Intercountry Adoption-Reporting on Non-Convention and Convention Adoptions of Emigrating Children, 54001-54005 [06-7526]
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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 177 / Wednesday, September 13, 2006 / Proposed Rules
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
22 CFR Part 99
[Public Notice 5539]
RIN: 1400–AC–20
Intercountry Adoption—Reporting on
Non-Convention and Convention
Adoptions of Emigrating Children
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Department of State.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
hsrobinson on PROD1PC61 with PROPOSALS
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The Department of State (the
Department), with the joint review and
approval of the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), is proposing
a new rule to implement the
requirement in the Intercountry
Adoption Act of 2000 (the IAA) to
establish a Case Registry for, inter alia,
emigrating children. This proposed rule
would impose reporting requirements
on adoption service providers,
including governmental authorities who
provide adoption services, in cases
involving adoptions of children who
will emigrate from the United States.
These reporting obligations apply to all
intercountry adoptions, regardless of
whether they are covered under the
1993 Hague Convention on Protection of
Children and Co-operation in Respect of
Intercountry Adoption (the Convention).
This proposed rule, although issued
with the joint review and approval of
DHS pursuant to section 303(d) of the
IAA, only adds a new section to the
Department’s Convention regulations;
no amendments or additions are made
to DHS regulations.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before November 13, 2006.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by docket number State/AR–
01/99, by one of the following methods
(no duplicates, please):
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Electronically: You may submit
electronic comments to
adoptionregs@state.gov. Attachments
must be in Microsoft Word.
• Mail: U.S. Department of State, CA/
OCS/PRI, Adoption Regulations Docket
Room, (SA–29), 2201 C Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20520.
• Courier: U.S. Department of State,
CA/OCS/PRI, Adoption Regulations
Docket Room, (SA–29), 2201 C Street,
NW., Washington, DC 20520. (Because
access to the Department of State is not
readily available to private individuals
without Federal Government
identification, do not personally deliver
comments to the Department).
Docket: Comments received before the
close of the comment period will be
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available to the public, including any
personally identifiable information that
is included in a comment. The
Department posts comments on its
public Web site at: https://travel.state.gov
or they are available for public
inspection by calling Delilia GibsonMartin at 202–736–9105 for an
appointment.
Anna Mary Coburn at 202–736–9081.
Hearing- or speech-impaired persons
may use the Telecommunications
Devices for the Deaf (TDD) by contacting
the Federal Information Relay Service at
1–800–877–8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Legal Authority
The Hague Convention on Protection
of Children and Co-operation in Respect
of Intercountry Adoption, May 29, 1993,
S. Treaty Doc. 105–51 (1998); 1870
U.N.T.S. 167 (Reg. No. 31922 (1993)), 32
I.L.M. 1134 (1993); Intercountry
Adoption Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. 14901–
14954.
II. Introduction
The Convention is a multilateral
treaty that provides a framework for the
adoption of children habitually resident
in one country that is a party to the
Convention by persons habitually
resident in another country that is also
a party to the Convention. The
Convention establishes procedures to be
followed in these intercountry adoption
cases and imposes safeguards to protect
the best interests of children. It applies
to the United States as both a country
of origin (outgoing cases, i.e., where
children are emigrating from the United
States to a foreign country) and a
receiving country (incoming cases, i.e.,
where children are immigrating to the
United States from a foreign country).
The implementing legislation for the
Convention is the IAA. The IAA
requires the Department and DHS to
establish a Case Registry to track all
intercountry adoption cases: Convention
and non-Convention; emigrating and
immigrating cases. It also requires the
Department to report certain
information about intercountry
adoptions to Congress. To implement
these responsibilities, the Department
is, with the joint review and approval of
DHS, promulgating this proposed rule to
require adoption service providers who
provide adoption services in
intercountry adoption cases involving a
child emigrating from the United States
(including governmental authorities
who provide such adoption services) to
report certain information to the
Department for incorporation into the
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Case Registry. These requirements
would apply in both Convention and
non-Convention cases involving
emigrating children. No regulation is
being proposed at this time to establish
reporting requirements in cases
involving children immigrating to the
United States (incoming cases), because
sufficient information can be collected
through other means, primarily the DHS
petition process and the immigration
visa and issuance process.
Separate regulations implement other
aspects of the Convention and the IAA,
such as regulations on the accreditation/
approval of adoption service providers
(ASPs) to perform adoption services in
cases covered by the Convention (22
CFR part 96), preservation of
Convention records (22 CFR part 98),
visa procedures for Convention
adoption cases involving immigrating
children (regulations to appear at 22
CFR part 42), and certification of
Convention adoption proceedings done
by U.S. courts (regulations to appear at
22 CFR part 97). Further background on
the Convention and the IAA is provided
in the Preamble to the Final Rule on the
Accreditation and Approval of Agencies
and Persons under the IAA, Section I
and II, 71 FR 8064–8066 (February 15,
2006) and the Preamble to the Proposed
Rule on the Accreditation of Agencies
and Approval of Persons under the IAA,
Section III and IV, 68 FR 54065–54073
(September 15, 2003).
III. The Proposed Rule
This proposed rule establishes
reporting requirements for all
intercountry adoption cases in which a
child is emigrating from the United
States. There are three IAA sections
relevant to the development of this
proposed rule. Section 102(e) of the IAA
requires the Department and DHS to
establish a Case Registry of all adoptions
involving the immigration of children to
the United States and emigration of
children from the United States
regardless of whether the adoption
occurs under the Convention. This Case
Registry must permit tracking of
pending cases and retrieval of
information on both pending and closed
cases. (As noted previously, this
proposed regulation addresses only
emigrating (outgoing) cases, and not
immigrating (incoming) cases, because
the Department can obtain sufficient
data on immigrating cases through other
means.) Section 303(d) of the IAA
requires all adoption service providers,
including governmental authorities,
who provide adoption services in
outgoing cases not subject to the
Convention, to file information required
under regulations issued to implement
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the Case Registry. In addition, section
104 of the IAA requires the Department
to submit annual reports to Congress on
all intercountry adoptions, which must
set forth, among other items, the total
number of Convention and nonConvention outgoing cases, the country
to which each child immigrated, and the
State from which each child emigrated.
