June 15, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) makes a technical amendment to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Specifically, BIS deletes references concerning Federal court jurisdiction for judicial review of final decisions and orders issued in BIS export control administrative enforcement proceedings and in administrative appeals of BIS temporary denial orders. Federal court jurisdiction to review these orders is governed by statute, not by regulation.

The Office of Personnel Management will hold a public meeting on June 25, 2010, as part of its hiring reform initiative to hear and consider views on whether normal, competitive hiring is an effective avenue for bringing recent college graduates into the Federal workforce. On May 11, 2010, President Obama issued a Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies in which he stated that ``the Federal Government must recruit and hire highly qualified employees and public service should be a career of choice for the most talented Americans.'' This public meeting will constitute one phase of that initiative.

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning existing final and temporary regulations, TD 8223, Branch Tax; TD 8432, Branch Profits Tax; and TD 8657, Regulations on Effectively Connected Income and the Branch Profits Tax (Sec. Sec. 1.884-1, 1.884-2, 1.884- 2T, 1.884-4, 1.884-5).

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning existing final regulations, PS-66-93 (TD 8609), Gasohol; Compressed Natural Gas, and PS-120-90 (TD 8241), Gasoline Excise Tax (Sec. Sec. 48.4041-21, 48.4081-2(c)(2), 48.4081-3(d)(2)(iii), 48.4081-3(e)(2)(ii), 48.4081-3(f)(3)(ii), 48.4081-4(b)(2)(ii), 48.4081-4(b)(3)(i), 48-4081- 4(c), 48.4081-6(c)(1)(ii), 48.4081-7, and 48.4081-9).

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning Form 1120-ND, Return for Nuclear Decommissioning Funds and Certain Related Persons.

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning Form 5308, Request for Change in Plan/Trust Year.

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning an existing final regulation, INTL-50-86 (TD 8110), Sanctions on Issuers and Holders of Registration-Required Obligations Not in Registered Form (Sec. Sec. 1.65-12 and 1.1287-1).

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 take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the IRS is soliciting comments concerning Form 8612, Return of Excise Tax on Undistributed Income of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and NASA NEPA policy and procedures (14 CFR Part 1216, Subpart 1216.3), NASA has prepared a Draft PEA that analyzes scientific balloon launch and flight operations originating from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facilities (CSBF) in Fort Sumner, New Mexico and Palestine, Texas. NASA has launched and monitored the flights of balloons from these locations for over 25 years. NASA is not proposing to change the launch locations and is only proposing to increase the number of scientific balloons launched each year. Balloon flights originating from CSBF Fort Sumner would increase from 15 to 25 annually; balloons launched from CSBF Palestine would continue at approximately 6 per year. The No Action Alternative, under which balloon launch and flight operations would not increase, is also analyzed in detail in the Draft PEA.

EPA is proposing to amend the pesticide container and containment regulations to provide a 1-year extension of the 40 CFR 156.159 labeling compliance date from August 16, 2010 to August 16,

In the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations that provide guidance on the indoor tanning services excise tax imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. These regulations affect users and providers of indoor tanning services. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations.

The objective of National Institute of Standards and Technology's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP) program is to enhance productivity, technological performance, and strengthen the global competitiveness of small- and medium-sized U.S. based manufacturing firms. NIST MEP invites proposals from eligible organizations for projects to develop client engagement or business models and deployment strategies that integrate two or more of the MEP Strategic Growth Areas. The projects should further demonstrate in its proposed client engagement or business model, the benefit of this integration and how the approach can expand service capability and capacity of the MEP system. The five MEP Strategic Growth Areas are: supply chain, sustainability, technology acceleration, workforce and continuous improvement. Proposals should include a project plan, a client engagement or business model and deployment strategy for the project, and an approach for leveraging existing tools, resources and partnerships.

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement section 207 of the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act of 2009. The comment period is being extended an additional 30 days to provide additional time for interested parties to review the proposed DFARS changes.

In this document, the Commission modifies the construction deadline applicable to new initial Broadband Radio Service (BRS) licenses granted on or after November 6, 2009. Specifically, the Commission permits these BRS licensees to demonstrate substantial service four years from the date of license grant rather than on or before May 1, 2011. The Commission further modifies the construction rule by clarifying that BRS and Educational Broadband Service (EBS) licensees may demonstrate substantial service by meeting one of the safe harbors specified in the rule and that they may, under certain circumstances, demonstrate substantial service by combining licenses. Finally, on its own motion, the Commission corrects a clerical error in its rules governing the pre-transition frequency assignments for BRS Channel 1. These actions clarify the requirements necessary for BRS and EBS licensees to demonstrate substantial service and ensure that BRS licensees of new initial licenses are given a reasonable period of time to deploy service, while ensuring that spectrum is rapidly placed in use.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California. This action is necessary because the directed harvest allocation total for the first seasonal period (January 1-June 30) is projected to be reached by the effective date of this rule. From the effective date of this rule until June 30, 2010, Pacific sardine can only be harvested as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries; the incidental harvest of Pacific sardine is limited to 30-percent by weight of all fish per trip. Fishing vessels must be at shore and in the process of offloading at 12:01 am Pacific Daylight Time on date of closure.

This document amends PTE 2003-39 (68 FR 75632, Dec. 31, 2003), a class exemption from certain prohibited transaction restrictions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA or the Act) and from certain taxes imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). PTE 2003-39 generally exempts a plan's receipt of consideration from a related party in partial or complete settlement of actual or threatened litigation, as well as extensions of credit from a plan in connection with settlement payments made over time by the related party. The amendment expands the categories of assets that may be accepted by plans in the settlement of litigation, subject to certain conditions. Among other things, the amendment permits the receipt of non-cash assets in settlement of a claim (including the promise of future employer contributions) but only in instances where the consideration can be objectively valued. The amendment also modifies PTE 2003-39 to permit plans to acquire, hold, or sell employer securities such as warrants and stock rights which are received in settlement of litigation, including bankruptcy proceedings.

The Department of State (DOS) is extending the public comment period for the Keystone XL Pipeline Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) until Friday, July 2, 2010. On April 20, 2010, the DOS provided Federal Register notice (75 FR 20653) of the availability of the DEIS and notice of nineteen public comment meetings to be held during three weeks in May, 2010 along the proposed pipeline route in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and Montana. That Federal Register notice also provided additional information regarding the DEIS and requested the submission of all comments by May 31, 2010. On April 30, 2010, in response to requests from several organizations, the DOS extended the public comment period until Wednesday, June 16, 2010 (75 FR 22890). As noted, the DOS is now extending the public comment period for a second time until Friday, July 2, 2010.

The Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain polyester staple fiber from the Republic of Korea. The period of review is May 1, 2008, through April 30, 2009. This review covers imports of certain polyester staple fiber from one manufacturer/exporter. The Department preliminarily finds that sales of the subject merchandise have been made below normal value. If these preliminary results are adopted in the Department's final results, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to assess antidumping duties. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. The Department will issue the final results not later than 120 days from the date of publication of this notice.

The Federal Communications Commission, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501 - 3520. Comments are requested concerning: (a) whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) ways to further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees.