Notice: Publication of U.S./EU Exchange of Letters and Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the United States Department of the Treasury, 60054-60066 [07-5212]

Download as PDF rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES 60054 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). The legislation includes provisions for review and dissemination of grant monies by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Grant applications are solicited on an annual basis. Eligible projects are on State designated byways, National Scenic Byways, All-American Roads, or Indian tribe scenic byways. Applications are completed by Federal, State, or local governmental agencies; Tribal governments; and non-profit organizations. The application information is collected electronically via the online Grant system and is used to determine project eligibility. The legislation also includes information about the nomination of scenic byways to become one of America’s Byways, a collection of distinct and diverse roads designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. America’s Byways include the National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads. Additional information on the National Scenic Byways Program, its grant program, and the nomination process is available at https://www.bywaysonline.org. Grants Respondents: In a typical grants cycle, it is estimated that 400 applications will be received. These applications will be submitted online and reviewed for eligibility through a process involving State Byway or Indian Tribe Scenic Byway Coordinators and FHWA Division Offices before being submitted to FHWA Headquarters for funding consideration. Respondents include: 50 State Departments of Transportation, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico (Right-of-Way Department), Federal Land Management Agencies, State and local governments, non-profit agencies, and Tribal Governments. Frequency: Annual. Estimated Average Burden per Response: 16 hours. Nominations Respondents: Based on previous nomination cycles, it is estimated that a total of 75 nominations will be received, originating from any local government, including Indian tribal governments, or any private group or individual. Nominations may also originate from the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, or the Bureau of Indian Affairs; but such nominations must come through the State Scenic Byways Agency, with the State’s concurrence. Roads determined to be appropriate for nomination by the State, an Indian tribe, or a Federal land management agency based on its intrinsic qualities must first be designated as a State scenic byway, an Indian tribe scenic byway, or, in the VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 case of a road on Federal land, as a Federal land management agency byway. Frequency: Biennial. Estimated Average Burden per Response: 200 hours. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 11,400 hours. Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1.48. Issued on: October 17, 2007. James R. Kabel, Chief, Management Programs and Analysis Division. [FR Doc. E7–20838 Filed 10–22–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–22–P DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Railroad Administration Petition for Waiver of Compliance In accordance with Part 211 of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), notice is hereby given that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has received a request for a waiver of compliance from certain requirements of its safety standards. The individual petition is described below, including the party seeking relief, the regulatory provisions involved, the nature of the relief being requested, and the petitioner’s arguments in favor of relief. Union Pacific Railroad Company [Docket Number FRA–2007–28952] The Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP) seeks a waiver of compliance from certain requirements of 49 CFR Part 232, Brake System Safety Standards for Freight and Other Non-Passenger Trains and Equipment; End-of-Train Devices, and Part 215, Railroad Freight Car Safety Standards. Specifically, UP seeks relief to permit trains received at the United States-Mexican border at Eagle Pass, TX, from the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico, to move from the interchange point without performing the regulatory tests and inspections specified in Part 215 and section 232.205(a)(1), at that location. UP proposes moving the trains from the border at Milepost 32.5 on the Eagle Pass Subdivision, to the UP yard at Clarks Park, TX, a distance of 4.8 miles, where required FRA inspections will be performed. UP claims that granting of the waiver would expedite train movements and avoid blockages of crossings in Eagle Pass. Interested parties are invited to participate in these proceedings by submitting written views, data, or comments. FRA does not anticipate PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 scheduling a public hearing in connection with these proceedings since the facts do not appear to warrant a hearing. If any interested party desires an opportunity for oral comment, they should notify FRA, in writing, before the end of the comment period and specify the basis for their request. All communications concerning these proceedings should identify the appropriate docket number (e.g., Waiver Petition Docket Number FRA–2007– 28952) and must be submitted in triplicate to the Docket Clerk, DOT Docket Management Facility, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001. Communications received within 45 days of the date of this notice will be considered by FRA before final action is taken. Comments received after that date will be considered as far as practicable. All written communications concerning these proceedings are available for examination during regular business hours (9 a.m.–5 p.m.) at the above facility. All documents in the public docket are also available for inspection and copying on the Internet at the docket facility’s Web site at https://www.regulations.gov. Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the DOT’s complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477–78). The statement may also be found at https:// dms.dot.gov. Issued in Washington, DC, on October 17, 2007. Grady C. Cothen, Jr., Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety Standards and Program Development. [FR Doc. E7–20831 Filed 10–22–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910–06–P DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Office of Foreign Assets Control Notice: Publication of U.S./EU Exchange of Letters and Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the United States Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury. ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES SUMMARY: The Treasury Department administers the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) as a targeted tool to help track terrorists and their networks. The TFTP utilizes certain financial transaction information provided by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based cooperative, under compulsion of administrative subpoenas. Discussions among U.S. and European authorities on the operation of the TFTP in the context of their respective counterterrorism efforts and data privacy laws culminated on June 28, 2007, in the ‘‘Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the United States Department of the Treasury’’ and a related exchange of letters between the Treasury Department and the EU. Each of these documents is included as an appendix to this notice. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Treasury Department initiated the TFTP shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks as part of an effort to employ all available means to track terrorists and their networks. Under the TFTP, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) periodically issues administrative subpoenas for terrorist-related data to the U.S. operations center of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based cooperative that operates a worldwide messaging system used to transmit financial transaction information. These subpoenas require SWIFT to provide the Treasury Department with specified financial transaction records maintained by SWIFT’s U.S. operations center in the ordinary course of its business. After public media disclosure of the TFTP in June 2006, concerns were raised in the European Union (EU) about the TFTP and, in particular, the VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 possibility that the Treasury Department might have access to EU-originating personal data through the SWIFT transaction records. Specifically, questions were raised on the TFTP’s consistency with obligations under the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/ 46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data), as well as Member State laws implementing that Directive. Treasury Department officials subsequently engaged in a series of discussions with, among others, European Commission and Member State representatives on the operation of the TFTP and its conformity with EU data privacy laws. That dialogue culminated on June 28, 2007, in the ‘‘Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the United States Department of the Treasury’’ and a related exchange of letters between the Treasury Department and the EU. For the convenience of the user, each of the documents is being included as an appendix to this notice. The Representations describe, among other things: (1) OFAC’s legal authority to obtain and use the SWIFT data; (2) the controls and safeguards that govern the handling, use, and dissemination of the data; (3) the multiple complementary layers of independent oversight of the TFTP; and (4) the U.S. Government’s commitment to ongoing counterterrorism cooperation with the EU. The appended letter from the Treasury Department presents the Representations to the German Finance Minister, whose country then held the rotating EU Presidency, and to the Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, whose duties encompass PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 60055 counterterrorism and privacy matters. The European Union’s reply letter acknowledges that the Treasury Department has the authority to subpoena SWIFT data, and also states that once SWIFT and the financial institutions making use of its services have completed the necessary arrangements to respect EC law, in particular through the provision of information that personal data will be transferred to the United States and SWIFT’s respecting the U.S. Department of Commerce’s ‘‘Safe Harbor’’ principles, they will be in compliance with their respective legal responsibilities under European data protection law. In July 2007, SWIFT announced that it had improved the transparency of its contractual documentation relating to the processing of financial messaging data in the context of data protection requirements and that it had joined the Safe Harbor program, which establishes a framework developed with the European Commission on how U.S. organizations can provide ‘‘adequate protection’’ for personal data from Europe. (Authority: E.O. 13224, 66 FR 49079, 3 CFR, 2002 Comp., p. 786) Dated: September 26, 2007. Adam J. Szubin, Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control. BILLING CODE 4811–42–P Appendix 1—Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the U.S. Department of the Treasury Appendix 2—Letter from U.S. Department of the Treasury Regarding the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Appendix 3—Reply from European Union to U.S. Department of the Treasury Regarding the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 60056 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.014</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Appendix 1 VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 60057 EN23OC07.015</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices VerDate Aug<31>2005 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.016</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES 60058 VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 60059 EN23OC07.017</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices VerDate Aug<31>2005 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.018</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES 60060 VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 60061 EN23OC07.019</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices VerDate Aug<31>2005 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.020</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES 60062 VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 60063 EN23OC07.021</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices VerDate Aug<31>2005 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.022</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES 60064 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices 60065 VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4725 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.023</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Appendix 2 60066 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 204 / Tuesday, October 23, 2007 / Notices [FR Doc. 07–5212 Filed 10–22–07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4811–42–C VerDate Aug<31>2005 15:33 Oct 22, 2007 Jkt 214001 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\23OCN1.SGM 23OCN1 EN23OC07.024</GPH> rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES Appendix 3

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 23, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60054-60066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-5212]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of Foreign Assets Control


Notice: Publication of U.S./EU Exchange of Letters and Terrorist 
Finance Tracking Program Representations of the United States 
Department of the Treasury

AGENCY: Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice.

