November 3, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is requesting public comments from any and all waterway users regarding the permanent security zone that encompasses all waters within 150 yards of the bridge connecting Liberty State Park and Ellis Island. The Coast Guard is considering restoring navigational access to the waterway between Ellis Island and Liberty State Park by modifying the security zone around the Ellis Island Bridge. The purpose removal of the security zone would be to increase navigational safety in New York Harbor by allowing vessels to transit under the Ellis Island Bridge, rather than being required to transit the Anchorage Channel.

On October 18, 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a document to announce its reconsideration of and request for public comment on five issues in the final National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutant Emissions: Petroleum Refinery Sector that was published on December 1, 2015. Petitioners claim that the public was not afforded an adequate opportunity to comment on these five issues. Additionally, the EPA proposed amendments to the final rule to clarify a compliance issue raised by stakeholders subject to the final rule and to correct a referencing error. The EPA is announcing that a public hearing will be held and extending the public comment period.

A Petition for Reconsideration (Petition) has been filed in the Commission's rulemaking proceeding by Nancy J. Eskenazi, on behalf of SES Americom, Inc. and New Skies Satellites B.V.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge across the Harlem River, mile 7.9, New York City, New York. This deviation is necessary to allow the bridge owner to perform a test of the submarine cables at the bridge.

This document contains corrections to final regulations (TD 9786) that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, October 4, 2016 (81 FR 68299). The final regulations provided guidance regarding the application of the credit for increasing research activities.

The NCUA Board (``Board'') is issuing a final rule to rename its Office of Consumer Protection to provide additional clarity about the function and role of the office. The new name will be the Office of Consumer Financial Protection and Access.

This document contains final regulations that provide rules regarding the treatment as United States property of property held by a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) in connection with certain transactions involving partnerships. In addition, the final regulations provide rules for determining whether a CFC is considered to derive rents and royalties in the active conduct of a trade or business for purposes of determining foreign personal holding company income (FPHCI), as well as rules for determining whether a CFC holds United States property as a result of certain related party factoring transactions. This document finalizes proposed regulations, and withdraws temporary regulations, published on September 2, 2015. It also finalizes proposed regulations, and withdraws temporary regulations, published on June 14, 1988. The final regulations affect United States shareholders of CFCs.

This document withdraws portions of a notice of proposed rulemaking (INTL-49-86, subsequently converted to REG-209001-86) published in the Federal Register (53 FR 22186) on June 14, 1988, (the 1988 NPRM). The withdrawn portions relate to stock redemptions through related corporations, the application of section 956 to United States property indirectly held by a controlled foreign corporation (CFC), and certain related party factoring transactions, as well as the definition of the term ``obligation'' for purposes of section 956.

The Department of Transportation is issuing a third ``Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections'' final rule to enhance protections for air travelers and to improve the air travel environment as follows: Expanding the pool of reporting carriers for service quality data; requiring reporting carriers to include service quality data for their domestic scheduled flights operated by their code-share partners; enhancing the Department's code-share disclosure regulation to codify the statutory requirement that carriers and ticket agents must disclose any code-share arrangements on their Web sites on the first display presented in response to a search of a requested itinerary for each itinerary involving a code-share operation; and prohibiting undisclosed biasing based on carrier identity by carriers and ticket agents in any electronic displays of the fare, schedule or availability information of multiple carriers. The amendments to the reporting requirements in this rule will ensure that the Department obtains and provides to the public expanded and enhanced service quality data from the airlines. The provision to strengthen the Department's code-share disclosure rule will also enhance air travel consumer protection. Additionally, this final rule corrects certain drafting errors and makes minor changes to the Department's second Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections rule to better reflect the Department's intent. Other topics covered by the proposed rule that are not addressed by this final rule will be addressed in two separate rulemakings. Specifically, the Department will be issuing a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) to seek additional information on the disclosure of fees for basic ancillary services to consumers at all points of sale. The remaining topics discussed in the 2014 notice of proposed rulemaking (e.g., customer service commitments by large ticket agents, prohibition on post-purchase price increases for ancillary services) will be addressed in another final rule that the Department plans to issue at a later date.

This final rule implements Amendment 19 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan, which the New England Fishery Management Council adopted and submitted to NMFS for approval. Amendment 19 establishes a specifications process outside of the current framework adjustment process and adjusts the start of the scallop fishing year from March 1 to April 1. These changes will help reduce potential economic and biological consequences from late implementation of specifications and reduce the overall administrative burden associated with late implementation. As a result of these changes, NMFS will be able to implement simple specifications actions at the start of the fishing year on a more consistent basis.