Competitive Postal Products, 56094-56096 [2022-19707]

Download as PDF 56094 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 176 / Tuesday, September 13, 2022 / Notices OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT Comment Request for Review of a Generic Information Collection: Customer Experience Feedback Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: 60-Day notice and request for comments. AGENCY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) intends to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review of a generic clearance to collect qualitative feedback on OPM Healthcare and Insurance programs’ service delivery. Approval of this generic collection is necessary to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service delivery. DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until November 14, 2022. ADDRESSES: Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. All submissions received must include the agency name and docket number for this Federal Register document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the internet at https:// www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A copy of this information collection request, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by contacting OPM/Healthcare and Insurance, Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20415, Attention: M. Fatima Moghis or email to fatima.moghis@opm.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, (Pub. L. 104–13, 44 U.S.C. chapter 35) as amended by the ClingerCohen Act (Pub. L. 104–106), OPM is soliciting comments for this collection. Comments are particularly invited on: 1. Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; 2. Whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; and 3. Ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:30 Sep 12, 2022 Jkt 256001 information on those who are to respond, through the use of the appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. OPM Healthcare and Insurance contracts with health insurance carriers to provide benefits to Federal employees, annuitants, family members and other eligible groups. The functions are authorized by various statutes and regulations: chapter 89 of Title 5, United States Codes and sections 890 and 892 of Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations. Improving our programs requires assessment of service delivery. The information collected from our customers and stakeholders will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with OPM Healthcare and Insurance programs. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with products or service, or focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between OPM Healthcare and Insurance and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management. If this information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and stakeholders on OPM Healthcare and Insurance services will be unavailable. OPM Healthcare and Insurance will collect, analyze, and interpret information gathered through this generic clearance to identify strengths and weaknesses of current programs and services and make improvements based on feedback. The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: appropriateness and usefulness of programs, and efficiency of service delivery. Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to customers and stakeholders. OPM Healthcare and Insurance will collect information electronically and/or use online collaboration tools as appropriate to reduce the burden. The types of collections that this generic clearance covers include, but are not limited to: • Small discussion groups; • Focus Groups of customers, potential customers, delivery partners, or other stakeholders; • Qualitative customer satisfaction surveys (e.g., post-transaction surveys; opt-out web surveys); PO 00000 Frm 00107 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 • In-person observation testing (e.g., website or software usability tests). Without these types of feedback, OPM Healthcare and Insurance will not have timely information to adjust its services to meet customer needs. Analysis Agency: U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Title: OPM Healthcare and Insurance Customer Experience Feedback. OMB: 3206–NEW. Frequency: On occasion. Affected Public: Government employees and individuals. Number of Respondents: 5,000,000. Estimated Time per Respondent: 1 hour. Total Burden Hours: 500,000,000 hours. Office of Personnel Management Stephen Hickman, Federal Register Liaison. [FR Doc. 2022–19787 Filed 9–12–22; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325–43–P POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. RM2017–1/RM2022–2; Order No. 6269] Competitive Postal Products Postal Regulatory Commission. Notice. AGENCY: ACTION: The Commission is invites comments in this proceeding related to its analysis of subsequent events that impact the findings of a Federal Trade Commission Report. This document informs the public of this proceeding, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps. DATES: Comments are due: September 21, 2022. ADDRESSES: For additional information, Order No. 6269 can be accessed electronically through the Commission’s website at https://www.prc.gov. Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at https://www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit comments electronically should contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section by telephone for advice on filing alternatives. SUMMARY: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 202–789–6820. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Background E:\FR\FM\13SEN1.SGM 13SEN1 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 176 / Tuesday, September 13, 2022 / Notices III. Events Subsequent Events to the FTC Report IV. Invitation for Comments V. Ordering Paragraphs I. Introduction As part of its enactment of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), Congress sought to determine whether the Postal Service’s competitive products enjoyed any legal advantages over private companies providing similar products.1 Uncodified section 703 of the PAEA directed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prepare a report identifying federal and state laws that apply differently to the Postal Service’s competitive products than to similar products offered by private competitors.2 The FTC was required to include any recommendations concerning how to end any such legal differences that it deemed appropriate and, in the interim, to account for the net economic effect resulting from such differences. PAEA section 703(b). Additionally, section 703 directed the Commission, when revising regulations under 39 U.S.C. 3633, to consider the FTC’s recommendations as well as subsequent events that affect the continuing validity of the FTC’s net economic effect finding. Id. section 703(d). II. Background jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES The FTC issued its report in December 2007, which considered both the implicit subsidies enjoyed by, and legal constraints imposed on, the Postal Service’s Competitive products due to the Postal Service’s unique legal status.3 In Chapter IV of its report, the FTC completed its net economic effect analysis by specifically identifying those implicit subsides and legal constraints that could be quantified in order to calculate any impact on the Postal Service.4 The FTC calculated the 1 See Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), Public Law 109–435, title VII, section 703, 120 Stat. 3198, 3244 (2006); see also S. Rep. No. 108–318 at 29 (2004). 2 PAEA section 703(a). Section 703 was not codified and is reproduced in the notes of 39 U.S.C.A. 3633. See also Federal Trade Commission, Accounting for Laws that Apply Differently to the United States Postal Service and its Private Competitors, December 2007 (FTC Report), available at https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/ documents/reports/accounting-laws-applydifferently-united-statespostal-service-and-itsprivate-competitors-report/080116postal. 3 FTC Report at 55–77. In its review of the Postal Service’s unique legal status, the FTC analyzed laws applicable to the Postal Service due to its status as a governmental entity as well as those disadvantages imposed on and advantages allowed by the PAEA. Id. 4 Id. at 64 n.287. The FTC Report discussed additional implicit subsidies and legal constraints beyond those listed in its net economic effect VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:30 Sep 12, 2022 Jkt 256001 cost of the quantifiable legal constraints and the value of the implicit subsidies and concluded that the Postal Service’s unique legal status placed it at a net competitive disadvantage in offering Competitive products relative to private competitors. Id. at 64. On February 8, 2018, as part of the Commission’s second 5-year review of the institutional cost contribution requirement for Competitive products, the Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, proposing revisions to its regulations pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 3633(a)(3) and (b) and completed an analysis pursuant to section 703(d) of the PAEA.5 The Commission found that there was only ‘‘one law linked to a separately delineated element within the FTC’s calculation that has been amended, thereby constituting an event subsequent to the FTC Report’s issuance that affects the validity of the estimate of the net economic effect.’’ Id. at 63. The identified law was associated with international air transportation rate regulation and had been amended after the original FTC Report’s issuance.6 The Commission removed the cost of the international air transportation rate regulation constraint from the total cost of the legal constraints and updated the FTC’s calculation. See Order No. 4402 at 64. The Commission found that although the removal of the international air transportation rate regulation constraint altered the overall estimate of the net economic effect, that subsequent event did not undermine the FTC’s overall finding of a net economic disadvantage and that the FTC’s finding remained valid. Id. Additionally, the Commission performed a supplemental analysis by updating the high-end costs associated with both the implicit subsidies and legal constraints based on analysis, but because the additional subsidies and constraints could either not be quantified or the effect on the Postal Service was unclear, the FTC did not include them as part of its final analysis. See id. at 1, 50, 54, 56, 64, 89. 