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[[Page 60055]]

SUMMARY: The Treasury Department administers the Terrorist Finance 
Tracking Program (TFTP) as a targeted tool to help track terrorists and 
their networks. The TFTP utilizes certain financial transaction 
information provided by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial 
Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-based cooperative, under 
compulsion of administrative subpoenas. Discussions among U.S. and 
European authorities on the operation of the TFTP in the context of 
their respective counterterrorism efforts and data privacy laws 
culminated on June 28, 2007, in the ``Terrorist Finance Tracking 
Program Representations of the United States Department of the 
Treasury'' and a related exchange of letters between the Treasury 
Department and the EU. Each of these documents is included as an 
appendix to this notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Treasury Department initiated the TFTP 
shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks as part of an effort to 
employ all available means to track terrorists and their networks. 
Under the TFTP, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets 
Control (OFAC) periodically issues administrative subpoenas for 
terrorist-related data to the U.S. operations center of the Society for 
Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a Belgium-
based cooperative that operates a worldwide messaging system used to 
transmit financial transaction information. These subpoenas require 
SWIFT to provide the Treasury Department with specified financial 
transaction records maintained by SWIFT's U.S. operations center in the 
ordinary course of its business.
    After public media disclosure of the TFTP in June 2006, concerns 
were raised in the European Union (EU) about the TFTP and, in 
particular, the possibility that the Treasury Department might have 
access to EU-originating personal data through the SWIFT transaction 
records. Specifically, questions were raised on the TFTP's consistency 
with obligations under the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/
EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on 
the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal 
data and on the free movement of such data), as well as Member State 
laws implementing that Directive.
    Treasury Department officials subsequently engaged in a series of 
discussions with, among others, European Commission and Member State 
representatives on the operation of the TFTP and its conformity with EU 
data privacy laws. That dialogue culminated on June 28, 2007, in the 
``Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the United 
States Department of the Treasury'' and a related exchange of letters 
between the Treasury Department and the EU. For the convenience of the 
user, each of the documents is being included as an appendix to this 
notice.
    The Representations describe, among other things: (1) OFAC's legal 
authority to obtain and use the SWIFT data; (2) the controls and 
safeguards that govern the handling, use, and dissemination of the 
data; (3) the multiple complementary layers of independent oversight of 
the TFTP; and (4) the U.S. Government's commitment to ongoing 
counterterrorism cooperation with the EU.
    The appended letter from the Treasury Department presents the 
Representations to the German Finance Minister, whose country then held 
the rotating EU Presidency, and to the Vice President of the European 
Commission responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, whose duties 
encompass counterterrorism and privacy matters. The European Union's 
reply letter acknowledges that the Treasury Department has the 
authority to subpoena SWIFT data, and also states that once SWIFT and 
the financial institutions making use of its services have completed 
the necessary arrangements to respect EC law, in particular through the 
provision of information that personal data will be transferred to the 
United States and SWIFT's respecting the U.S. Department of Commerce's 
``Safe Harbor'' principles, they will be in compliance with their 
respective legal responsibilities under European data protection law. 
In July 2007, SWIFT announced that it had improved the transparency of 
its contractual documentation relating to the processing of financial 
messaging data in the context of data protection requirements and that 
it had joined the Safe Harbor program, which establishes a framework 
developed with the European Commission on how U.S. organizations can 
provide ``adequate protection'' for personal data from Europe.

(Authority: E.O. 13224, 66 FR 49079, 3 CFR, 2002 Comp., p. 786)

    Dated: September 26, 2007.
Adam J. Szubin,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
BILLING CODE 4811-42-P

Appendix 1--Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Representations of the 
U.S. Department of the Treasury

Appendix 2--Letter from U.S. Department of the Treasury Regarding the 
Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

Appendix 3--Reply from European Union to U.S. Department of the 
Treasury Regarding the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

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Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
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[FR Doc. 07-5212 Filed 10-22-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4811-42-C
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