2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The invention listed below is owned by an agency of the U.S. Government and is available for licensing to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage for companies and may also be available for licensing.

NMFS announces a public meeting of the Permanent Advisory Committee (PAC) to advise the U.S. Commissioners to the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC) on May 13, 2024. Meeting topics are provided under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) establishes procedures for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to consider adopting periodic revisions to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings, Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (ASHRAE 90.1), subject to a determination by the agencies that the revised codes do not negatively affect the availability or affordability of new construction of single and multifamily housing covered by EISA, and a determination by the Secretary of Energy that the revised codes "would improve energy efficiency." At the time of developing the preliminary determination, the most recent editions of the codes for which DOE had issued efficiency determinations were ASHRAE 90.1-2019, and the 2021 IECC. This notice follows the notice of preliminary determination published on May 18, 2023, and announces the final determination of HUD and USDA as required under section 481(d)(1) of EISA. After consideration of public comments, HUD and USDA determine that the 2021 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 will not negatively affect the affordability and availability of housing covered by EISA.

The FAA is updating requirements for safety management systems and requiring certain certificate holders and commercial air tour operators to develop and implement a safety management system (SMS). This rule extends the requirement for an SMS to all certificate holders operating under the rules for commuter and on-demand operations, commercial air tour operators, production certificate holders that are holders or licensees of a type certificate for the same product, and holders of a type certificate that license out that type certificate for production. The FAA is publishing this rule in part to address a Congressional mandate as well as recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board and two aviation rulemaking committees. Additionally, the rule more closely aligns the United States with Annex 19 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. This rule will improve aviation safety by requiring organizations to implement a proactive approach to managing safety.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or "Department") is issuing this final rule to modify the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information ("Privacy Rule") under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009 (HITECH Act). The Department is issuing this final rule after careful consideration of all public comments received in response to the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy ("2023 Privacy Rule NPRM") and public comments received on proposals to revise provisions of the HIPAA Privacy Rule in the NPRM for the Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Patient Records ("2022 Part 2 NPRM").

The Department of Labor (Department) is updating and revising the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act implementing the exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees. Significant revisions include increasing the standard salary level, increasing the highly compensated employee total annual compensation threshold, and adding to the regulations a mechanism that will allow for the timely and efficient updating of the salary and compensation thresholds, including an initial update on July 1, 2024, to reflect earnings growth. The Department is not finalizing in this rule its proposal to apply the standard salary level to the U.S. territories subject to the Federal minimum wage and to update the special salary levels for American Samoa and the motion picture industry.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) is requiring automatic refunds to consumers when a U.S. air carrier or a foreign air carrier cancels or makes a significant change to a scheduled flight to, from, or within the United States and the consumer is not offered or rejects alternative transportation and travel credits, vouchers, or other compensation. These automatic refunds must be provided promptly, i.e., within 7 business days for credit card payments and within 20 calendar days for other forms of payment. To ensure consumers know when they are entitled to a refund, the Department is requiring carriers and ticket agents to inform consumers of their right to a refund if that is the case before making an offer for alternative transportation, travel credits, vouchers, or other compensation in lieu of refunds. Also, the Department is defining, for the first time, the terms "significant change" and "cancellation" to provide clarity and consistency to consumers with respect to their right to a refund. The Department is also requiring refunds to consumers for fees for ancillary services that passengers paid for but did not receive and for checked baggage fees if the bag is significantly delayed. For consumers who are unable to or advised not to travel as scheduled on flights to, from, or within the United States because of a serious communicable disease, the Department is requiring that carriers provide travel vouchers or credits that are transferrable and valid for at least 5 years from the date of issuance. Carriers may require consumers to provide documentary evidence demonstrating that they are unable to travel or have been advised not to travel to support their request for a travel voucher or credit, unless the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publishes guidance declaring that requiring such documentary evidence is not in the public interest.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, is announcing an opportunity for public comment on a new proposed collection of information by the Agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, and to allow 30 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on a renewal collection proposed by the Agency.