5 See Order No. 4402 at 54–68; see also Docket No. RM2017–1, Revised Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, August 7, 2018, at 57–58 (Order No. 4742); Docket No. RM2017–1, Order Adopting Final Rules Relating to the Institutional Cost Contribution Requirement for Competitive Products, January 3, 2019, at 170–187 (Order No. 4963). 6 Id. at 63–64. In the FTC Report, the FTC explained that the Department of Transportation’s regulation of international mail air transport rates increased Postal Service costs because it was not permitted to independently negotiate the rates on the free market as private companies were. FTC Report at 44, 56. In 2008, Congress eliminated the Department of Transportation’s authority to regulate the prices paid by the Postal Service for air transport of international mail. See Public Law 110– 405, 122 Stat. 4287 (2008); see also FTC Report at 44–45. PO 00000 Frm 00108 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 56095 current competitive product revenue at the time Order No. 4402 was issued. Subsequently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit remanded Order No. 4963 to the Commission for further consideration of particular issues identified by the court consistent with the opinion issued in United Parcel Serv., Inc. v. Postal Reg. Comm’n, 955 F.3d 1038 (D.C. Cir. 2020). On November 18, 2021, the Commission issued Order No. 6043, which not only addressed the issues identified by the court, but also initiated the Commission’s third 5-year review of the institutional cost contribution requirement for Competitive products.7 Docket Nos. RM2017–1 and RM2022–2 remain pending before the Commission. III. Events Subsequent to the FTC Report After the issuance of Order No. 6043 and the expiration of the comment period established therein, the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (PSRA) was enacted on April 6, 2022.8 Among other things, the PSRA requires Postal Service Health Benefits plans to participate in Medicare Part D, which would allow those plans to receive subsidies related to prescription drugs. See 5 U.S.C. 8903c(h). This new requirement is significant because, in its report, the FTC specifically identified and included the Postal Service’s inability to access subsidies offered to private employers under the Medicare Part D program in its calculation of the total legal constraints. See FTC Report at 38–39, 56. As a result, the Commission finds that there has been one law linked to a separately delineated element within the FTC’s calculation that has been amended, thereby constituting an event subsequent to the FTC Report’s issuance that affects the validity of the estimate of the net economic effect.9 The Commission removes the cost of the Medicare Part D constraint from the total cost of the legal constraints and updates the FTC’s calculation. Additionally, the Commission performed a supplemental analysis by updating the low-end and high-end costs associated with both the implicit subsidies and legal constraints based on the current appropriates share and competitive product revenue. 7 Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order Initiating the Third Review of the Institutional Cost Contribution Requirement for Competitive Products, November 18, 2021, at 130 (Order No. 6043). 8 See Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (PSRA), Public Law 117–108, 136 Stat. 1127 (2022). 9 The Commission finds no other changes to federal or state law affect the legal constraints estimate. E:\FR\FM\13SEN1.SGM 13SEN1 56096 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 176 / Tuesday, September 13, 2022 / Notices IV. Invitation for Comments POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION The Commission invites comment regarding its analysis of the ‘‘subsequent event’’ identified and discussed above. The Commission also invites comments on any other changes in law behind the implicit subsidies and legal constraints quantified by the FTC that have changed since March 25, 2022, which was the last opportunity to provide comment in Docket Nos. RM2017–1 and RM2022–2, and whether any of the identified changes affect the continuing validity of the FTC’s estimate of the net economic effect of those laws. Comments related to the reconsideration of the FTC’s original conclusions as to what implicit subsides and legal constraints should be included in or excluded from the estimate of net economic effect, whether those subsidies or constraints were quantifiable, or whether alternative estimates of the quantified implicit subsides and legal constraints are possible are all beyond the scope of this review.10 Comments are due September 21, 2022. Additional information concerning this filing may be accessed via the Commission’s website at https:// www.prc.gov. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Kenneth R. Moeller continues to be designated as an officer of the Commission (Public Representative) to represent the interests of the general public in this proceeding. [Docket Nos. MC2022–103 and CP2022–107] V. Ordering Paragraphs jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES It is ordered: 1. The Commission seeks comment on the matters raised by this Notice. 2. Comments are due no later than September 21, 2022. 3. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Kenneth R. Moeller continues to be designated as an officer of the Commission (Public Representative) to represent the interests of the general public in this proceeding. 4. The Commission directs the Secretary of the Commission to arrange for prompt publication of this Notice in the Federal Register. By the Commission. Erica A. Barker, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2022–19707 Filed 9–12–22; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P 10 See Order No. 4402 at 62–63; Order No. 4963 at 173–87. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:30 Sep 12, 2022 Jkt 256001 New Postal Products Postal Regulatory Commission. Notice. AGENCY: ACTION: The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing for the Commission’s consideration concerning a negotiated service agreement. This notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps. DATES: Comments are due: September 15, 2022. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission’s Filing Online system at https:// www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit comments electronically should contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section by telephone for advice on filing alternatives. SUMMARY: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 202–789–6820. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Docketed Proceeding(s) I. Introduction The Commission gives notice that the Postal Service filed request(s) for the Commission to consider matters related to negotiated service agreement(s). The request(s) may propose the addition or removal of a negotiated service agreement from the market dominant or the competitive product list, or the modification of an existing product currently appearing on the market dominant or the competitive product list. Section II identifies the docket number(s) associated with each Postal Service request, the title of each Postal Service request, the request’s acceptance date, and the authority cited by the Postal Service for each request. For each request, the Commission appoints an officer of the Commission to represent the interests of the general public in the proceeding, pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505 (Public Representative). Section II also establishes comment deadline(s) pertaining to each request. The public portions of the Postal Service’s request(s) can be accessed via the Commission’s website (https:// www.prc.gov). Non-public portions of the Postal Service’s request(s), if any, can be accessed through compliance PO 00000 Frm 00109 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 with the requirements of 39 CFR 3011.301.1 The Commission invites comments on whether the Postal Service’s request(s) in the captioned docket(s) are consistent with the policies of title 39. For request(s) that the Postal Service states concern market dominant product(s), applicable statutory and regulatory requirements include 39 U.S.C. 3622, 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3030, and 39 CFR part 3040, subpart B. For request(s) that the Postal Service states concern competitive product(s), applicable statutory and regulatory requirements include 39 U.S.C. 3632, 39 U.S.C. 3633, 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR part 3035, and 39 CFR part 3040, subpart B. Comment deadline(s) for each request appear in section II. II. Docketed Proceeding(s) 1. Docket No(s).: MC2022–103 and CP2022–107; Filing Title: USPS Request to Add Priority Mail & First-Class Package Service Contract 221 to Competitive Product List and Notice of Filing Materials Under Seal; Filing Acceptance Date: September 7, 2022; Filing Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3642, 39 CFR 3040.130 through 3040.135, and 39 CFR 3035.105; Public Representative: Kenneth R. Moeller; Comments Due: September 15, 2022. This Notice will be published in the Federal Register. Erica A. Barker, Secretary. [FR Doc. 2022–19772 Filed 9–12–22; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [SEC File No. 270–811, OMB Control No. 3235–0767] Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Extension: Rule 204–5 Upon Written Request, Copies Available From: Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 20549–2736 Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities and Exchange Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments on the collection of information summarized below. The Commission plans to submit this existing collection 1 See Docket No. RM2018–3, Order Adopting Final Rules Relating to Non-Public Information, June 27, 2018, Attachment A at 19–22 (Order No. 4679). E:\FR\FM\13SEN1.SGM 13SEN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 13, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56094-56096]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19707]