In summary, these three sections of the
IAA—section 102(a) (establishment of
Case Registry), section 303(d)(filing with
Case Registry regarding non-Convention
adoptions), and section 104(b)(2)
(annual reports to Congress)’provide the
Department with the legal authority to
collect the data outlined in the proposed
rule.
Although the main purpose of the
IAA was to implement the Convention,
Congress also sought to gather casespecific data on intercountry adoptions.
Historically, children involved in
outgoing cases did not require adoptionspecific Federal services in connection
with their departure from the United
States and therefore were not identified
as such to the Federal government. As
noted, in the IAA, Congress mandated
the creation of Case Registry to monitor
all intercountry adoption cases,
including both Convention and nonConvention outgoing cases. The House
Committee on International Relations
stated in its report on the IAA that
‘‘[T]his registry shall be for the purpose
of easing administration of [the IAA]
and the Convention so that Federal
agencies and prospective adoptive
parents can determine the status of a
particular case and for the purpose of
creating a system to track children who
leave the United States to be adopted
abroad.’’ (Report of the House
Committee on International Relations on
the Intercountry Adoption Act, 106th
Cong. 2nd Sess., H.R. Rep. No 106–691
(2000)). With this legislative history and
the resulting statutory language in mind,
the Department has devised a rule that
requires reporting of certain casespecific information both to permit
tracking and retrieval of information on
outgoing cases and to enable the
Department to complete its annual
reports to Congress. The proposed rule
is narrowly crafted to include only those
basic items necessary to fulfill these
case tracking and reporting functions.
Moreover, in the interest of increasing
compliance, we have attempted to keep
the requirements simple and the
number of items to be reported very
limited.
Reporting Information on Convention
and Non-Convention Outgoing Cases
Section 99.1 of the proposed
regulation defines the term
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‘‘Convention’’ and adopts by reference
all other definitions established in 22
CFR 96.2 (Hague accreditation and
approval regulation). Section 99.2 of the
proposed regulation sets forth the
reporting requirements for providers of
adoption services in outgoing
(emigrating child) adoptions. Note that
the term ‘‘adoption services’’ is a
defined term in 22 CFR 96.2 and refers
to the following six services: (1)
Identifying a child for adoption and
arranging an adoption; (2) securing the
necessary consent to termination of
parental rights and to adoption; (3)
performing a background study on a
child or a home study on a prospective
adoptive parent(s), and reporting on
such a study; (4) making non-judicial
determinations of the best interests of a
child and the appropriateness of an
adoptive placement for the child; (5)
monitoring a case after a child has been
placed with prospective adoptive
parent(s) until final adoption; (6) when
necessary because of disruption before
final adoption, assuming custody and
providing (including facilitating the
provision of) child care or any other
social service pending an alternative
placement. Post-adoption services are
not included within the definition of
‘‘adoption services.’’
Who Must Report?
Section 99.2(a) makes clear that any
entity that provides adoption services
will be required to report under this rule
if it is a ‘‘reporting provider’’ in the
case, as identified in § 99.2(b). This
means that all agencies (whether or not
accredited or temporarily accredited),
all persons (whether or not approved),
all public domestic authorities (a
defined term in 22 CFR 96.2 which
means an authority operated by a State,
local, or tribal government within the
United States), and any other providers
of adoption services in outgoing
adoption cases are potentially required
to report under this regulation. To avoid
duplicative reporting, and to reduce the
burden on all adoption service
providers, including public domestic
authorities, § 99.2(b) establishes a
framework for determining which
provider must report in a given case as
follows:
Convention cases. In an outgoing
Convention adoption case involving at
least one accredited, temporarily
accredited, or approved provider, it is
the primary provider, as described in 22
CFR 96.14(a) that must report. In an
outgoing Convention adoption in which
there is no accredited, temporarily
accredited, or approved provider
involved, the public domestic authority
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performing adoption services in the case
must report.
Non-Convention cases. In an outgoing
non-Convention adoption case, in
which there is only one provider of
adoption services, that provider must
report. As noted above, this provider
might be an agency (including an
accredited agency or temporarily
accredited agency), a person (including
an approved person), a public domestic
authority, or any other adoption service
provider. In cases in which there are
two or more providers of adoption
services, the reporting provider is the
provider that is responsible for child
placement as determined by applying
factors listed in § 99.2. When multiple
providers are involved in a nonConvention case, each provider must
use the factors in § 99.2 of the proposed
rule to identify whether it is the
provider with child placement
responsibility and therefore must report
the information listed in § 99.2(c) and
(d). The language in § 99.2(b)(1) through
(4) is similar to the language in 22 CFR
96.14 on how to determine who is the
primary provider; however, it has been
adapted slightly to replace Convention
specific terminology with language
appropriate to non-Convention cases.
This proposed rule does not require
prospective adoptive parent(s) who are
acting on their own behalf, as described
in 22 CFR 96.13(d), to report
information to the Department, even if
they perform adoption services for
themselves in an outgoing case. The
Department is not including prospective
adoptive parent(s) acting on their own
behalf as potential reporters because,
although they may perform adoption
services on their own behalf, they are
not providing adoption services to
others, and thus section 303(d) of the
IAA would not require them to report
data to the Department. The Department
believes that very few if any outgoing
Convention adoption cases will be
accomplished entirely by prospective
adoptive parent(s) acting alone, since
the requirements that must be met to
achieve IAA and Convention
compliance, as set forth in 22 CFR 97.3,
will require the use of an adoption
service provider. We also believe that,
given the complexity of outgoing
intercountry adoptions and the standard
requirement of an independent home
study, the number of non-Convention
cases where there is no adoption service
provider at all will be quite limited as
well.
What Information Must Be Reported?
Section 99.2(c) and (d) lists the casespecific information that must be
reported to the Department. The
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Department has limited the data items
to the minimum amount of information
it believes necessary to carry out its
statutory duties. The regulation divides
required reporting into two basic
categories: Identifying information that
must be reported within 30 days of
learning that the case involves
emigration of a child from the United
States to a foreign country, set forth in
§ 99.2(c), and milestone information as
well as changes to information
previously provided that must be
reported within 30 days of occurrence,
as set forth in § 99.2(d).
