July 14, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of State proposes to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to remove reference to the International Import Certificate. This amendment will effectively cease the Department's current practice of accepting DSP-53 submissions, as there is no statutory, regulatory, or other authoritative basis for the Department to do so.

We, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), are announcing six public hearings to be held for the proposed rule to revise critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal, which was published in the Federal Register on June 2, 2011. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for meeting dates and locations. As noted in the proposed rule, we will consider written comments received on or before August 31, 2011.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to remove a section of the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA) regulations requiring that prior to the completion of any wholesale distribution of a prescription drug, an unauthorized distributor must provide to the purchaser ``a statement identifying each prior sale, purchase, or trade of such drug,'' starting with the manufacturer, and that the identifying statement (also known as the ``pedigree'') must include certain information about the drug and each prior sale, purchase, or trade. This action is being taken in response to longstanding issues, including an injunction currently in effect, regarding the application of and compliance with this requirement. FDA is also announcing that it intends to exercise enforcement discretion with respect to certain requirements of the regulation while the rulemaking is pending and with respect to the statutory pedigree requirements of the PDMA, as long as the pedigree identifies the names and addresses of the last authorized distributor of record that handled the drug and the associated dates of transactions involving that last authorized distributor of record and the drug, as well as the names and addresses of all subsequent unauthorized distributors that handled the drug and the corresponding dates of those transactions.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain PW4000 turbofan engines. This proposed AD was prompted by an updated low-cycle fatigue (LCF) life analysis performed by Pratt & Whitney. This proposed AD would require removing certain part number (P/N) high-pressure turbine (HPT) stage 1 and HPT stage 2 airseals and HPT stage 1 airseal rings before their published life limit, and establishes a new lower life limit for these parts. We are proposing this AD to correct the unsafe condition on these products.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') is adopting final rules pursuant to section 753 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''), to implement amended subsections (c)(1) and (c)(3) of section 6 of the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA''). These rules broadly prohibit fraud and manipulation in connection with any swap, or contract of sale of any commodity in interstate commerce, or contract for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any registered entity.

The Postal Service is amending 39 CFR part 241 to improve the administration of the Post Office closing and consolidation process. In addition, certain procedures employed for the discontinuance of Post Offices are applied to the discontinuance of other types of retail facilities operated by Postal Service employees.

This proposed rule updates HUD's regulations to conform to the statutory requirement that appraisers must be certified, rather than licensed, by a state appraisal licensing board in order to appear on the FHA Appraiser Roster. This requirement was established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Although current HUD practice is in compliance with the statutory mandate, the regulations reflect outdated prior policy of permitting state-licensed appraisers to be listed on the FHA Appraiser Roster. In addition, HUD has taken this opportunity to update the FHA Appraiser Roster by replacing the obsolete references to the Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System with references to its successor, the online-based Credit Alert Verification Reporting System.

On June 29, 2011, OSM published an interim rule approving a program amendment submitted by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP). The interim rule provided an opportunity for public comment and gave the comment due date and tentative hearing date. The summary and preamble to the interim rule specified that it was effective upon publication; however, the DATES section of the rule failed to list an effective date. This final rule corrects that omission by providing an effective date.

EPA is proposing to approve in part and disapprove in part state implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted by California to provide for attainment of the 1997 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards in the Los Angeles-South Coast area (South Coast). These SIP revisions are the South Coast 2007 Air Quality Management Plan (South Coast 2007 AQMP) (revised 2011) and South Coast-related provisions of the 2007 State Strategy (revised 2009 and 2011). EPA is proposing to approve the emissions inventories; air quality modeling; reasonably available control measures/reasonably available control technology demonstration; the reasonable further progress and attainment demonstrations; and the transportation conformity motor vehicle emissions budgets. EPA is also proposing to grant California's request to extend the attainment deadline for the South Coast to April 5, 2015 and to approve commitments to measures and reductions by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board. Finally, we are proposing to disapprove the SIP's contingency measures and to reject the assignment of 10 tpd of NOX reductions to the federal government. This proposed rule amends EPA's November 22, 2010 proposed rule (75 FR 91294) on the South Coast PM2.5 plan and 2007 State strategy.