=======================================================================
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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. RM2017-1/RM2022-2; Order No. 6269]


Competitive Postal Products

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Commission is invites comments in this proceeding related 
to its analysis of subsequent events that impact the findings of a 
Federal Trade Commission Report. This document informs the public of 
this proceeding, invites public comment, and takes other administrative 
steps.

DATES: Comments are due: September 21, 2022.

ADDRESSES: For additional information, Order No. 6269 can be accessed 
electronically through the Commission's website at https://www.prc.gov. 
Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing Online 
system at https://www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit comments 
electronically should contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section by telephone for advice on filing 
alternatives.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 
202-789-6820.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Background

[[Page 56095]]

III. Events Subsequent Events to the FTC Report
IV. Invitation for Comments
V. Ordering Paragraphs

I. Introduction

    As part of its enactment of the Postal Accountability and 
Enhancement Act (PAEA), Congress sought to determine whether the Postal 
Service's competitive products enjoyed any legal advantages over 
private companies providing similar products.\1\ Uncodified section 703 
of the PAEA directed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prepare a 
report identifying federal and state laws that apply differently to the 
Postal Service's competitive products than to similar products offered 
by private competitors.\2\ The FTC was required to include any 
recommendations concerning how to end any such legal differences that 
it deemed appropriate and, in the interim, to account for the net 
economic effect resulting from such differences. PAEA section 703(b). 
Additionally, section 703 directed the Commission, when revising 
regulations under 39 U.S.C. 3633, to consider the FTC's recommendations 
as well as subsequent events that affect the continuing validity of the 
FTC's net economic effect finding. Id. section 703(d).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), Public 
Law 109-435, title VII, section 703, 120 Stat. 3198, 3244 (2006); 
see also S. Rep. No. 108-318 at 29 (2004).
    \2\ PAEA section 703(a). Section 703 was not codified and is 
reproduced in the notes of 39 U.S.C.A. 3633. See also Federal Trade 
Commission, Accounting for Laws that Apply Differently to the United 
States Postal Service and its Private Competitors, December 2007 
(FTC Report), available at https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/accounting-laws-apply-differently-united-statespostal-service-and-its-private-competitors-report/080116postal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

II. Background

    The FTC issued its report in December 2007, which considered both 
the implicit subsidies enjoyed by, and legal constraints imposed on, 
the Postal Service's Competitive products due to the Postal Service's 
unique legal status.\3\ In Chapter IV of its report, the FTC completed 
its net economic effect analysis by specifically identifying those 
implicit subsides and legal constraints that could be quantified in 
order to calculate any impact on the Postal Service.\4\ The FTC 
calculated the cost of the quantifiable legal constraints and the value 
of the implicit subsidies and concluded that the Postal Service's 
unique legal status placed it at a net competitive disadvantage in 
offering Competitive products relative to private competitors. Id. at 
64.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ FTC Report at 55-77. In its review of the Postal Service's 
unique legal status, the FTC analyzed laws applicable to the Postal 
Service due to its status as a governmental entity as well as those 
disadvantages imposed on and advantages allowed by the PAEA. Id.
    \4\ Id. at 64 n.287. The FTC Report discussed additional 
implicit subsidies and legal constraints beyond those listed in its 
net economic effect analysis, but because the additional subsidies 
and constraints could either not be quantified or the effect on the 
Postal Service was unclear, the FTC did not include them as part of 
its final analysis. See id. at 1, 50, 54, 56, 64, 89.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On February 8, 2018, as part of the Commission's second 5-year 
review of the institutional cost contribution requirement for 
Competitive products, the Commission issued a Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, proposing revisions to its regulations pursuant to 39 
U.S.C. 3633(a)(3) and (b) and completed an analysis pursuant to section 
703(d) of the PAEA.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ See Order No. 4402 at 54-68; see also Docket No. RM2017-1, 
Revised Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, August 7, 2018, at 57-58 
(Order No. 4742); Docket No. RM2017-1, Order Adopting Final Rules 
Relating to the Institutional Cost Contribution Requirement for 
Competitive Products, January 3, 2019, at 170-187 (Order No. 4963).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Commission found that there was only ``one law linked to a 
separately delineated element within the FTC's calculation that has 
been amended, thereby constituting an event subsequent to the FTC 
Report's issuance that affects the validity of the estimate of the net 
economic effect.'' Id. at 63. The identified law was associated with 
international air transportation rate regulation and had been amended 
after the original FTC Report's issuance.\6\ The Commission removed the 
cost of the international air transportation rate regulation constraint 
from the total cost of the legal constraints and updated the FTC's 
calculation. See Order No. 4402 at 64. The Commission found that 
although the removal of the international air transportation rate 
regulation constraint altered the overall estimate of the net economic 
effect, that subsequent event did not undermine the FTC's overall 
finding of a net economic disadvantage and that the FTC's finding 
remained valid. Id. Additionally, the Commission performed a 
supplemental analysis by updating the high-end costs associated with 
both the implicit subsidies and legal constraints based on current 
competitive product revenue at the time Order No. 4402 was issued.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ Id. at 63-64. In the FTC Report, the FTC explained that the 
Department of Transportation's regulation of international mail air 
transport rates increased Postal Service costs because it was not 
permitted to independently negotiate the rates on the free market as 
private companies were. FTC Report at 44, 56. In 2008, Congress 
eliminated the Department of Transportation's authority to regulate 
the prices paid by the Postal Service for air transport of 
international mail. See Public Law 110-405, 122 Stat. 4287 (2008); 
see also FTC Report at 44-45.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Subsequently, the United States Court of Appeals for the District 
of Columbia Circuit remanded Order No. 4963 to the Commission for 
further consideration of particular issues identified by the court 
consistent with the opinion issued in United Parcel Serv., Inc. v. 
Postal Reg. Comm'n, 955 F.3d 1038 (D.C. Cir. 2020). On November 18, 
2021, the Commission issued Order No. 6043, which not only addressed 
the issues identified by the court, but also initiated the Commission's 
third 5-year review of the institutional cost contribution requirement 
for Competitive products.\7\ Docket Nos. RM2017-1 and RM2022-2 remain 
pending before the Commission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order 
Initiating the Third Review of the Institutional Cost Contribution 
Requirement for Competitive Products, November 18, 2021, at 130 
(Order No. 6043).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

