March 10, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to implement a provision of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2010, containing an interpretation of the term ``payment of cash in advance,'' which is used to describe one of the two payment or financing terms for authorized exports from the United States to Cuba pursuant to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.

NMFS closes the commercial fishery for vermilion snapper in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. This closure is necessary to protect the vermilion snapper resource.

On January 14, 2010, EPA signed a proposed rule entitled ``Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters.'' On January 26, 2010 (75 FR 4174), EPA published this proposed rule. Written comments on the proposed rulemaking were to be submitted to EPA on or before March 29, 2010 (a 60-day public comment period). Since publication, the Agency has received several requests for additional time to submit comments. Therefore, EPA is extending the public comment period for 30 days.

This document publishes the final data on thefts of model year (MY) 2007 passenger motor vehicles that occurred in calendar year (CY) 2007. The final 2007 theft data indicated a decrease in the vehicle theft rate experienced in CY/MY 2007. The final theft rate for MY 2007 passenger vehicles stolen in calendar year 2007 is 1.86 thefts per thousand vehicles, a decrease of ten percent from the rate of 2.08 thefts per thousand in 2006. Publication of these data fulfills NHTSA's statutory obligation to periodically obtain accurate and timely theft data and publish the information for review and comment.

The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Turbomeca Arriel 1B, 1D, 1D1, and 1S1 turboshaft engines. That AD requires initial and repetitive relative position checks of the gas generator 2nd stage turbine blades on Turbomeca Arriel 1B (that incorporate Turbomeca Modification (mod) TU 148), Arriel 1D, 1D1, and 1S1 turboshaft engines that do not incorporate mod TU 347. That AD also requires initial and repetitive replacements of 2nd stage turbines on Arriel 1B, 1D, and 1D1 engines. This proposed AD would require lowering the repetitive threshold for relative position checks on Arriel 1B engines. This proposed AD would also require lowering the initial and repetitive thresholds for replacement of 2nd stage turbines on Arriel 1B, 1D, and 1D1 engines. This proposed AD results from reports of new cases of failures of 2nd stage turbine blades since we issued AD 2008-07-01. We are proposing this AD to prevent the failure of 2nd stage turbine blades, which could result in an uncommanded in-flight engine shutdown, and a subsequent forced autorotation landing or accident.

Under the authority granted to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (the National Coordinator) by section 3001(c)(5) of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) as added by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, this rule proposes the establishment of two certification programs for purposes of testing and certifying health information technology. While two certification programs are described in this proposed rule, we anticipate issuing separate final rules for each of the programs. The first proposal would establish a temporary certification program whereby the National Coordinator would authorize organizations to test and certify Complete EHRs and/or EHR Modules, thereby assuring the availability of Certified EHR Technology prior to the date on which health care providers seeking the incentive payments available under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentives Program may begin demonstrating meaningful use of Certified EHR Technology. The second proposal would establish a permanent certification program to replace the temporary certification program. The permanent certification program would separate the responsibilities for performing testing and certification, introduce accreditation requirements, establish requirements for certification bodies authorized by the National Coordinator related to the surveillance of Certified EHR Technology, and would include the potential for certification bodies authorized by the National Coordinator to certify other types of health information technology besides Complete EHRs and EHR Modules.

This amendment adopts miscellaneous amendments to the required IFR (instrument flight rules) altitudes and changeover points for certain Federal airways, jet routes, or direct routes for which a minimum or maximum en route authorized IFR altitude is prescribed. This regulatory action is needed because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System. These changes are designed to provide for the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace under instrument conditions in the affected areas.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to designate critical habitat for the Carex lutea (golden sedge) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. We propose to designate as critical habitat approximately 189 acres (76 hectares) in 8 units. The proposed critical habitat is located in Onslow and Pender Counties in North Carolina.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') is adopting amendments to Regulation SHO under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act''). We are adopting a short sale-related circuit breaker that, if triggered, will impose a restriction on the prices at which securities may be sold short (``short sale price test'' or ``short sale price test restriction''). Specifically, the Rule requires that a trading center establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent the execution or display of a short sale order of a covered security at a price that is less than or equal to the current national best bid if the price of that covered security decreases by 10% or more from the covered security's closing price as determined by the listing market for the covered security as of the end of regular trading hours on the prior day. In addition, the Rule requires that the trading center establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures reasonably designed to impose this short sale price test restriction for the remainder of the day and the following day when a national best bid for the covered security is calculated and disseminated on a current and continuing basis by a plan processor pursuant to an effective national market system plan. We believe it is appropriate at this time to adopt a short sale-related circuit breaker because, when triggered, it will prevent short selling, including potentially manipulative or abusive short selling, from driving down further the price of a security that has already experienced a significant intra-day price decline, and will facilitate the ability of long sellers to sell first upon such a decline. This approach establishes a narrowly-tailored Rule that will target only those securities that are experiencing significant intra-