October 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) published a final rule in the Federal Register in August of 2007 to revise the rules of practice for patent cases pertaining to continuing applications and requests for continued examination practices, and for the examination of claims in patent applications (Claims and Continuations Final Rule). The Office is revising the rules of practice in this final rule to remove the changes in the Claims and Continuations Final Rule from the Code of Federal Regulations.

The Coast Guard will enforce the Navy Pier Southeast Safety Zone in Chicago Harbor from October 2, 2009, through October 31, 2009. This action is necessary and intended to ensure safety of life on the navigable waters immediately prior to, during, and immediately after fireworks events. This rule will establish restrictions upon and control movement of vessels in the specified area immediately prior to, during, and immediately after the fireworks events. During the enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the safety zone without permission of the Captain of the Port Lake Michigan.

This document contains corrections to a notice of proposed rulemaking by cross-reference to temporary regulations (REG-116614-08) that was published in the Federal Register on Monday, September 14, 2009, clarifying that a single-owner eligible entity that is disregarded as an entity separate from its owner for any purpose, but regarded as a separate entity for certain excise tax purposes, is treated as a corporation for tax administration purposes related to those excise taxes.

This action proposes special conditions for the Boeing Model 787-8 airplane. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. The Boeing Model 787-8 airplane will incorporate a fuel tank nitrogen generation system (NGS) that actively reduces flammability exposure within the main fuel tanks significantly below that required by the fuel tank flammability regulations. Among other benefits, this significantly reduces the potential for fuel vapor ignition caused by lightning strikes. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These proposed special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

We propose to amend our regulations to allow a representative payee who will no longer be serving in that capacity to transfer accumulated benefit payments and interest directly to a beneficiary if we determine that it would be in the best interest of the beneficiary. This change would give us more flexibility in deciding how conserved funds should be handled in these circumstances. The change would also reduce or eliminate delays in the delivery of conserved funds to some beneficiaries.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Llano, TX. Additional controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) at Llano Municipal Airport, Llano, TX. This action would also update the geographic coordinates of Llano Municipal Airport to coincide with the FAAs National Aeronautical Charting Office. The FAA is taking this action to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations for SIAPs at Llano Municipal Airport.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) submitted a revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act (CAA) in order to reduce air pollution in Ohio. The SIP revision consists of a new regulation entitled Ohio's Administrative Code Rule 3745-21-17 ``Control of VOC Emissions from Portable Fuel Containers.'' This rule impacts sale, use, and manufacture of Portable Fuel Containers (PFC) in the State of Ohio. Ohio EPA submitted this request for approval of this rule on August 7, 2007. EPA is approving this rule.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 866 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 which applies to Executive Agencies other than DoD. The DoD is subject to section 852 of the John Warner NDAA for FY 2007 which is also being implemented in this interim rule. Section 866 requires the Councils to amend the FAR and section 852 requires the Secretary of Defense to prescribe regulations to minimize excessive pass-through charges by contractors from subcontractors, or of tiers of subcontractors, that add no or negligible value, and to ensure that neither a contractor nor a subcontractor receives indirect costs or profit/fee (i.e., pass-through charges) on work performed by a lower- tier subcontractor to which the higher-tier contractor or subcontractor

This document makes amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulation in order to make editorial changes.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 814 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, section 867 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy guidance memorandum dated December 4, 2007, entitled Appropriate Use of Incentive Contracts.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 871 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (NDAA) which allows the Government Accountability Office to interview current contractor employees during the audit of the contractor's records.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 862 of the Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Pub. L. 110-417) and Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Administrator's memorandum of May 31, 2007. The rule limits the length of contracts awarded noncompetitively under unusual and compelling urgency circumstances to the minimum contract period necessary to meet the requirements, and no longer than one year, unless the head of the agency determines that exceptional circumstances apply.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-37. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD) portion of the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern particulate matter (PM) emissions and precursors from steam generating units, cogeneration units, stationary gas turbines, process heaters and internal combustion engines. We are proposing to approve local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