III. Events Subsequent to the FTC Report

    After the issuance of Order No. 6043 and the expiration of the 
comment period established therein, the Postal Service Reform Act of 
2022 (PSRA) was enacted on April 6, 2022.\8\ Among other things, the 
PSRA requires Postal Service Health Benefits plans to participate in 
Medicare Part D, which would allow those plans to receive subsidies 
related to prescription drugs. See 5 U.S.C. 8903c(h). This new 
requirement is significant because, in its report, the FTC specifically 
identified and included the Postal Service's inability to access 
subsidies offered to private employers under the Medicare Part D 
program in its calculation of the total legal constraints. See FTC 
Report at 38-39, 56. As a result, the Commission finds that there has 
been one law linked to a separately delineated element within the FTC's 
calculation that has been amended, thereby constituting an event 
subsequent to the FTC Report's issuance that affects the validity of 
the estimate of the net economic effect.\9\ The Commission removes the 
cost of the Medicare Part D constraint from the total cost of the legal 
constraints and updates the FTC's calculation. Additionally, the 
Commission performed a supplemental analysis by updating the low-end 
and high-end costs associated with both the implicit subsidies and 
legal constraints based on the current appropriates share and 
competitive product revenue.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ See Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (PSRA), Public Law 
117-108, 136 Stat. 1127 (2022).
    \9\ The Commission finds no other changes to federal or state 
law affect the legal constraints estimate.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 56096]]

IV. Invitation for Comments

    The Commission invites comment regarding its analysis of the 
``subsequent event'' identified and discussed above. The Commission 
also invites comments on any other changes in law behind the implicit 
subsidies and legal constraints quantified by the FTC that have changed 
since March 25, 2022, which was the last opportunity to provide comment 
in Docket Nos. RM2017-1 and RM2022-2, and whether any of the identified 
changes affect the continuing validity of the FTC's estimate of the net 
economic effect of those laws. Comments related to the reconsideration 
of the FTC's original conclusions as to what implicit subsides and 
legal constraints should be included in or excluded from the estimate 
of net economic effect, whether those subsidies or constraints were 
quantifiable, or whether alternative estimates of the quantified 
implicit subsides and legal constraints are possible are all beyond the 
scope of this review.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ See Order No. 4402 at 62-63; Order No. 4963 at 173-87.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Comments are due September 21, 2022. Additional information 
concerning this filing may be accessed via the Commission's website at 
https://www.prc.gov.
    Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Kenneth R. Moeller continues to be 
designated as an officer of the Commission (Public Representative) to 
represent the interests of the general public in this proceeding.

V. Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The Commission seeks comment on the matters raised by this 
Notice.
    2. Comments are due no later than September 21, 2022.
    3. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Kenneth R. Moeller continues to be 
designated as an officer of the Commission (Public Representative) to 
represent the interests of the general public in this proceeding.
    4. The Commission directs the Secretary of the Commission to 
arrange for prompt publication of this Notice in the Federal Register.

    By the Commission.
Erica A. Barker,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-19707 Filed 9-12-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P
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