This notice acknowledges the receipt of an application from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) for continued approval by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of NABP's national accrediting organization program for suppliers providing home infusion therapy (HIT) services and that wish to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. The statute requires that within 60 days of receipt of an organization's complete application, CMS will publish a notice that identifies the national accrediting body making the request, describes the nature of the request, and provides at least a 30-day public comment period.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for various helicopters modified by certain supplemental type certificates (STCs) that approve the installation of an emergency float kit or an emergency float with liferaft kit. This proposed AD was prompted by the results of an accident investigation and subsequent reports of difficulty pulling the emergency float kit float activation handle installed on the pilot cyclic. This proposed AD would require repetitively inspecting the pull force on the float activation handle and, depending on the results, accomplishing corrective actions. For certain model helicopters, this proposed AD would also require removing from service and replacing certain part-numbered float inflation reservoirs (reservoirs) and pull cable assemblies (cables) with certain other part-numbered reservoirs and cables. Finally, this proposed AD would prohibit installing certain part-numbered reservoirs and cables on certain helicopters. The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This notice sets forth a new schedule and proposed agenda of a meeting of the Ocean Research Advisory Panel (ORAP) that could not proceed on February 26, 2024 due to technical difficulties. At this new scheduled meeting, the members will discuss issues outlined in the section on Matters to be considered.

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Steens Mountain Advisory Council (SMAC) will meet as follows.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of a revised draft guidance for industry entitled "Promotional Labeling and Advertising Considerations for Prescription Biological Reference Products, Biosimilar Products, and Interchangeable Biosimilar Products: Questions and Answers." FDA is issuing this revised draft guidance to address questions that manufacturers, packers, distributors, and their representatives (firms) may have when developing FDA-regulated promotional labeling and advertisements (promotional communications) for prescription reference products, biosimilar products, and interchangeable biosimilar products licensed under the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act). In conjunction with the enactment of the Biosimilar User Fee Amendments of 2022 (BsUFA III), FDA agreed to publish a draft guidance on promotional labeling and advertising considerations for interchangeable biosimilar products, as described in the document titled "Biosimilar Biological Product Reauthorization Performance Goals and Procedures Fiscal Years 2023 through 2027." The revised draft guidance is consistent with this commitment and replaces the draft guidance for industry entitled "Promotional Labeling and Advertising Considerations for Prescription Biological Reference and Biosimilar Products: Questions and Answers" issued on February 4, 2020.

The Commission hereby gives notice of the institution of investigations and commencement of preliminary phase antidumping and countervailing duty investigation Nos. 701-TA-720 and 731-TA-1688 (Preliminary) pursuant to the Tariff Act of 1930 ("the Act") to determine whether there is a reasonable indication that an industry in the United States is materially injured or threatened with material injury, or the establishment of an industry in the United States is materially retarded, by reason of imports of ceramic tile from India, provided for in subheadings 6907.21.10, 6907.21.20, 6907.21.30, 6907.21.40, 6907.21.90, 6907.22.10, 6907.22.20, 6907.22.30, 6907.22.40, 6907.22.90, 6907.23.10, 6907.23.20, 6907.23.30, 6907.23.40, 6907.23.90, 6907.30.10, 6907.30.20, 6907.30.30, 6907.30.40, 6907.30.90, 6907.40.10, 6907.40.20, 6907.40.30, 6907.40.40, and 6907.40.90 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, that are alleged to be sold in the United States at less than fair value and alleged to be subsidized by the Government of India. Unless the Department of Commerce ("Commerce") extends the time for initiation, the Commission must reach a preliminary determination in antidumping and countervailing duty investigations in 45 days, or in this case by June 3, 2024. The Commission's views must be transmitted to Commerce within five business days thereafter, or by June 10, 2024.

The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to reinstate an information collection. We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on February 9, 2024. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), this notice sets forth the announcement of a public meeting of the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB or Board) of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB or Bureau). The notice also describes the functions of the Board.

This amendment adopts miscellaneous amendments to the required IFR (instrument flight rules) altitudes and changeover points for certain Federal airways, jet routes, or direct routes for which a minimum or maximum en route authorized IFR altitude is prescribed. This regulatory action is needed because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System. These changes are designed to provide for the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace under instrument conditions in the affected areas.

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2023-18-09, which applies to certain Dassault Aviation Model FALCON 900EX airplanes. AD 2023-18-09 requires revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations. Since the FAA issued AD 2023-18-09, the FAA has determined that new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations are necessary. This proposed AD would continue to require certain actions in AD 2023-18-09 and would require revising the existing maintenance or inspection program, as applicable, to incorporate new or more restrictive airworthiness limitations, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is proposed for incorporation by reference (IBR). The FAA is proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.