In accordance with § 99.2(c), the
reporting provider, as identified in
§ 99.2(b), must provide the following
identifying information to the
Department within 30 days of learning
a case involves emigration of a child
from the United States to a foreign
country:
• The name, date of birth of child,
and place of birth of child;
• The U.S. state from which the child
is emigrating;
• The foreign country to which the
child is immigrating;
• The U.S state where the final
adoption is taking place, or
alternatively, the U.S. State where legal
custody for the purpose of adoption is
being granted and the foreign country
where the final adoption will take place;
and
• The name, address, phone number,
and other contact information for the
reporting provider.
In addition, in accordance with
§ 99.2(d), the reporting provider must
provide any changes to information
previously provided, as well as the
following milestone information, to the
Department within 30 days of
occurrence:
• Date on which the case was
determined to involve emigration from
the United States. (Generally, this date
would be the time the U.S. child is
matched with foreign adoptive parents.)
• Date of the U.S. final adoption or,
alternatively, the date on which custody
for purpose of adoption was granted in
the United States;
• Date of foreign final adoption if
custody for purpose of adoption was
granted in the United States, to the
extent practicable; and
• Any additional information when
requested by the Department in a
particular case.
The proposed rule mandates that an
adoption service provider report the
initial information to the Department
within 30 days of identifying that the
case involves the emigration of a child
from the United States, and
subsequently within 30 days of each
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milestone or change to previously
reported information. The proposed rule
does not include details on the
mechanics of how and where to report
the information listed in § 99.2. The
Department plans to post on its Web site
instructions to adoption service
providers on how and where to send the
required basic information on a
particular case.
The Department and DHS Role
Section 303(d) of the IAA envisioned
that DHS and the Department would
agree on a rule on reporting
requirements needed for the Case
Registry. The Department is currently
developing the Case Registry and
coordinating with DHS on the casetracking functions for immigrating
children. DHS has a substantial role in
cases involving immigrating children.
On the other hand, DHS is not directly
involved in outgoing cases at all.
Nevertheless, in keeping with section
303(d) of the IAA, 22 CFR part 99 was
jointly reviewed and approved by the
Department and DHS. However, the
regulation only adds a new part to the
Department’s regulations at Title 22 of
the Code of Federal Regulations. No
changes are made to any DHS
regulations, nor will the rule appear in
Title 8 of the Code of Federal
Regulations.
IV. Regulatory Review:
A. Administrative Procedures Act
In accordance with provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act governing
rules promulgated by Federal agencies
that affect the public (5 U.S.C. 533), the
Department is publishing this proposed
rule and inviting public comment. All
comments received before the close of
business on the comment closing date
indicated above will be considered and
will be available for examination in the
docket. Comments received after the
comment closing date will be filed in
the docket and will be considered to the
extent practicable. A final rule may be
published at any time after close of the
comment period.
B. Regulatory Flexibility Act/Executive
Order 13272: Small Business
In accordance with the Regulatory
Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601–612 and
Executive Order 13272, section 3(b), the
Department of State has evaluated the
effects of this proposed action on small
entities, and has determined, and
hereby certifies, pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
605(b), that it would not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. As
stated in the final rule for 22 CFR part
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54003
96 (71 FR 8064, 8128), the Department
estimates that overall there are between
420 and 600 ASPs that may have to
comply with the accreditation
regulations, all of whom are likely to be
small entities. However, overall, the
number of outgoing intercountry
adoption cases is expected to be very
small in comparison with the number of
incoming cases. Consequently, there
will be very few ASPs who are small
entities and who will also be involved
in outgoing cases. The proposed rule
requires only extremely limited
reporting requirements for outgoing
cases. Thus, the Department does not
believe the economic impact on small
entities will be significant; however, the
Department welcomes public comment
on the rule’s impact on small entities
and the cost of reporting requirements
mandated by the IAA.
C. Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
This rule is not a major rule as
defined by 5 U.S.C. 804 for purposes of
congressional review of agency
rulemaking under the Small Business
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of
1996, Public Law 104–121. The rule
would not result in an annual effect on
the economy of $100 million or more, a
major increase in costs or prices, or
significant adverse effects on
competition, employment, investment,
productivity, or innovation, or on the
ability of United States-based
companies to compete with foreignbased companies in domestic and
export markets.
D. The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995
Section 202 of the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UFMA),
Public Law 104–4; 109 Stat. 48; 2 U.S.C.
1532, generally requires agencies to
prepare a statement, including costbenefit and other analyses, before
proposing any rule that may result in an
annual expenditure of $100 million or
more by State, local, or tribal
governments, or by the private sector.
This rule will not result in the
expenditure by State, local, or tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more
in any year. Moreover, because this rule
will not significantly or uniquely affect
small governments, section 203 of the
UFMA, 2 U.S.C. 1533, does not require
preparation of a small government
agency plan in connection with it.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
A rule has federalism implications
under Executive Order 13132 if it has
substantial direct effects on the States,
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on the relationship between the national
government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various
levels of government. This regulation
will not have such effects, and therefore
does not have sufficient federalism
implications to require consultations or
to warrant the preparation of a
federalism summary impact statement
under section 6 of Executive Order
13132. The Convention and the IAA do,
however, address issues that previously
had been regulated primarily at the
State level, as discussed in the preamble
to the proposed rule on accreditation
and approval of agencies and persons,
appearing at 68 FR 54064, 54069–54070.
These regulations do not create new
federalism implications beyond those
created by the IAA, and the Department
has been careful to limit reporting
duties of State, local, and tribal
authorities to those necessitated by the
IAA. We believe the burden of reporting
the proposed information to the
Department will be minimal. As with
the regulations on accreditation and
approval, the Department welcomes
comments from State and local agencies
and tribal governments on the proposed
regulations. We also envision significant
outreach and consultation with
appropriate State authorities in the
ultimate implementation of any
regulation on this topic.
PRA. Section 503(c) of the IAA exempts
from the PRA information collection
‘‘for purposes of sections 104, 202(b)(4),
and 303(d)’’ of the IAA ‘‘or for use as a
Convention record as defined’’ in the
IAA. All information collections that
relate to outgoing non-Convention cases
will be collections made for the
purposes of section 303(d) of the IAA,
and thereby exempt. All information
collections that relate to outgoing
Convention cases will be Convention
records as defined in and subject to the
preservation requirements of 22 CFR 98,
which implements section 401(a) of the
IAA. Additionally, the majority of
information collection imposed on
persons pursuant to this rule, with
respect to both Convention and nonConvention cases, will be for the
purposes of obtaining information for
congressional reports required under
section 104 of the IAA. Accordingly, the
Department has concluded that the PRA
does not apply to information collected
from the public under this rule.
F. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory
Review
The Department of State does not
consider this rule to be a ‘‘significant
regulatory action’’ within the scope of
section 3(f)(1) of Executive Order 12866.
Nonetheless, the Department has
reviewed the rule to ensure its
consistency with the regulatory
philosophy and principles set forth in
the Executive Order.
PART 99—REPORTING ON
CONVENTION AND NON-CONVENTION
ADOPTIONS OF EMIGRATING
CHILDREN
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G. Executive Order 12988: Civil Justice
Reform
The Department has reviewed this
rule in light of sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2)
of Executive Order 12988 to eliminate
ambiguity, minimize litigation, establish
clear legal standards, and reduce
burden. The Department has made every
reasonable effort to ensure compliance
with the requirements in Executive
Order 12988.
H. The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
of 1995
Under the PRA, 42 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq., agencies are generally required to
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for review and approval
information collection requirements
imposed on ‘‘persons’’ as defined in the
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List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 99
Adoption and foster care;
International agreements; Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
Accordingly, the Department
proposes to add new part 99 to title 22
of the CFR, chapter I, subchapter J, to
read as follows:
Sec.
99.1
99.2
Definitions.
Reporting requirements for adoptions
involving emigrating U.S. children.
99.3 [Reserved].
Authority: The Convention on Protection
of Children and Co-operation in Respect of
Intercountry Adoption (done at The Hague,
May 29, 1993), S. Treaty Doc. 105–51 (1998);
1870 U.N.T.S. 167 (Reg. No. 31922 (1993));
The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, 42
U.S.C. 14901–14954.
§ 99.1
Definitions.
As used in this part, the term:
(a) Convention means the Convention
on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry
Adoption done at The Hague on May 29,
1993.
(b) Such other terms as are defined in
22 CFR 96.2 shall have the meaning
given to them therein.
§ 99.2 Reporting requirements for
adoption cases involving emigrating U.S.
children.
(a) An agency (including an
accredited agency and temporarily
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accredited agency), person (including an
approved person), public domestic
authority, or other adoption service
provider providing adoption services in
a case involving the emigration of a
child from the United States must report
information to the Secretary in
accordance with this section if it is
identified as the reporting provider in
accordance with paragraph (b) of this
section.
(b) In a Convention case in which an
accredited agency, temporarily
accredited agency, or approved person
is providing adoption services, the
primary provider is the reporting
provider. In any other Convention case,
or in a non-Convention case, the
reporting provider is the agency, person,
public domestic authority, or other
adoption service provider that is
providing adoption services in the case,
if it is the only provider of adoption
services. If there is more than one more
provider of adoption services in a nonConvention case, the reporting provider
is the one that has child placement
responsibility, as evidenced by the
following factors:
(1) Entering into placement contracts
with prospective adoptive parent(s) to
provide child referral and placement;
(2) Accepting custody from a
birthparent or other legal guardian for
the purpose of placement for adoption;
(3) Assuming responsibility for liaison
with a foreign government or its
designees with regard to arranging an
adoption; or
(4) Receiving from or sending to a
foreign country information about a
child that is under consideration for
adoption.
(c) A reporting provider, as identified
in paragraph (b) of this section, must
report the following identifying
information to the Secretary for each
outgoing case within 30 days of learning
that the case involves emigration of a
child from the United States to a foreign
country:
(1) Name, date of birth of child, and
place of birth of child;
(2) The U.S. State from which the
child is emigrating;
(3) The country to which the child is
immigrating;
(4) The U.S. State where the final
adoption is taking place, or the U.S.
State where legal custody for the
purpose of adoption is being granted
and the country where the final
adoption is taking place; and
(5) Its name, address, phone number,
and other contact information.
(d) A reporting provider, as identified
in paragraph (b) of this section, must
report any changes to information
previously provided as well as the
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following milestone information to the
Secretary for each outgoing case within
30 days of occurrence:
(1) Date case determined to involve
emigration from the United States
(generally the time the U.S. child is
matched with foreign adoptive parents);
(2) Date of U. S. final adoption or date
on which custody for the purpose of
adoption was granted in United States;
(3) Date of foreign final adoption if
custody for purpose of adoption was
granted in the United States, to the
extent practicable; and
(4) Any additional information when
requested by the Secretary in a
particular case.
§ 99.3
[Reserved]
Dated: June 15, 2006.
Maura Harty,
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular
Affairs, Department of State.
Dated: August 30, 2006.
Michael Chertoff,
Secretary of Homeland Security, Department
of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 06–7526 Filed 9–12–06; 8:45 am]
the subject of this correction is under
section 7871 of the Internal Revenue
Code.
Need for Correction
As published, REG–118788–06
contains an error that may prove to be
misleading and is in need of
clarification.
Correction of Publication
Accordingly, the publication of the
advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(REG–118788–06) that were the subject
of FR. Doc. E6–12884, is corrected as
follows:
On page 45474, preamble, under the
caption ‘‘FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT:’’, line 4, the language ‘‘Aviva
M. Roth, (202) 622–3980 (not toll-’’ is
corrected to read ‘‘Aviva M. Roth, (202)
622–4164 (not toll-’’.
Guy R. Traynor,
Publications and Regulations Branch, Legal
Processing Division, Associate Chief Counsel,
(Procedure and Administration).
[FR Doc. E6–15119 Filed 9–12–06; 8:45 am]
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
26 CFR Part 1
26 CFR Part 1
[REG–118775–06]
BILLING CODE 4830–01–P
Internal Revenue Service
26 CFR Part 300
[REG–145154–05]
RIN 1545–BF68
RIN 1545–BF64
[REG–118788–06]
Revisions to Regulations Relating to
Repeal of Tax on Interest of
Nonresident Alien Individuals and
Foreign Corporations Received From
Certain Portfolio Debt Investments;
Hearing Cancellation
RIN–1545–BF63
Definition of Essential Governmental
Function Under Section 7871 and
Limitation to Activities Customarily
Performed by States and Local
Governments; Correction
Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Treasury.
ACTION: Correction to advance notice of
proposed rulemaking.
