87950 Territorial Road, Veneta, Oregon; (541) 935-2283. The tentative agenda includes: (1) Election of chairperson; (2) Report on National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition Conference; (3) Tour of the Lane County Work Camp; (4) Decision on overhead rate for 2007 projects; (5) Presentation of 2007 Projects; and (6) Public Forum. The Public Forum is tentatively scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Time allotted for individual presentations will be limited to 3-4 minutes. Written comments are encouraged, particularly if the material cannot be presented within the time limits for the Public Forum. Written comments may be submitted prior to the May 26th meeting by sending them to Designated Federal Official Donna Short at the address given below.

This document contains final regulations under section 1502 of the Internal Revenue Code. Example 13 of the intercompany transaction regulations illustrates the treatment of manufacturer incentive payments. Because a premise underlying the example is under reconsideration, these final regulations remove and reserve this example. The regulations will affect corporations filing consolidated returns.

This document contains corrections to final regulations that were published in the Federal Register on Friday, March 24, 2006 (71 FR 14798) concerning content requirements applicable to explanations of qualified joint and survivor annuities and qualified preretirement survivor annuities payable under certain retirement plans.

In the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Energy Policy Act), Congress amended section 211(k) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to remove the oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline (RFG). On February 22, 2006, EPA published a direct final rule to amend regulations to remove the oxygen content standard and associated compliance requirements from the RFG regulations. We stated in the direct final rule that if EPA received adverse comment, we would publish a timely withdrawal of the provisions on which we received adverse comment and address the adverse comments in a subsequent final rule based on a parallel notice of proposed rulemaking also published on February 22, 2006. We received adverse comment on the amendments to remove the oxygen content standard in the direct final rule. As a result, in a separate action we are withdrawing those amendments from the direct final rule. This final action addresses the adverse comments we received and finalizes the removal of the oxygen content standard and associated compliance requirements from the RFG regulations.

This amendment supersedes an existing airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain Bombardier Model CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 & 440) airplanes, that currently requires installation of protective tape on the fire and overheat control unit located in the flight compartment. This amendment requires the installation of protective tape and adds repetitive inspections of the condition of the protective tape and related corrective action. This amendment also mandates eventual replacement of the existing fire and overheat control unit with a modified unit, which ends the repetitive inspections. Additionally, this amendment adds airplanes to the applicability in the existing AD. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent fluid contamination inside the fire and overheat control unit, which could result in a false fire alarm and consequent emergency landing. This action is intended to address the identified unsafe condition.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, has approved the agencies' publication of this notice announcing the effect of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act on the reporting of certain deposit-related data in the Consolidated Reports of Condition and Income (Call Report; FFIEC 031 and 041). Because the deposit insurance coverage for certain retirement plan deposits has increased from $100,000 to $250,000 while the insurance limit for deposit accounts in other ownership capacities has remained at $100,000, data will begin to be reported separately for the number and amount of retirement deposit accounts with balances within and in excess of the new $250,000 insurance limit. The instructions for reporting estimated uninsured deposits by banks with $1 billion or more in total assets and for reporting brokered deposits will be revised to reflect the new insurance limit for retirement deposit accounts. In addition, with the merger of the insurance funds administered by the FDIC, items in which banks with ``Oakar deposits'' have reported information on purchases and sales of deposits are no longer needed and will be eliminated. These reporting changes will take effect in the Call Report for June 30, 2006. In a separate action, the agencies have decided not to implement two new credit-derivative- related items that were to be added to the Call Report on September 30, 2006.

EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maryland for the purpose of amending the regulations pertaining to Stage II Vapor Recovery at Gasoline Dispensing Facilities. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.