August 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document proposes to amend the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to set forth the prohibitions and conditions that are applicable to the importation and exportation of rough diamonds pursuant to the Clean Diamond Trade Act, as implemented by the President in Executive Order 13312 dated July 29, 2003, and the Rough Diamonds Control Regulations (RDCR) issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In addition to restating pertinent provisions of the RDCR, the proposed amendments would clarify that any U.S. person exporting from or importing into the United States a shipment of rough diamonds must retain for a period of at least five years a copy of the Kimberley Process Certificate that currently must accompany such shipments and make the copy available for inspection when requested by CBP. The document also proposes to require formal entry for shipments of rough diamonds.

This regulation establishes time-limited tolerances for residues of flutriafol in or on cotton, undelinted seed; cotton, meal; cotton, refined oil; and cotton gin byproducts. This action is in response to EPA's granting of an emergency exemption under section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizing use of the pesticide on cotton. This regulation establishes a maximum permissible level for residues of flutriafol in or on cotton commodities. The time-limited tolerances expire on December 31, 2014.

This document cancels a public hearing on proposed regulations relating to the disclosure of return under section 6103(1)(21) of the Internal Revenue Code, as enacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to address the requirement for best available retrofit technology (BART) for taconite plants in Minnesota and Michigan. BART is a requirement of EPA's regional haze rule which has not been satisfied by Minnesota or Michigan for its subject taconite plants. EPA developed this proposal in response to an inadequate BART determination by Michigan for its one subject taconite source. On June 12, 2012, EPA approved revisions to the Minnesota State Implementation Plan (SIP) addressing regional haze but also, on that date, announced that in response to comments it was deferring action on emission limitations that Minnesota intended to represent BART for its taconite facilities. EPA is proposing to determine that the FIP satisfies requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or ``the Act'') that require states, or EPA in promulgating a FIP, to establish BART for applicable sources.

EPA is proposing to promulgate a Reservation-specific Federal Implementation Plan in order to regulate emissions from oil and natural gas production facilities located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation located in North Dakota. The proposed Federal Implementation Plan includes basic air quality regulations for the protection of communities in and adjacent to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The proposed Federal Implementation Plan requires owners and operators of oil and natural gas production facilities to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds emanating from well completions, recompletions, and production and storage operations. This Federal Implementation Plan would be implemented by EPA, or a delegated Tribal Authority, until replaced by a Tribal Implementation Plan. EPA is issuing an interim final rule for a Reservation-specific Federal Implementation Plan, concurrently with this proposed rule, for a Reservation-specific Federal Implementation Plan and any additional information can be found within the interim final rule under the same title.

PHMSA proposes to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations to maintain alignment with international standards by incorporating various amendments, including changes to proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations, air transport quantity limitations, and vessel stowage requirements. These revisions are necessary to harmonize the Hazardous Materials Regulations with recent changes made to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, the International Civil Aviation Organization's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, and the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous GoodsModel Regulations and subsequently address a petition for rulemaking.

We propose to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain General Electric Company (GE) CF6-80C2 series turbofan engines. The existing AD requires replacement of the fuel tubes connected to the fuel flowmeter. Since we issued that AD, we received several additional reports of fuel leaks and two reports of engine fire due to mis-assembled supporting brackets on the fuel tube connecting the flowmeter to the Integrated Drive Generator (IDG) fuel- oil cooler. This proposed AD would require installing a new simplified one-piece bracket to eliminate mis-assembly. We are proposing this AD to prevent high-pressure fuel leaks caused by improper seating of fuel tube flanges, which could result in an engine fire and damage to the airplane.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) plans to conduct a workshop on performance assessments of near-surface low-level radioactive waste (LLW) disposal facilities. The workshop has been developed to facilitate communication among Federal and State agencies, industry representatives, contractors, and members of the public on three aspects of a performance assessment: (1) Features, Events, and Processes (FEPs) analysis, (2) the development of scenarios and conceptual models, and (3) the selection of computer codes. Information gathered from invited subject matter experts, stakeholders, and other interested members of the public will be used to improve guidance on performance assessments for near-surface disposal of LLW.

The Department of Energy (DOE) issues a framework document to consider whether to amend the energy and water conservation standards for commercial clothes washers. DOE also announces a public meeting to discuss and receive comments on issues that it will address in this rulemaking proceeding. DOE is initiating data collection for considering amended energy and water conservation standards for commercial clothes washers. DOE also encourages written comments on potential amended standards, including comments on the issues identified in the framework document. The framework document, which is intended to inform stakeholders and facilitate the rulemaking process, is available at https://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance standards/commercial/clotheswashers.html.

This document revises the Commission's list of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved public information collection requirements with their associated OMB expiration dates. This list will provide the public with a current list of public information collection requirements approved by OMB and their associated control numbers and expiration date as of June 30, 2012.

This document corrects a notice of public hearing on proposed rulemaking by cross-reference to temporary regulations (REG-112805-10) that was published in the Federal Register on Monday, August 6, 2012 (77 FR 46653) relating to the branded prescription drug fee imposed by the Affordable Care Act.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'' or ``Commission'') published the Real-Time Public Reporting of Swap Transaction Data (``Real-Time Public Reporting'') rule and an accompanying preamble in the Federal Register on Monday, January 9, 2012 (77 FR 1182). This document makes an editorial correction to language of the preamble that conflicted with the rule text of the final rule.

This action finalizes confidentiality determinations for certain data elements in regulations under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. In addition, the EPA is finalizing amendments to defer the reporting deadline of certain data elements until 2013 and to defer the reporting deadline of certain data elements until 2015. Lastly, the EPA is finalizing amendments regarding the calculation and reporting of emissions from facilities that use best available monitoring methods. This action does not include final confidentiality determinations for data elements in the ``Inputs to Emission Equations'' data category.