This document corrects an
advance notice of proposed rulemaking
(REG–118788–06) that was published in
the Federal Register on Wednesday,
August 9, 2006 (71 FR 45474), that
applies to Indian tribal governments and
to State and local governments that
issue bonds for the benefit of Indian
tribal governments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Aviva M. Roth, (202) 622–4164 (not tollfree numbers).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Background
The advance notice of proposed
rulemaking, (REG–118788–06) that is
Jkt 208001
Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Treasury.
ACTION: Cancellation of notice of public
hearing on proposed rulemaking.
AGENCY:
AGENCY:
hsrobinson on PROD1PC61 with PROPOSALS
Guy R. Traynor,
Chief, Publications and Regulations Branch,
Legal Processing Division, Associate Chief
Counsel (Procedure and Administration).
[FR Doc. E6–15127 Filed 9–12–06; 8:45 am]
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
16:37 Sep 12, 2006
Federal Register on Wednesday, August
9, 2006 (71 FR 45474), announced that
a public hearing was scheduled for
October 6, 2006, at 10 a.m., in the IRS
Auditorium (New Carrollton Federal
Building), 5000 Ellin Road, Lanham,
MD 20706. The subject of the public
hearing is under sections 871 and 881
of the Internal Revenue Code.
The public comment period for these
regulations expired on August 24, 2006.
The notice of proposed rulemaking and
notice of public hearing instructed those
interested in testifying at the public
hearing to submit a request to speak and
an outline of the topics to be addressed.
As of Thursday, August 31, 2006, no
one has requested to speak. Therefore,
the public hearing scheduled for
October 6, 2006, is cancelled.
BILLING CODE 4830–01–P
BILLING CODE 4710–06–P
VerDate Aug<31>2005
54005
SUMMARY: This document cancels a
public hearing on proposed regulations
under sections 871 and 881 of the
Internal Revenue Code relating to the
exclusion from gross income of portfolio
interest paid to a nonresident alien
individual or foreign corporation.
DATES: The public hearing, originally
scheduled for October 6, 2006, at 10
a.m., is cancelled.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Richard A. Hurst of the Publications and
Regulations Branch, Legal Processing
Division, Associate Chief Counsel
(Procedure and Administration), at
Richard.A.Hurst@irscounsel.treas.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A notice
of public hearing that appeared in the
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
User Fees Relating to Enrollment;
Correction
Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Treasury.
ACTION: Proposed rule; correction.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This document contains a
correction to a notice of proposed
rulemaking (REG–145154–05) that was
published in the Federal Register on
Tuesday, August 29, 2006 (71 FR 51179)
relating to user fees for the special
enrollment examination to become an
enrolled agent, the application for
enrollment of enrolled agents, and the
renewal of this enrollment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Matthew Cooper (202) 622–4940 (not a
toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The correcting amendment that is the
subject of this document is under
section 9701 of Title 31 of the United
States Code.
Need for Correction
As published, the notice of proposed
rulemaking (REG–145154–05) contains
E:\FR\FM\13SEP1.SGM
13SEP1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 54001-54005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-7526]
[[Page 54001]]
=======================================================================
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
22 CFR Part 99
[Public Notice 5539]
RIN: 1400-AC-20
Intercountry Adoption--Reporting on Non-Convention and Convention
Adoptions of Emigrating Children
AGENCY: Department of State.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of State (the Department), with the joint
review and approval of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is
proposing a new rule to implement the requirement in the Intercountry
Adoption Act of 2000 (the IAA) to establish a Case Registry for, inter
alia, emigrating children. This proposed rule would impose reporting
requirements on adoption service providers, including governmental
authorities who provide adoption services, in cases involving adoptions
of children who will emigrate from the United States. These reporting
obligations apply to all intercountry adoptions, regardless of whether
they are covered under the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of
Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the
Convention). This proposed rule, although issued with the joint review
and approval of DHS pursuant to section 303(d) of the IAA, only adds a
new section to the Department's Convention regulations; no amendments
or additions are made to DHS regulations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 13, 2006.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number State/
AR-01/99, by one of the following methods (no duplicates, please):
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Electronically: You may submit electronic comments to
adoptionregs@state.gov. Attachments must be in Microsoft Word.
Mail: U.S. Department of State, CA/OCS/PRI, Adoption
Regulations Docket Room, (SA-29), 2201 C Street, NW., Washington, DC
20520.
Courier: U.S. Department of State, CA/OCS/PRI, Adoption
Regulations Docket Room, (SA-29), 2201 C Street, NW., Washington, DC
20520. (Because access to the Department of State is not readily
available to private individuals without Federal Government
identification, do not personally deliver comments to the Department).
Docket: Comments received before the close of the comment period
will be available to the public, including any personally identifiable
information that is included in a comment. The Department posts
comments on its public Web site at: https://travel.state.gov or they are
available for public inspection by calling Delilia Gibson-Martin at
202-736-9105 for an appointment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna Mary Coburn at 202-736-9081.
Hearing- or speech-impaired persons may use the Telecommunications
Devices for the Deaf (TDD) by contacting the Federal Information Relay
Service at 1-800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Legal Authority
The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in
Respect of Intercountry Adoption, May 29, 1993, S. Treaty Doc. 105-51
(1998); 1870 U.N.T.S. 167 (Reg. No. 31922 (1993)), 32 I.L.M. 1134
(1993); Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. 14901-14954.
II. Introduction
The Convention is a multilateral treaty that provides a framework
for the adoption of children habitually resident in one country that is
a party to the Convention by persons habitually resident in another
country that is also a party to the Convention. The Convention
establishes procedures to be followed in these intercountry adoption
cases and imposes safeguards to protect the best interests of children.
It applies to the United States as both a country of origin (outgoing
cases, i.e., where children are emigrating from the United States to a
foreign country) and a receiving country (incoming cases, i.e., where
children are immigrating to the United States from a foreign country).
The implementing legislation for the Convention is the IAA. The IAA
requires the Department and DHS to establish a Case Registry to track
all intercountry adoption cases: Convention and non-Convention;
emigrating and immigrating cases. It also requires the Department to
report certain information about intercountry adoptions to Congress. To
implement these responsibilities, the Department is, with the joint
review and approval of DHS, promulgating this proposed rule to require
adoption service providers who provide adoption services in
intercountry adoption cases involving a child emigrating from the
United States (including governmental authorities who provide such
adoption services) to report certain information to the Department for
incorporation into the Case Registry. These requirements would apply in
both Convention and non-Convention cases involving emigrating children.
