Agencies and Commissions December 28, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The following public hearing on proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, has been canceled: Criminal Rules Hearing, January 5, 2011, I San Francisco, CA

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is proposing regulations to implement new statutory provisions established under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 731 of the Dodd-Frank Act added a new section 4s(i) to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which requires the Commission to prescribe standards for swap dealers and major swap participants related to the timely and accurate confirmation, processing, netting, documentation, and valuation of swaps. The proposed rules would establish requirements for swap confirmation, portfolio reconciliation, and portfolio compression for swap dealers and major swap participants.

Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (``CPSIA'') requires the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC'' or ``Commission'') to promulgate consumer product safety standards for durable infant or toddler products. These standards are to be ``substantially the same as'' applicable voluntary standards or more stringent than the voluntary standard if the Commission concludes that more stringent requirements would further reduce the risk of injury associated with the product. The Commission is issuing this rule to revoke its existing regulations pertaining to full-size and non-full-size cribs because, elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, the Commission is issuing consumer product safety standards for cribs that will further reduce the risk of injury associated with these products under section 104 of the CPSIA. The new consumer product safety standards for cribs will include the requirements that have been in 16 CFR parts 1508 and 1509 for full-size and non-full-size cribs. To eliminate duplication, the Commission is removing 16 CFR parts 1508 and 1509 entirely.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries (Joint Board) is amending the requirements regarding access to records to revise the listing of the Joint Board's systems of records for which the Joint Board has claimed exemptions, under section (k)(2) of the Privacy Act, from certain of the Privacy Act's provisions, to revise language that incorrectly implies that the Joint Board has yet to seek such exemptions or that incorrectly implies that the Joint Board's claims for exemption are still pending, and to correct internal references.

The Board is requesting public comment on proposed new Regulation II, Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing, which: establishes standards for determining whether an interchange fee received or charged by an issuer with respect to an electronic debit transaction is reasonable and proportional to the cost incurred by the issuer with respect to the transaction; and prohibits issuers and networks from restricting the number of networks over which an electronic debit transaction may be processed and from inhibiting the ability of a merchant to direct the routing of an electronic debit transaction to any network that may process such transactions. With respect to the interchange fee standards, the Board is requesting comment on two alternatives that would apply to covered issuers: an issuer-specific standard with a safe harbor and a cap; or a cap applicable to all such issuers. The proposed rule would additionally prohibit circumvention or evasion of the interchange fee limitations (under both alternatives) by preventing the issuer from receiving net compensation from the network (excluding interchange fees passed through the network). The Board also is requesting comment on possible frameworks for an adjustment to interchange fees for fraud-prevention costs. With respect to the debit-card routing rules, the Board is requesting comment on two alternative rules prohibiting network exclusivity: one alternative would require at least two unaffiliated networks per debit card, and the other would require at least two unaffiliated networks for each type of transaction authorization method. Under both alternatives, the issuers and networks would be prohibited from inhibiting a merchant's ability to direct the routing of an electronic debit transaction over any network that may process such transactions.