April 5, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507. The Office of Thrift Supervision within the Department of the Treasury will submit the proposed information collection requirement described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. Today, OTS is soliciting public comments on its proposal to extend this information collection.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the regulatory review period for LUSEDRA and is publishing this notice of that determination as required by law. FDA has made the determination because of the submission of applications to the Director of Patents and Trademarks, Department of Commerce, for the extension of a patent which claims that human drug product.

The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is seeking comments from the public on whether Suriname should be designated as eligible to receive benefits under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), as amended by the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) (19 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). Although Congress has identified Suriname as potentially eligible for benefits, the government of Suriname did not request beneficiary status under either the CBERA or the CBTPA until December 2009. The TPSC invites written comments concerning whether Suriname meets the criteria described in sections 212(b), 212(c), and 213(b)(5)(B) of the CBERA, as amended. The TPSC will consider these comments in developing its recommendation to the President regarding Suriname's eligibility for benefits under CBERA and CBTPA.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of five documents related to FDA's continuing assessment of Bisphenol A (BPA) and soliciting public comments on the four documents prepared by FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). These documents do not represent an agency opinion or position on BPA, on which an interim update was recently provided. (See https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm064437.htm ). Rather, these documents provide perspectives and opinions that are being considered by FDA as it continues its safety assessment of BPA. This action will enable FDA to consider comments from the public in its assessment of BPA for food contact applications.

In this rulemaking, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is adopting a final rule that implements two separate proposed rules, which relate to Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) director elections and director compensation, respectively. As to director elections, FHFA is amending its regulations relating to the process by which successor Bank directors are chosen after a directorship is redesignated to a new state prior to the end of the term as a result of the annual designation of Bank directorships. Under the final rule, the redesignation causes the original directorship to terminate and creates a new directorship that will be filled by an election of the members.

The EPA is revising its regulations relating to the Clean Air Act (CAA) requirement that Federal actions conform to the appropriate State, tribal or Federal implementation plan (SIP, TIP, or FIP) for attaining clean air (``General Conformity''). EPA and other Federal agencies have gained experience with the implementation of the existing regulations, which were promulgated in 1993 (and underwent minor revisions in 2006), and have identified several issues with their implementation. In addition, in 2004, EPA issued regulations to implement the revised ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and in 2007 issued regulations to implement the new fine particulate matter standard. State and other air quality agencies are in the process of developing revised plans to attain the new standards and the revisions to the General Conformity Regulations will be helpful to the State, Tribe, and local agencies in developing, and Federal agencies in commenting, on the proposed SIPs revisions. This rule revision will also facilitate Federal agency compliance with conforming its activities to the SIPs thereby preventing violations of the NAAQS. This rule revision provides for a timely and effective process for Federal agencies and States and Tribes to ensure Federal activities are incorporated in these SIPs. Where that is not possible, it provides an efficient and effective process for Federal agencies to ensure their actions do not cause or contribute to a violation of the NAAQS or interfere with the purpose of a SIP, TIP or FIP to attain or maintain the NAAQS.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) amends the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) to incorporate new performance standards for electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) installed in commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) manufactured on or after June 4, 2012. On-board hours-of-service (HOS) recording devices meeting FMCSA's current requirements and installed in CMVs manufactured before June 4, 2012 may continue to be used for the remainder of the service life of those CMVs.