July 28, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is proposing to amend its regulations implementing the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, as amended. The Privacy Act has been amended multiple times since OSHRC first promulgated its regulations in 1979. The proposed amendments to OSHRC's regulations at 29 CFR part 2400 will assist the agency in complying with the requirements of the Privacy Act.

This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) adjudication regulations to define the term ``psychosis.'' The term is used but not defined in certain statutes that provide presumptive service connection for compensation. The intended effect of this amendment is consistent application of these statutory provisions.

This document proposes amendments to title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR) to reflect changes to the customs user fee statute made by section 337 of the Trade Act of 2002 and section 2004(f) of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004. The statutory amendments made by section 337 concern the fees payable for customs services provided in connection with the informal entry or release of shipments at express consignment carrier facilities and centralized hub facilities, and primarily serve to replace the annual lump sum payment procedure with a quarterly payment procedure based on a specific fee for each individual air waybill or bill of lading. Section 2004(f) amended the user fee statute to authorize, for merchandise that is formally entered at these sites, the assessment of merchandise processing fees provided for in 19 U.S.C. 58c(a)(9), in addition to the fees that are currently assessed on individual air waybills or bills of lading. Lastly, pursuant to the authority established in 19 U.S.C. 58c(b)(9)(B)(i), this document proposes to raise the existing $0.66 fee assessed on individual air waybills or bills of lading to $1.00 to more equitably align it with the actual costs incurred by CBP in processing these items.

By this order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) grants clarification and rehearing in part of Order No. 667-A. Order No. 667-A granted rehearing in part and denied rehearing in part of Order No. 667, which amended the Commission's regulations to implement repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 and enactment of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 2005.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter Service or we) is proposing to establish the 2006-07 early-season hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds. We annually prescribe frameworks, or outer limits, for dates and times when hunting may occur and the maximum number of birds that may be taken and possessed in early seasons. Early seasons may open as early as September 1, and include seasons in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. These frameworks are necessary to allow State selections of specific final seasons and limits and to allow recreational harvest at levels compatible with population status and habitat conditions.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) proposes to amend the Common Crop Insurance Regulations; Northern Potato Crop Insurance Provisions, Northern Potato Crop Insurance Quality Endorsement, Northern Potato Crop Insurance Processing Quality Endorsement, Potato Crop Insurance Certified Seed Endorsement, Northern Potato Crop Insurance Storage Coverage Endorsement, and the Central and Southern Potato Crop Insurance Provisions. The intended effect of this action is to provide policy changes and clarify existing policy provisions to better meet the needs of the insureds, and to reduce vulnerability to fraud, waste and abuse. The changes are intended to apply for the 2008 and succeeding crop years.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is proposing to amend its regulations to include jurisdiction over certain radium sources, accelerator-produced radioactive materials, and certain naturally occurring radioactive material, as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), which was signed into law on August 8, 2005. The EPAct expanded the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 definition of byproduct material to include any discrete source of radium-226, any material made radioactive by use of a particle accelerator, and any discrete source of naturally occurring radioactive material, other than source material, that the Commission, in consultation with other Federal officials named in the EPAct, determines would pose a similar threat to the public health and safety or the common defense and security as a discrete source of radium-226, that are extracted or converted after extraction for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity. In so doing, these materials were placed under the NRC's regulatory authority. The EPAct also mandated that the Commission, after consultation with States and other stakeholders, issue final regulations establishing requirements that the Commission determines necessary under the EPAct. This rulemaking effort is being undertaken in response to that mandate and includes significant contributions from many States that have regulated the naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive material, the Organization of Agreement States, Inc., and the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc. (CRCPD). In addition, this proposed rule was informed and guided by the CRCPD's applicable Suggested State Regulations for the Control of Radiation. Licensees and individuals who are engaged in activities involving the newly defined byproduct material in both Agreement States and non-Agreement States and United States Territories may be affected by this rulemaking.