These special conditions are issued for the Eurocopter France Model EC130T2 helicopter. This model helicopter will have the novel or unusual design feature of a 30-minute power rating, generally intended to be used for hovering at increased power for search and rescue missions. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) determines that the four factors contained in section 713(e) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act) will continue to apply when evaluating individual requests for closed captioning exemptions under section 713(d)(3) and our corresponding rules, notwithstanding a change in terminology in the statute, enacted by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA), which replaced the term ``undue burden'' in that section with the term ``economically burdensome.'' The Order further amends the Commission's rules to replace all current references to ``undue burden'' with the term ``economically burdensome.'' These rule amendments correspond with the new statutory language in the CVAA requiring petitioners seeking individual closed captioning exemptions under section 713(d)(3) of the Act to show that providing captions on their programming would be economically burdensome.

In accordance with section 712(a)(8), section 712(d)(1), sections 712(d)(2)(B) and (C), sections 721(b) and (c), and section 761(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (``Dodd-Frank Act''), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``CFTC'') and the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'') (collectively, ``Commissions''), in consultation with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (``Board''), are jointly adopting new rules and interpretations under the Commodity Exchange Act (``CEA'') and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'') to further define the terms ``swap,'' ``security-based swap,'' and ``security-based swap agreement'' (collectively, ``Product Definitions''); regarding ``mixed swaps;'' and governing books and records with respect to ``security-based swap agreements.'' The CFTC requests comment on its interpretation concerning forwards with embedded volumetric optionality, contained in Section II.B.2.(b)(ii) of this release.

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is proposing to resume the Population Estimates Challenge Program in 2012 to provide eligible entities the opportunity to file requests for the review of population estimates for 2011 and subsequent years. The Census Bureau is also proposing to amend its regulations to: (1) Update references to the method by which population estimates are officially released; (2) clarify when a challenge of a population estimate can be requested; (3) specify who may file a request for a population estimate challenge; (4) remove all references to the per capita income estimates program and the Office of General Revenue Sharing; (5) change the regulation title of a current program from ``Procedure for Challenging Certain Population and Income Estimates'' to ``Procedure for Challenging Population Estimates '' to reflect the removal of the per capita income estimates program; (6) revise the requirements of the challenge process; and (7) remove all references to a formal challenge process. The Census Bureau is proposing changes to the procedure for the Population Estimates Challenge Program that are intended to clarify and streamline the procedures for local units of general-purpose government. The Census Bureau is proposing to remove the references for the per capita income estimates changes because the Census Bureau no longer produces per capita income estimates. The program that used those estimates, the General Revenue Sharing program, was eliminated for the States in 1980 and was not reauthorized for local governments after fiscal year 2000.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify that contracting officers shall set aside acquisitions for research and development, when there is also a reasonable expectation, as a result of market research, that there are small businesses capable of providing the best scientific and technological approaches.

The Coast Guard proposes to temporarily change the operating schedule that governs the Carolina Coastal Railroad Bridge, at AIWW mile 203.8, across Newport River in Morehead City, NC. This bridge is presently maintained in the open position except when closure is necessary for train crossings. This change would allow the bridge to remain closed at night so that necessary repairs may be made with the least possible impact to navigation.

This document contains corrections to a notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-130266-11) that was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 (77 FR 38148). The proposed regulations provide guidance regarding the requirements for charitable hospital organizations relating to financial assistance and emergency medical care policies, charges for certain care provided to individuals eligible for financial assistance, and billing and collections.

The Department of Homeland Security is issuing a final rule to amend its regulations to exempt portions of a newly established system of records titled, ``Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DHS/CBP017 Analytical Framework for Intelligence (AFI) System of Records'' from certain provisions of the Privacy Act. Specifically, the Department exempts portions of the ``Department of Homeland Security/U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DHS/CBP017 Analytical Framework for Intelligence (AFI) System of Records'' from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act because of criminal, civil, and administrative enforcement requirements.

The State of Arkansas has applied to EPA for Final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA proposes to grant Final authorization to the State of Arkansas. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, EPA is authorizing the changes by a direct final rule. EPA did not make a proposal prior to the immediate final rule because we believe this action is not controversial and do not expect comments that oppose it. We have explained the reasons for this authorization in the preamble to the immediate final rule. Unless we get written comments which oppose this authorization during the comment period, the immediate final rule will become effective on the date it establishes, and we will not take further action on this proposal. If we receive comments that oppose this action, we will withdraw the immediate final rule and it will not take effect. We will then respond to public comments in a later final rule based on this proposal. You may not have another opportunity for comment. If you want to comment on this action, you must do so at this time.

On August 5, 2011, the agency published a final rule amending the requirements for voluntarily installed event data recorders (EDRs) established in August 2006. In response to the August 2011 final rule, the agency received three petitions for reconsideration from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Automotive Safety Council, and Honda Motor Co., LTD. The Association of Global Automakers, Inc. Technical Affairs Committee, and Nissan North America, Inc. both submitted comments in support of the petitioners' requests. After careful consideration, the agency is granting some aspects of the petitions, and denying others. This document amends the final rule accordingly.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') issues a final rule to incorporate classification changes adopted by the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (``Nice Agreement''). These changes became effective January 1, 2012, and are listed in the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (10th ed., 2011), which is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (``WIPO''). In addition, the USPTO is amending some punctuation and grammar to conform to what appears in the Nice Agreement.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Hawker Beechcraft Corporation Model G58 airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by notification from Hawker Beechcraft Corporation that certain affected aircraft were produced with the incorrect gauge wiring installed. This proposed AD would require replacement of the incorrect gauge wiring with the correct wiring required by type design and the aircraft's circuit protection. We are proposing this AD to correct the unsafe condition on these products.