Agencies and Commissions February 5, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FDIC is publishing for comment proposed rules that would impose certain conditions and requirements on each deposit insurance application approval and non-objection to a change in control notice that would result in an insured industrial loan company or industrial bank (collectively ``industrial bank'' or ``ILC'') \1\ becoming, after the effective date of any final rules, a subsidiary \2\ of a company that is engaged solely in financial activities and that is not subject to consolidated bank supervision by the Federal Reserve Board or the Office of Thrift Supervision (``Federal Consolidated Bank Supervision''). The proposed rules would also require that before any industrial bank may become a subsidiary of a company that is engaged solely in financial activities and that is not subject to Federal Consolidated Bank Supervision (a ``Non-FCBS Financial Company''), such company and the industrial bank must enter into one or more written agreements with the FDIC. Simultaneously with the proposed rules, the FDIC is publishing a Notice to extend for one year its moratorium for applications for deposit insurance and change in control notices for industrial banks that will become subsidiaries of companies engaged in non-financial activities (``commercial companies'').\3\ By this action, however, the FDIC is not expressing any conclusion about the propriety of ownership or control of industrial banks by commercial companies. The FDIC has determined that it is appropriate to provide additional time for review of such ownership and the related issues by the FDIC and by Congress.

Notice is hereby given that a complaint was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission on December 29, 2006, under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1337, on behalf of Callpod, Inc. of Chicago, Illinois. A supplement to the complaint was filed on January 17, 2007. The complaint, as supplemented, alleges violations of section 337 in the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain wireless conference calling devices, components thereof, and devices containing same by reason of infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,801,611. The complaint further alleges that an industry in the United States exists or is in the process of being established as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337. The complainant requests that the Commission institute an investigation and, after the investigation, issue a permanent exclusion order and permanent cease and desist orders.

Recent legislation alters the postal ratemaking process, and tasks the Postal Regulatory Commission to develop regulations to implement this process. This notice invites public comment, in advance of formulating substantive rule proposals, to guide this process.

The Institute of Museum and Library Service (IMLS) as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a pre- clearance consultation program to provide the general public and federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3508(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently the Institute of Museum and Library Services is soliciting comments concerning the continuance of the Public Libraries Survey for Fiscal Years 2008-2010. A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the individual listed below in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing final regulations to rewrite certain sections of the Federal regulations in plain language. These final regulations require Federal agencies to provide employees entering leave without pay (LWOP) status, or whose pay is insufficient to cover their Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) premium payments, written notice of their opportunity to continue their FEHB coverage. Employees who want to continue their enrollment must sign a form agreeing to pay their premiums directly to their agency on a current basis, or to incur a debt to be withheld from their future salary. The purpose of this final regulation is to rewrite the existing regulations to ensure that employees who are entering LWOP status, or whose pay is insufficient to pay their FEHB premiums, are fully informed when they decide whether or not to continue their FEHB coverage.