Agencies and Commissions December 26, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FDIC, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). Currently, the FDIC is soliciting comments concerning the following collections of information titled.

In accordance with requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the FDIC hereby gives notice that it plans to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for OMB review and approval of the information collection system described below.

The Board is publishing a final rule amending the staff commentary that interprets the requirements of Regulation C (Home Mortgage Disclosure). The staff commentary is amended to increase the asset-size exemption threshold for depository institutions based on the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. The adjustment from $35 million to $36 million reflects the increase of that index by 3.32 percent during the twelve-month period ending in November 2006. Thus, depository institutions with assets of $36 million or less as of December 31, 2006, are exempt from collecting data in 2007.

The Executive Director of the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries gives notice of a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations (portions of which will be open to the public) in Washington, DC at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel on January 8 and 9, 2007.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is providing notice of an update to the record system Employee Drug Abuse/Alcoholism Files (GSA/HRO-2). The system includes counseling and rehabilitation referrals and records of counseling and rehabilitation.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has determined that certain textile and apparel goods from Niger shall be treated as ``handloomed, handmade, folklore articles, or ethnic printed fabrics'' and qualify for preferential treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Imports of eligible products from Niger with an appropriate visa will qualify for duty-free treatment.

The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 9002 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (FSRIA), as amended by Sections 205 and 943 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Entitled Federal Procurement of Biobased Products, section 9002 requires that a procurement preference be afforded biobased products within items designated by the Secretary of Agriculture.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is publishing for comment proposed rules and rule amendments regarding exemptions from the definitions of ``broker'' and ``dealer'' under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Exchange Act'') for banks'' securities activities. In particular, the Commission is re-proposing a conditional exemption originally proposed in 2004 that would allow banks to effect riskless principal transactions with non-U.S. persons pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933 (``Securities Act''). The Commission also is proposing to amend and redesignate an existing exemption from the definition of ``dealer'' for banks' securities lending activities as a conduit lender. In addition, the Commission is proposing to amend a rule that grants a limited exemption from U.S. broker-dealer registration for foreign broker-dealers, conforming the rule to amended definitions of ``broker'' and ``dealer'' under the Exchange Act. Finally, the Commission is requesting comment on its intention to withdraw a rule defining the term ``bank'' for purposes of Sections 3(a)(4) and 3(a)(5) of the Exchange Act, because of judicial invalidation, a time-limited exemption for banks' securities activities, because of the passage of time, and an exemption from the definition of ``broker'' and ``dealer'' for savings associations and savings banks, an exemption no longer necessary because of the passage of the Regulatory Relief Act.

It is the policy of the Commission to publish settlements which it provisionally accepts under the Consumer Product Safety Act in the Federal Register in accordance with the terms of 16 CFR 1118.20(e). Published below is a provisionally-accepted Settlement Agreement with Black Dog Tavern Company, Inc., containing a civil penalty of $50,000.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) (collectively, the Agencies) are proposing revisions to the existing risk-based capital framework that would enhance its risk sensitivity without unduly increasing regulatory burden. These changes would apply to banks, bank holding companies, and savings associations (banking organizations). A banking organization would be able to elect to adopt these proposed revisions or remain subject to the Agencies' existing risk-based capital rules, unless it uses the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework proposed in the notice of proposed rulemaking published on September 25, 2006 (Basel II NPR). In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR or Basel IA), the Agencies are proposing to expand the number of risk weight categories, allow the use of external credit ratings to risk weight certain exposures, expand the range of recognized collateral and eligible guarantors, use loan-to-value ratios to risk weight most residential mortgages, increase the credit conversion factor for certain commitments with an original maturity of one year or less, assess a charge for early amortizations in securitizations of revolving exposures, and remove the 50 percent limit on the risk weight for certain derivative transactions. A banking organization would have to apply all the proposed changes if it chose to use these revisions. Finally, in Section III of this NPR, the Agencies seek further comment on possible alternatives for implementing the ``International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework'' (Basel II) in the United States as proposed in the Basel II NPR.

In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the OCC, the Board, the FDIC, and the OTS (collectively, the agencies) may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), of which the agencies are members, approved the agencies' publication for public comment of proposed new regulatory reporting requirements for banks \1\ that qualify for and adopt the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework to calculate their risk-based capital requirement or banks that are in the parallel run stage of qualifying to adopt this proposed framework. This notice extends the comment period on this document for consistency with the extension of the comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking on the Advanced Capital Adequacy Framework, as published elsewhere in today's issue of the Federal Register.