June 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

These proposed regulations provide guidance regarding the coordination of the rules for determining high-taxed income with capital gains adjustments and the allocation and recapture of overall foreign losses and overall domestic losses, as well as the coordination of the recapture of overall foreign losses on certain dispositions of property and other rules concerning overall foreign losses and overall domestic losses. These regulations affect individuals and corporations claiming foreign tax credits.

We, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on June 2, 2011, proposing to revise critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and requesting information related to the proposed action. This document announces a 6-month extension of the deadline for a final determination on the proposed rule. Based on comments received during the public comment period, we find that substantial disagreement exists regarding the sufficiency and accuracy of the data and analyses used to support the scope of the proposed critical habitat designation in the Main Hawaiian Islands. Accordingly, we are extending the deadline for the final revision to critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal an additional 6 months to further analyze data and consider concerns raised by State, Federal, and other entities, and better inform our determinations for the final revision of Hawaiian monk seal critical habitat under the ESA.

This proposed rule would add reporting for pork (fresh, chilled, and frozen box/primal cuts) and distillers dried grain (DDG) to the Export Sales Reporting Requirements. Under this proposed rule, all exporters of U.S. pork and DDG would be required to report on a weekly basis, information on the export sales of pork and DDG to the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

On May 25, 2012, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published its notice of preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules (``solar cells''), from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). The Department received comments from Delsolar Co., Ltd. and DelSolar (Wujiang) Ltd. (collectively, ``DelSolar'') and JinkoSolar International Limited (``Jinko'') on May 22 and 25, 2012, respectively, concerning errors that the Department made with respect to the names of these companies in the table in the ``Preliminary Determination'' section in the solar cells from the PRC preliminary determination notice.

This final rule amends Marketing Agreement and Order No. 987 (order), which regulates the handling of domestic dates produced or packed in Riverside County, California. The amendments approved by producers in referendum were proposed by the California Date Administrative Committee (CDAC or committee), which is responsible for local administration of the order. The amendments are intended to improve administration of and compliance with the order and reflect current industry practices. Two amendments proposed by the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) were not approved in referendum.

In the Rules and Regulations section of this issue of the Federal Register, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations relating to disregarded entities (including qualified subchapter S subsidiaries) and the indoor tanning services excise tax. These regulations affect disregarded entities responsible for collecting the indoor tanning services excise tax and owners of those disregarded entities. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will submit the information collection abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance in accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The submission will describe the nature of the information collection, the categories of respondents, the estimated burden (i.e., the time, effort and resources used by respondents to respond) and cost, and the actual data collection instruments FEMA will use.

The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that required data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. The Department notes that a Federal agency cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it is approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the PRA and displays a currently valid OMB control number, and the public is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Also, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no person shall be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if the collection of information does not display a currently valid OMB control number (see 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6). This data collection request consists of follow-up surveys for a sample of WIA customers participating in the WIA Evaluation and data for use in estimating the costs of WIA services and training received by sample group members. In addition, it includes data for a supplemental study to learn about services to veterans, the services they receive, and their outcomes. Since the WIA Evaluation is excluding veterans from the net-impact study, this supplemental study provides the opportunity to analyze veterans' experiences in the 28 WIA Evaluation sites.

The Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) is a nationally representative study of two high school grade cohorts (spring 2002 tenth-graders and spring 2004 twelfth-graders) comprising over 16,000 sample members. The study focuses on achievement growth in mathematics in the high school years and its correlates, the family and school social context of secondary education, transitions from high school to postsecondary education and/or the labor market, and experiences during the postsecondary years.

The National Advisory Council will meet on July 12, 2012, in Arlington, VA. The meeting will be open to the public.

Section 106 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (``CPSIA'') considers the provisions of ASTM International Standard F 963, ``Standard Consumer Safety Specifications for Toy Safety'' (``ASTM F 963''), to be consumer product safety standards issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC,'' ``Commission,'' or ``we''). Among other things, ASTM F 963 contains provisions regarding sound-producing toys. The ASTM F 963 provisions for sound-producing toys allow manufacturers to use more options with readily available test equipment for sound measurement to determine compliance than our existing regulations pertaining to caps intended for use with toy guns and toy guns not intended for use with caps, which were included in the regulations under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (``FHSA'') that were transferred to the Commission's jurisdiction in 1973. The test methodology also refers to obsolete equipment. Consequently, we are proposing to revoke our existing banning regulations pertaining to caps intended for use with toy guns and toy guns not intended for use with caps because they are obsolete and have been superseded by the requirements of ASTM F 963.

BMW of North America, LLC,\1\ a subsidiary of BMW AG,\2\ has determined that certain model year 2012 BMW X6M SAV multipurpose passenger vehicles (MPV) manufactured between April 1, 2011 and March 23, 2012, do not fully comply with paragraph S4.3(b) of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 110, Tire selection and rims and motor home/recreation vehicle trailer load carrying capacity information for motor vehicles with a GVWR of 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) or less. BMW has filed an appropriate report dated April 4, 2012, pursuant to 49 CFR part 573, Defect and Noncompliance Responsibility and Reports.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection for the National Hunger Clearinghouse.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) (Applicant) has applied for an enhancement of survival permit pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The permit application includes a draft Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and ODWC for the lesser prairie-chicken (LEPC) in 10 Oklahoma counties. If the LEPC becomes listed in the future, the Enhancement of Survival permit will become effective, authorizing incidental take of LEPCs resulting from ongoing, otherwise lawful activities on enrolled lands. The draft CCAA and the draft Environmental Assessment are available for public review, and we seek public comment on the potential issuance of the above permits.

The overall goal of the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program is to increase the number of students with degrees in areas of national need by providing fellowships through academic departments of institutions of higher education to assist graduate students of superior ability who demonstrate financial need.