No regulation is being proposed at this time to establish reporting
requirements in cases involving children immigrating to the United
States (incoming cases), because sufficient information can be
collected through other means, primarily the DHS petition process and
the immigration visa and issuance process.
Separate regulations implement other aspects of the Convention and
the IAA, such as regulations on the accreditation/approval of adoption
service providers (ASPs) to perform adoption services in cases covered
by the Convention (22 CFR part 96), preservation of Convention records
(22 CFR part 98), visa procedures for Convention adoption cases
involving immigrating children (regulations to appear at 22 CFR part
42), and certification of Convention adoption proceedings done by U.S.
courts (regulations to appear at 22 CFR part 97). Further background on
the Convention and the IAA is provided in the Preamble to the Final
Rule on the Accreditation and Approval of Agencies and Persons under
the IAA, Section I and II, 71 FR 8064-8066 (February 15, 2006) and the
Preamble to the Proposed Rule on the Accreditation of Agencies and
Approval of Persons under the IAA, Section III and IV, 68 FR 54065-
54073 (September 15, 2003).
III. The Proposed Rule
This proposed rule establishes reporting requirements for all
intercountry adoption cases in which a child is emigrating from the
United States. There are three IAA sections relevant to the development
of this proposed rule. Section 102(e) of the IAA requires the
Department and DHS to establish a Case Registry of all adoptions
involving the immigration of children to the United States and
emigration of children from the United States regardless of whether the
adoption occurs under the Convention. This Case Registry must permit
tracking of pending cases and retrieval of information on both pending
and closed cases. (As noted previously, this proposed regulation
addresses only emigrating (outgoing) cases, and not immigrating
(incoming) cases, because the Department can obtain sufficient data on
immigrating cases through other means.) Section 303(d) of the IAA
requires all adoption service providers, including governmental
authorities, who provide adoption services in outgoing cases not
subject to the Convention, to file information required under
regulations issued to implement
[[Page 54002]]
the Case Registry. In addition, section 104 of the IAA requires the
Department to submit annual reports to Congress on all intercountry
adoptions, which must set forth, among other items, the total number of
Convention and non-Convention outgoing cases, the country to which each
child immigrated, and the State from which each child emigrated. In
summary, these three sections of the IAA--section 102(a) (establishment
of Case Registry), section 303(d)(filing with Case Registry regarding
non-Convention adoptions), and section 104(b)(2) (annual reports to
Congress)'provide the Department with the legal authority to collect
the data outlined in the proposed rule.
Although the main purpose of the IAA was to implement the
Convention, Congress also sought to gather case-specific data on
intercountry adoptions. Historically, children involved in outgoing
cases did not require adoption-specific Federal services in connection
with their departure from the United States and therefore were not
identified as such to the Federal government. As noted, in the IAA,
Congress mandated the creation of Case Registry to monitor all
intercountry adoption cases, including both Convention and non-
Convention outgoing cases. The House Committee on International
Relations stated in its report on the IAA that ``[T]his registry shall
be for the purpose of easing administration of [the IAA] and the
Convention so that Federal agencies and prospective adoptive parents
can determine the status of a particular case and for the purpose of
creating a system to track children who leave the United States to be
adopted abroad.'' (Report of the House Committee on International
Relations on the Intercountry Adoption Act, 106th Cong. 2nd Sess., H.R.
Rep. No 106-691 (2000)). With this legislative history and the
resulting statutory language in mind, the Department has devised a rule
that requires reporting of certain case-specific information both to
permit tracking and retrieval of information on outgoing cases and to
enable the Department to complete its annual reports to Congress. The
proposed rule is narrowly crafted to include only those basic items
necessary to fulfill these case tracking and reporting functions.
Moreover, in the interest of increasing compliance, we have attempted
to keep the requirements simple and the number of items to be reported
very limited.
Reporting Information on Convention and Non-Convention Outgoing Cases
Section 99.1 of the proposed regulation defines the term
``Convention'' and adopts by reference all other definitions
established in 22 CFR 96.2 (Hague accreditation and approval
regulation). Section 99.2 of the proposed regulation sets forth the
reporting requirements for providers of adoption services in outgoing
(emigrating child) adoptions. Note that the term ``adoption services''
is a defined term in 22 CFR 96.2 and refers to the following six
services: (1) Identifying a child for adoption and arranging an
adoption; (2) securing the necessary consent to termination of parental
rights and to adoption; (3) performing a background study on a child or
a home study on a prospective adoptive parent(s), and reporting on such
a study; (4) making non-judicial determinations of the best interests
of a child and the appropriateness of an adoptive placement for the
child; (5) monitoring a case after a child has been placed with
prospective adoptive parent(s) until final adoption; (6) when necessary
because of disruption before final adoption, assuming custody and
providing (including facilitating the provision of) child care or any
other social service pending an alternative placement. Post-adoption
services are not included within the definition of ``adoption
services.''
Who Must Report?
Section 99.2(a) makes clear that any entity that provides adoption
services will be required to report under this rule if it is a
``reporting provider'' in the case, as identified in Sec. 99.2(b).
This means that all agencies (whether or not accredited or temporarily
accredited), all persons (whether or not approved), all public domestic
authorities (a defined term in 22 CFR 96.2 which means an authority
operated by a State, local, or tribal government within the United
States), and any other providers of adoption services in outgoing
adoption cases are potentially required to report under this
regulation. To avoid duplicative reporting, and to reduce the burden on
all adoption service providers, including public domestic authorities,
Sec. 99.2(b) establishes a framework for determining which provider
must report in a given case as follows:
Convention cases. In an outgoing Convention adoption case involving
at least one accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved provider,
it is the primary provider, as described in 22 CFR 96.14(a) that must
report. In an outgoing Convention adoption in which there is no
accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved provider involved, the
public domestic authority performing adoption services in the case must
report.