This final rule withdraws a rule published in the Federal Register on January 21, 2009, which revised the Form LM-2, an annual financial report required by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as amended (LMRDA), and established standards and procedures by which the Department can revoke, when warranted, the authorization for smaller labor organizations to file the Form LM-3, a less detailed annual financial report also required pursuant to the LMRDA. Upon consideration of the comments received following an April 21, 2009 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the Department withdraws the January 21 rule. The rule is withdrawn because the revisions it made to the Form LM-2 were issued without an adequate review of the Department's experience under the relatively recent revisions to Form LM-2 in 2003, and because the comments received indicate that the Department may have underestimated the increased burden that the rule would place on reporting labor organizations. Additionally, upon consideration of the comments received, the Department withdraws the provisions of the rule pertaining to the revocation of a small union's authorization to file a Form LM-3 report due to delinquency or deficiency in filing such report, because the revocation standards and procedures are not based upon realistic assessments of such a union's ability to file the more complex Form LM- 2 and thus are unlikely to achieve the intended goals of greater transparency and disclosure. Moreover, the revocation provisions did not adequately balance the need for transparency with the burden placed upon smaller labor organizations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its spent fuel storage regulations by revising the Holtec International (Holtec) HI-STORM 100 dry cask storage system listing within the ``List of Approved Spent Fuel Storage Casks'' to include Amendment No. 7 to Certificate of Compliance (CoC) Number 1014. Amendment No. 7 will modify the CoC to add the HI-STORM 100U system to the HI-STORM 100 cask systems. The HI-STORM 100U system allows for the underground storage of dry spent nuclear fuel (SNF) by utilizing an underground vertical ventilated module (VVM) that can accept certain Holtec multipurpose canisters (MPCs) previously certified for storage of SNF in the aboveground HI-STORM system. The amendment also incorporates a mandatory radiation protection perimeter around the loaded VVMs. In addition, the amendment will reinstate the decay heat limits for damaged fuel and fuel debris in Appendix B, Technical Specification (TS) 2.4, for the aboveground system that had been inadvertently deleted from Amendment Nos. 5 and 6; incorporate separate TS Appendices A and B for the aboveground system (Apps. A and B) and for the HI-STORM 100U system (Apps. A-100U and B-100U); revise Appendix B, TS 3.4.5, to be consistent with the required system thermal boundary conditions, as submitted in the applicant's safety analysis report for a fire accident condition, and with Holtec's original (i.e., initial certificate application or Amendment 0) submittal and the NRC's original safety evaluation report; and revise and add certain definitions in Appendix A, TS 1.1, to include the VVM. The amendment will also incorporate minor editorial corrections in the TS for the aboveground system.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 747 series airplanes. This proposed AD would require replacing the power control relays for the main tank fuel boost pumps and jettison pumps, and the center tank scavenge pump, as applicable, with new relays having a ground fault interrupt (GFI) feature. The proposed AD also would require revising the maintenance program to incorporate Airworthiness Limitations (AWLs) No. 28-AWL-23 (for Model 747-100, 747-100B, 747-100B SUD, 747-200B, 747-200C, 747- 200F, 747-300, 747SP, and 747SR series airplanes), and Nos. 28-AWL-28 and 28-AWL-29 (for Model 747-400, 747-400D, and 747-400F series airplanes). This proposed AD results from fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are proposing this AD to prevent damage to the fuel pumps caused by electrical arcing that could introduce an ignition source in the fuel tank, which, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in a fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the airplane.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is proposing to amend certain of its regulations in connection with electronic filing of financial reports and other notices (``Proposal''). The Proposal would broaden the language in the Commission's regulations applicable to electronic filings of financial reports to clarify that, to the extent a futures commission merchant (``FCM'') submits a Form 1-FR to the Commission electronically, it may do so using any user authentication procedures established or approved by the Commission. The Proposal also would permit registrants to electronically submit filings in addition to financial reports, including an election to use a non-calendar fiscal year, requests for extensions of time to file uncertified financial reports and ``early warning'' notices required under Commission regulations. In connection with the filing of financial reports, the Commission also is proposing to specify, consistent with other requirements and existing practice, that a statement of income and loss is included as a required part of the non-certified 1-FR filings for FCMs and introducing brokers (``IBs''). The Commission also is proposing to require more immediate, but less prescriptive, documentation regarding a firm's capital condition when a firm falls below its required minimum adjusted net capital. Finally, the Commission is proposing several other minor amendments to correct certain outdated references and to make other clarifications to existing regulations.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the San Diego Air Pollution Control District portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from cold solvent cleaning and vapor degreasing operations. We are proposing to approve two local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

This action establishes Class E airspace at Chuathbaluk, AK to provide adequate controlled airspace to contain aircraft executing Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs). One Standard Instrument Approach Procedure (SIAP) is being developed for the Chuathbaluk Airport at Chuathbaluk, AK. Also, this action makes a minor correction to the geographic coordinates and text description for the airport. This action establishes Class E airspace upward from 700 feet (ft.) above the surface at Chuathbaluk Airport, Chuathbaluk, AK.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 737-300 and 737-400 series airplanes. This AD requires repetitive inspections to detect cracking of the aft fuselage skin, and related investigative/corrective actions if necessary. This AD results from reports of cracks in the aft fuselage skin on both sides of the airplane. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracking in the aft fuselage skin along the longitudinal edges of the bonded skin doubler, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

The Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the Berkley Bridge across the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River, mile 0.4, at Norfolk, Virginia. This deviation will test a change in the drawbridge operation schedule to determine whether a schedule change is needed.

Michigan has applied to EPA for final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA has reviewed Michigan's application and has preliminarily determined that these changes satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization, and is proposing to authorize Michigan's changes.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as: