February 24, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is withdrawing approval of an abbreviated new animal drug application (ANADA) at the sponsor's request because the product is no longer manufactured or marketed.

On March 24, 2016, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule, Temporary General License. The March 24 final rule created a temporary general license that restored, for a specified time period, the licensing requirements and policies under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) as of March 7, 2016, to two entities (ZTE Corporation and ZTE Kangxun) that were added to the Entity List on March 8, 2016. At this time, the U.S. Government has decided to extend the temporary general license until March 29, 2017. In order to implement this decision, this final rule revises the temporary general license to remove the expiration date of February 27, 2017, and to substitute the date of March 29, 2017. This final rule makes no other changes to the EAR.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is withdrawing approval of 18 new animal drug applications (NADAs) and 2 abbreviated new animal drug applications (ANADAs). These withdrawals of approval of NADAs and ANADAs for antimicrobial drugs of importance to human medicine that are administered to food-producing animals in medicated feed are being made because the products are no longer manufactured or marketed. These actions are consistent with the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine's initiative for the Judicious Use of Antimicrobials.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Tennessee, submitted through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), on November 21, 2016. This SIP revision was submitted in support of the State's request that EPA change the federal Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) requirements for Davidson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson, and Wilson Counties (hereinafter referred to as the ``Middle Tennessee Area'' or ``Area''). Tennessee's November 21, 2016, SIP submittal revises its maintenance plan for the Middle Tennessee Area for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) and demonstrates that relaxing the federal RVP requirements in this Area would not interfere with the Area's ability to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). Specifically, Tennessee's SIP revision concludes that relaxing the federal RVP requirement from 7.8 pounds per square inch (psi) to 9.0 psi for gasoline sold between June 1 and September 15 of each year in the Area would not interfere with attainment or maintenance of the NAAQS or with any other CAA requirement. EPA is proposing to determine that Tennessee's November 21, 2016, SIP revision is consistent with the applicable provisions of the CAA.

The Board of Governors (Board) is publishing a final rule that applies an inflation adjustment to the $10 billion total consolidated asset threshold in Regulation I, which implements the provision of the ``Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act'' (FAST Act) that sets the dividend rate that member banks with more than $10 billion in total consolidated assets earn on their Federal Reserve Bank (Reserve Bank) stock. The FAST Act requires that the Board annually adjust the $10 billion total consolidated asset threshold to reflect the change in the Gross Domestic Product Price Index, published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Based on the change in the Gross Domestic Product Price Index as of September 29, 2016, the total consolidated asset threshold will be $10,122,000,000 through December 31, 2017.

In the January 4, 2017 Federal Register, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested comments by March 6, 2017 on a proposed rule pertaining to Clean Air Act requirements for regional haze and interstate visibility transport. This proposal would promulgate a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to address the Clean Air Act requirement for eligible electric generating units (EGUs) in Texas to install and operate the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART). This proposal would also disapprove a portion of the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) that evaluated BART for Particulate Matter (PM) at EGUs. In addition, this proposal reconsiders earlier disapprovals of portions of several SIP revisions submitted to satisfy the requirement to address interstate visibility transport for six National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), newly proposing that they be disapproved and that the proposed EGU BART FIP would satisfy any FIP obligation for interstate visibility transport that would follow from those disapprovals. EPA is extending the public comment period for this proposal until May 5, 2017.

The National Labor Relations Board amends its procedural Rules and Regulations to: Reflect modern technology, such as E-Filing, and eliminate references to telegraphs, carbon copies, and the requirements for hard copy submissions and multiple copies; use more plain language and eliminate legalistic terms such as ``therefrom,'' ``thereupon,'' ``therein,'' ``herein,'' and ``said;'' reorganize the Rules and add headings so that the subject matter is easier to find; incorporate current practices that had not been included in the published Rules, such as the Board's Alternative Dispute Resolution Program; and update and streamline procedural provisions of the FOIA regulations. The amendments also clarify the means by which documents are filed and service is made by the parties and the Board. They also promote the parties' use of E-Filing, which will facilitate sharing documents with the public. These revisions are procedural rather than substantive.