Non-Convention cases. In an outgoing non-Convention adoption case,
in which there is only one provider of adoption services, that provider
must report. As noted above, this provider might be an agency
(including an accredited agency or temporarily accredited agency), a
person (including an approved person), a public domestic authority, or
any other adoption service provider. In cases in which there are two or
more providers of adoption services, the reporting provider is the
provider that is responsible for child placement as determined by
applying factors listed in Sec. 99.2. When multiple providers are
involved in a non-Convention case, each provider must use the factors
in Sec. 99.2 of the proposed rule to identify whether it is the
provider with child placement responsibility and therefore must report
the information listed in Sec. 99.2(c) and (d). The language in Sec.
99.2(b)(1) through (4) is similar to the language in 22 CFR 96.14 on
how to determine who is the primary provider; however, it has been
adapted slightly to replace Convention specific terminology with
language appropriate to non-Convention cases.
This proposed rule does not require prospective adoptive parent(s)
who are acting on their own behalf, as described in 22 CFR 96.13(d), to
report information to the Department, even if they perform adoption
services for themselves in an outgoing case. The Department is not
including prospective adoptive parent(s) acting on their own behalf as
potential reporters because, although they may perform adoption
services on their own behalf, they are not providing adoption services
to others, and thus section 303(d) of the IAA would not require them to
report data to the Department. The Department believes that very few if
any outgoing Convention adoption cases will be accomplished entirely by
prospective adoptive parent(s) acting alone, since the requirements
that must be met to achieve IAA and Convention compliance, as set forth
in 22 CFR 97.3, will require the use of an adoption service provider.
We also believe that, given the complexity of outgoing intercountry
adoptions and the standard requirement of an independent home study,
the number of non-Convention cases where there is no adoption service
provider at all will be quite limited as well.
What Information Must Be Reported?
Section 99.2(c) and (d) lists the case-specific information that
must be reported to the Department. The
[[Page 54003]]
Department has limited the data items to the minimum amount of
information it believes necessary to carry out its statutory duties.
The regulation divides required reporting into two basic categories:
Identifying information that must be reported within 30 days of
learning that the case involves emigration of a child from the United
States to a foreign country, set forth in Sec. 99.2(c), and milestone
information as well as changes to information previously provided that
must be reported within 30 days of occurrence, as set forth in Sec.
99.2(d).
In accordance with Sec. 99.2(c), the reporting provider, as
identified in Sec. 99.2(b), must provide the following identifying
information to the Department within 30 days of learning a case
involves emigration of a child from the United States to a foreign
country:
The name, date of birth of child, and place of birth of
child;
The U.S. state from which the child is emigrating;
The foreign country to which the child is immigrating;
The U.S state where the final adoption is taking place, or
alternatively, the U.S. State where legal custody for the purpose of
adoption is being granted and the foreign country where the final
adoption will take place; and
The name, address, phone number, and other contact
information for the reporting provider.
In addition, in accordance with Sec. 99.2(d), the reporting
provider must provide any changes to information previously provided,
as well as the following milestone information, to the Department
within 30 days of occurrence:
Date on which the case was determined to involve
emigration from the United States. (Generally, this date would be the
time the U.S. child is matched with foreign adoptive parents.)
Date of the U.S. final adoption or, alternatively, the
date on which custody for purpose of adoption was granted in the United
States;
Date of foreign final adoption if custody for purpose of
adoption was granted in the United States, to the extent practicable;
and
Any additional information when requested by the
Department in a particular case.
The proposed rule mandates that an adoption service provider report
the initial information to the Department within 30 days of identifying
that the case involves the emigration of a child from the United
States, and subsequently within 30 days of each milestone or change to
previously reported information. The proposed rule does not include
details on the mechanics of how and where to report the information
listed in Sec. 99.2. The Department plans to post on its Web site
instructions to adoption service providers on how and where to send the
required basic information on a particular case.
The Department and DHS Role
Section 303(d) of the IAA envisioned that DHS and the Department
would agree on a rule on reporting requirements needed for the Case
Registry. The Department is currently developing the Case Registry and
coordinating with DHS on the case-tracking functions for immigrating
children. DHS has a substantial role in cases involving immigrating
children. On the other hand, DHS is not directly involved in outgoing
cases at all. Nevertheless, in keeping with section 303(d) of the IAA,
22 CFR part 99 was jointly reviewed and approved by the Department and
DHS. However, the regulation only adds a new part to the Department's
regulations at Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations. No changes
are made to any DHS regulations, nor will the rule appear in Title 8 of
the Code of Federal Regulations.
IV. Regulatory Review:
A. Administrative Procedures Act
In accordance with provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act
governing rules promulgated by Federal agencies that affect the public
(5 U.S.C. 533), the Department is publishing this proposed rule and
inviting public comment. All comments received before the close of
business on the comment closing date indicated above will be considered
and will be available for examination in the docket. Comments received
after the comment closing date will be filed in the docket and will be
considered to the extent practicable. A final rule may be published at
any time after close of the comment period.
B. Regulatory Flexibility Act/Executive Order 13272: Small Business
In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601-612
and Executive Order 13272, section 3(b), the Department of State has
evaluated the effects of this proposed action on small entities, and
has determined, and hereby certifies, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), that
it would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number
of small entities. As stated in the final rule for 22 CFR part 96 (71
FR 8064, 8128), the Department estimates that overall there are between
420 and 600 ASPs that may have to comply with the accreditation
regulations, all of whom are likely to be small entities. However,
overall, the number of outgoing intercountry adoption cases is expected
to be very small in comparison with the number of incoming cases.
Consequently, there will be very few ASPs who are small entities and
who will also be involved in outgoing cases. The proposed rule requires
only extremely limited reporting requirements for outgoing cases. Thus,
the Department does not believe the economic impact on small entities
will be significant; however, the Department welcomes public comment on
the rule's impact on small entities and the cost of reporting
requirements mandated by the IAA.
C. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996
This rule is not a major rule as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804 for
purposes of congressional review of agency rulemaking under the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, Public Law 104-
121. The rule would not result in an annual effect on the economy of
$100 million or more, a major increase in costs or prices, or
significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment,
productivity, or innovation, or on the ability of United States-based
companies to compete with foreign-based companies in domestic and
export markets.
D. The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UFMA),
Public Law 104-4; 109 Stat. 48; 2 U.S.C. 1532, generally requires
agencies to prepare a statement, including cost-benefit and other
analyses, before proposing any rule that may result in an annual
expenditure of $100 million or more by State, local, or tribal
governments, or by the private sector. This rule will not result in the
expenditure by State, local, or tribal governments, in the aggregate,
or by the private sector, of $100 million or more in any year.
