Agencies and Commissions November 9, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of Tuesday, July 9, 2002 (67 FR 45362). That final rule inadvertently removed provisions of Sec. 27.502 of the Federal Communication Commission's rules, regarding bidding credit percentages for eligible designated entities bidding on licenses in the 746-764 MHz and 776-794 MHz Bands. This document corrects the final regulations by restoring the substance of the removed provisions.

The Committee is proposing to add to the Procurement List a product to be furnished by nonprofit agencies employing persons who are blind or have other severe disabilities, and to delete a product previously furnished by such agencies. Comments Must Be Received On or Before: December 9, 2007.

The NRC has recently submitted the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) to OMB for review. The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: New collection. 2. The title of the information collection: Comprehensive Decommissioning Program, Including Annual Data Collection, OMB 3150- xxxx. 3. The form number if applicable: N/A. 4. How often the collection is required: Annually (to keep site information current). 5. Who will be required or asked to report: Agreement States who have signed Section 274(b) Agreements with NRC and are regulating uranium recovery and/or complex sites undergoing decommissioning. 6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 68. (2 responses for each respondent.) 7. The estimated number of annual respondents: 34. 8. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 677 hours (approximately 20 hours per respondent). 9. An indication of whether Section 3507(d), Pub. L. 104-13 applies: N/A. 10. Abstract: Agreement States will be asked to provide information about uranium recovery and complex sites undergoing decommissioning regulated by the Agreement States on an annual basis. The information request will allow the NRC to compile, in a centralized location, more complete information on the status of decommissioning and decontamination in the United States in order to provide a national perspective on decommissioning. The information will be made available to the public by the NRC in order to ensure openness and promote communication to enhance public confidence in the national decommissioning program. This does not apply to information, such as trade secrets and commercial or financial information provided by the Agreement States as privileged or confidential. Information such as financial assurance and the status of decommissioning funding would need to be identified by the Agreement State as privileged or confidential, whereupon the NRC would withhold such information from public access and treat it as sensitive or non-sensitive, per the considerations in 10 CFR 2.390 and 9.17. This does not apply to financial assurance or decommissioning funding information that is already available to the public. Although specific details of the funding mechanisms are treated as confidential, beneficial lessons learned regarding the improvement of decommissioning-related funding will be shared with the Agreement States. A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: https:// www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by December 10, 2007. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date: Nathan J. Frey, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150- xxxx), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be e-mailed to NathanJ.Frey@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at (202) 395-7345. The NRC Clearance Officer is Margaret A. Janney, 301-415-7245.

This staff accounting bulletin (``SAB'') expresses the views of the staff regarding written loan commitments that are accounted for at fair value through earnings under generally accepted accounting principles. SAB No. 105, Application of Accounting Principles to Loan Commitments (``SAB 105''), provided the views of the staff regarding derivative loan commitments that are accounted for at fair value through earnings pursuant to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities. SAB 105 stated that in measuring the fair value of a derivative loan commitment, the staff believed it would be inappropriate to incorporate the expected net future cash flows related to the associated servicing of the loan. This SAB supersedes SAB 105 and expresses the current view of the staff that, consistent with the guidance in Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 156, Accounting for Servicing of Financial Assets, and Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 159, The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities, the expected net future cash flows related to the associated servicing of the loan should be included in the measurement of all written loan commitments that are accounted for at fair value through earnings. SAB 105 also indicated that the staff believed that internally-developed intangible assets (such as customer relationship intangible assets) should not be recorded as part of the fair value of a derivative loan commitment. This SAB retains that staff view and broadens its application to all written loan commitments that are accounted for at fair value through earnings. The staff expects registrants to apply the views in Question 1 of SAB 109 on a prospective basis to derivative loan commitments issued or modified in fiscal quarters beginning after December 15, 2007.

The Board is amending Regulation DD, which implements the Truth in Savings Act, and the official staff commentary to the regulation, to withdraw portions of the interim final rules for the electronic delivery of disclosures issued March 30, 2001. The interim final rules addressed the timing and delivery of electronic disclosures, consistent with the requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act). Because compliance with the 2001 interim final rules has not been mandatory, withdrawal of these provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations reduces confusion about the status of the provisions and simplifies the regulation. In addition, the Board is adopting final amendments to Regulation DD to provide guidance on the electronic delivery of disclosures. For example, the final rules provide that when a deposit account advertisement is accessed by a consumer in electronic form, disclosures may be provided to the consumer in electronic form in the advertisement without regard to the consumer consent and other provisions of the E- Sign Act. Similar final rules are being adopted under other consumer fair lending and financial services regulations administered by the Board.

The Board is amending Regulation M, which implements the Consumer Leasing Act, to withdraw portions of the interim final rules for the electronic delivery of disclosures issued March 30, 2001. The interim final rules addressed the timing and delivery of electronic disclosures, consistent with the requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act). Because compliance with the 2001 interim final rules has not been mandatory, withdrawal of these provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations reduces confusion about the status of the provisions and simplifies the regulation. In addition, the Board is adopting final amendments to Regulation M to provide guidance on the electronic delivery of disclosures. For example, the final rules provide that when a lease advertisement is accessed by a consumer in electronic form, disclosures may be provided to the consumer in electronic form in the advertisement without regard to the consumer consent and other provisions of the E-Sign Act. Similar final rules are being adopted under other consumer fair lending and financial services regulations administered by the Board.

The Board is amending Regulation B, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, and the official staff commentary to the regulation, to withdraw portions of the interim final rules for the electronic delivery of disclosures issued March 30, 2001. The interim final rules address the timing and delivery of electronic disclosures, consistent with the requirements of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-Sign Act). Because compliance with the 2001 interim final rules has not been mandatory, withdrawal of these provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations reduces confusion about the status of the provisions and simplifies the regulation. In addition, the Board is adopting final amendments to Regulation B to provide guidance on the electronic delivery of disclosures. For example, the final rules provide that when an application is accessed by an applicant in electronic form, disclosures may be provided to the consumer in electronic form on or with the application without regard to the consumer consent and other provisions of the E-Sign Act. Similar final rules are being adopted under other consumer financial services regulations administered by the Board.

The Board has approved the private sector adjustment factor (PSAF) for 2008 of $113.1 million and the 2008 fee schedules for Federal Reserve priced services and electronic access. These actions were taken in accordance with the requirements of the Monetary Control Act of 1980, which requires that, over the long run, fees for Federal Reserve priced services be established on the basis of all direct and indirect costs, including the PSAF. The Board has also approved maintaining the current earnings credit rate on clearing balances.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, NCUA and FTC (the Agencies) are jointly issuing final rules and guidelines implementing section 114 of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACT Act) and final rules implementing section 315 of the FACT Act. The rules implementing section 114 require each financial institution or creditor to develop and implement a written Identity Theft Prevention Program (Program) to detect, prevent, and mitigate identity theft in connection with the opening of certain accounts or certain existing accounts. In addition, the Agencies are issuing guidelines to assist financial institutions and creditors in the formulation and maintenance of a Program that satisfies the requirements of the rules. The rules implementing section 114 also require credit and debit card issuers to assess the validity of notifications of changes of address under certain circumstances. Additionally, the Agencies are issuing joint rules under section 315 that provide guidance regarding reasonable policies and procedures that a user of consumer reports must employ when a consumer reporting agency sends the user a notice of address discrepancy.