Agencies and Commissions June 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission hereby gives notice of the institution of investigations and commencement of preliminary phase countervailing duty and antidumping investigations Nos. 701-TA-448 and 731-TA-1117 (Preliminary) under sections 703(a) and 733(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671b(a) and 1673b(a)) (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 certain off-the-road tires imports from China,\1\ that are alleged to be subsidized by the government of China and sold in the United States at less than fair value. Unless the Department of Commerce extends the time for initiation pursuant to sections 701(c)(1)(B) and 732(c)(1)(B) of the Act (19 U.S.C. Sec. 1671a(c)(1)(B) Sec. 1673a(c)(1)(B)), the Commission must reach a preliminary determination in antidumping investigations in 45 days, or in this case by Wednesday, August 1, 2007. The Commission's views are due at Commerce within five business days thereafter, or by August 9, 2007.

This is a Notice of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of Connecticut (FEMA-1700-DR), dated 06/13/2007. Incident: Severe Storms and Flooding. Incident Period: 4/15/2007 through 4/27/2007. Effective Date: 6/13/2007. Physical Loan Application Deadline Date: 8/13/2007. Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan Application Deadline Date: 3/13/2008.

On behalf of the President's Pay Agent, the Office of Personnel Management is issuing interim regulations on the locality pay program for General Schedule and certain other employees. The interim regulations add Whatcom County, WA, to the Seattle locality pay area, remove the reference to a January effective date for changes made by the President's Pay Agent in locality pay area boundaries, and make a number of changes in the official names of locality pay areas to correspond to revised names of Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Combined Statistical Areas as established by the Office of Management and Budget.

This notice is issued in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(1)(i). NASA hereby gives notice of its intent to grant an exclusive license worldwide to practice the inventions described and claimed in U.S. Patent Nos. 6,261,844, entitled ``Urine Preservative''; 6,133,036, entitled ``Preservation Of Liquid Biological Samples''; and 6,716,392, entitled ``Preservation Of Liquid Biological Samples'', to Antlers Plus LLC., having its principal place of business in Henley, Missouri. The fields of use may be limited to deer hunting. The patent rights in these inventions have been assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The prospective exclusive license will comply with the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7.

The NCUA is resubmitting the following information collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). This information collection is published to obtain comments from the public.

Commission Regulation 18.05 requires that a person holding or controlling a futures or option position in a commodity above a certain level (reportable position) on a designated contract market or registered derivatives transaction execution facility (reporting markets) must retain books and records and make available to the Commission upon request any pertinent information with respect to other positions, transactions or activities in the commodity in which the trader has a reportable position. The Commission is proposing to amend Regulation 18.05 in two respects: To make it explicit that persons holding or controlling reportable positions on a reporting market must retain books and records and make available to the Commission upon request any pertinent information with respect to all other positions and transactions in the commodity in which the trader has a reportable position, including positions held or controlled or transactions executed over-the-counter and/or pursuant to Sections 2(d), 2(g) or 2(h)(1)-(2) of the Commodity Exchange Act (Act) or Part 35 of the Commission's regulations, on exempt commercial markets operating pursuant to Sections 2(h)(3)-(5) of the Act, on exempt boards of trade operating pursuant to Section 5d of the Act, and on foreign boards of trade (hereinafter referred to collectively as non-reporting transactions); and to make the regulation clearer and more complete with respect to hedging activity. The purpose of the amendments is to enhance the Commission's ability to deter and prevent price manipulation or any other disruptions to the integrity of the regulated futures markets, to ensure the avoidance of systemic risk, and to clarify the meaning of the regulation.

Recent legislation alters the postal ratemaking process, and tasks the Postal Regulatory Commission with developing regulations to implement this process. This document invites public comment, in advance of formulating substantive rule proposals, on establishing service standards and performance measurement for market dominant products.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) is forwarding an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the following collection of information: 3220-0136, Public Service Pension Questionnaires. Public Law 95-216 amended the Social Security Act of 1977 by providing, in part, that spouse or survivor benefits may be reduced when the beneficiary is in receipt of a pension based on employment with a Federal, State, or local governmental unit. Initially, the reduction was equal to the full amount of the government pension. Public Law 98-21 changed the reduction to two-thirds of the amount of the government pension. Public Law 108-203 amended the Social Security Act by changing the requirement for exemption to public service offset, that Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes be deducted from the public service wages for the last 60 months of public service employment, rather than just the last day of public service employment. Sections 4(a)(1) and 4(f)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act (RRA) provides that a spouse or survivor annuity should be equal in amount to what the annuitant would receive if entitled to a like benefit from the Social Security Administration. Therefore, the public service pension (PSP) provisions apply to RRA annuities. RRB Regulations pertaining to the collection of evidence relating to public service pensions or worker's compensation paid to spouse or survivor applicants or annuitants are found in 20 CFR 219.64c. Our ICR describes the information we seek to collect from the public. Completion of the forms is voluntary, failure to complete the forms could result in the nonpayment of benefits. One response is required from a respondent. Review and approval by OIRA ensures that we impose appropriate paperwork burdens. The RRB invites comments on the proposed collection of information to determine (1) the practical utility of the collection; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden of the collection; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information that is the subject of collection; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of collections on respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments to RRB or OIRA must contain the OMB control number of the ICR. For proper consideration of your comments, it is best if RRB and OIRA receive them within 30 days of publication date. Previous Requests for Comments: The RRB has already published the initial 60-day notice (72 FR 14628 on March 28, 2007) required by 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2). That request elicited no comments.

The Commission adopted amendments to the language of the third-party and issuer tender offer best-price rules on November 1, 2006. This document contains a correction to the final rule that was published on April 5, 2007 [72 FR 16934].