Moreover, because this rule will not significantly or uniquely affect
small governments, section 203 of the UFMA, 2 U.S.C. 1533, does not
require preparation of a small government agency plan in connection
with it.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
A rule has federalism implications under Executive Order 13132 if
it has substantial direct effects on the States,
[[Page 54004]]
on the relationship between the national government and the States, or
on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various
levels of government. This regulation will not have such effects, and
therefore does not have sufficient federalism implications to require
consultations or to warrant the preparation of a federalism summary
impact statement under section 6 of Executive Order 13132. The
Convention and the IAA do, however, address issues that previously had
been regulated primarily at the State level, as discussed in the
preamble to the proposed rule on accreditation and approval of agencies
and persons, appearing at 68 FR 54064, 54069-54070. These regulations
do not create new federalism implications beyond those created by the
IAA, and the Department has been careful to limit reporting duties of
State, local, and tribal authorities to those necessitated by the IAA.
We believe the burden of reporting the proposed information to the
Department will be minimal. As with the regulations on accreditation
and approval, the Department welcomes comments from State and local
agencies and tribal governments on the proposed regulations. We also
envision significant outreach and consultation with appropriate State
authorities in the ultimate implementation of any regulation on this
topic.
F. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Review
The Department of State does not consider this rule to be a
``significant regulatory action'' within the scope of section 3(f)(1)
of Executive Order 12866. Nonetheless, the Department has reviewed the
rule to ensure its consistency with the regulatory philosophy and
principles set forth in the Executive Order.
G. Executive Order 12988: Civil Justice Reform
The Department has reviewed this rule in light of sections 3(a) and
3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988 to eliminate ambiguity, minimize
litigation, establish clear legal standards, and reduce burden. The
Department has made every reasonable effort to ensure compliance with
the requirements in Executive Order 12988.
H. The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995
Under the PRA, 42 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., agencies are generally
required to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and approval information collection requirements imposed on
``persons'' as defined in the PRA. Section 503(c) of the IAA exempts
from the PRA information collection ``for purposes of sections 104,
202(b)(4), and 303(d)'' of the IAA ``or for use as a Convention record
as defined'' in the IAA. All information collections that relate to
outgoing non-Convention cases will be collections made for the purposes
of section 303(d) of the IAA, and thereby exempt. All information
collections that relate to outgoing Convention cases will be Convention
records as defined in and subject to the preservation requirements of
22 CFR 98, which implements section 401(a) of the IAA. Additionally,
the majority of information collection imposed on persons pursuant to
this rule, with respect to both Convention and non-Convention cases,
will be for the purposes of obtaining information for congressional
reports required under section 104 of the IAA. Accordingly, the
Department has concluded that the PRA does not apply to information
collected from the public under this rule.
List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 99
Adoption and foster care; International agreements; Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
Accordingly, the Department proposes to add new part 99 to title 22
of the CFR, chapter I, subchapter J, to read as follows:
PART 99--REPORTING ON CONVENTION AND NON-CONVENTION ADOPTIONS OF
EMIGRATING CHILDREN
Sec.
99.1 Definitions.
99.2 Reporting requirements for adoptions involving emigrating U.S.
children.
99.3 [Reserved].
Authority: The Convention on Protection of Children and Co-
operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (done at The Hague,
May 29, 1993), S. Treaty Doc. 105-51 (1998); 1870 U.N.T.S. 167 (Reg.
No. 31922 (1993)); The Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C.
14901-14954.
Sec. 99.1 Definitions.
As used in this part, the term:
(a) Convention means the Convention on Protection of Children and
Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption done at The Hague on
May 29, 1993.
(b) Such other terms as are defined in 22 CFR 96.2 shall have the
meaning given to them therein.
Sec. 99.2 Reporting requirements for adoption cases involving
emigrating U.S. children.
(a) An agency (including an accredited agency and temporarily
accredited agency), person (including an approved person), public
domestic authority, or other adoption service provider providing
adoption services in a case involving the emigration of a child from
the United States must report information to the Secretary in
accordance with this section if it is identified as the reporting
provider in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) In a Convention case in which an accredited agency, temporarily
accredited agency, or approved person is providing adoption services,
the primary provider is the reporting provider. In any other Convention
case, or in a non-Convention case, the reporting provider is the
agency, person, public domestic authority, or other adoption service
provider that is providing adoption services in the case, if it is the
only provider of adoption services. If there is more than one more
provider of adoption services in a non-Convention case, the reporting
provider is the one that has child placement responsibility, as
evidenced by the following factors:
(1) Entering into placement contracts with prospective adoptive
parent(s) to provide child referral and placement;
(2) Accepting custody from a birthparent or other legal guardian
for the purpose of placement for adoption;
(3) Assuming responsibility for liaison with a foreign government
or its designees with regard to arranging an adoption; or
(4) Receiving from or sending to a foreign country information
about a child that is under consideration for adoption.
(c) A reporting provider, as identified in paragraph (b) of this
section, must report the following identifying information to the
Secretary for each outgoing case within 30 days of learning that the
case involves emigration of a child from the United States to a foreign
country:
(1) Name, date of birth of child, and place of birth of child;
(2) The U.S. State from which the child is emigrating;
(3) The country to which the child is immigrating;
(4) The U.S. State where the final adoption is taking place, or the
U.S. State where legal custody for the purpose of adoption is being
granted and the country where the final adoption is taking place; and
(5) Its name, address, phone number, and other contact information.
(d) A reporting provider, as identified in paragraph (b) of this
section, must report any changes to information previously provided as
well as the
[[Page 54005]]
following milestone information to the Secretary for each outgoing case
within 30 days of occurrence:
(1) Date case determined to involve emigration from the United
States (generally the time the U.S. child is matched with foreign
adoptive parents);
(2) Date of U. S. final adoption or date on which custody for the
purpose of adoption was granted in United States;
(3) Date of foreign final adoption if custody for purpose of
adoption was granted in the United States, to the extent practicable;
and
(4) Any additional information when requested by the Secretary in a
particular case.
Sec. 99.3 [Reserved]
Dated: June 15, 2006.
Maura Harty,
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Department of State.
Dated: August 30, 2006.
Michael Chertoff,
Secretary of Homeland Security, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 06-7526 Filed 9-12-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-06-P