Agencies and Commissions December 3, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify when to use higher-level quality standards in solicitations and contracts, and to update the examples of higher-level quality standards by revising obsolete standards and adding two new industry standards that pertain to quality assurance for avoidance of counterfeit items. These standards will be used to help minimize and mitigate counterfeit items or suspect counterfeit items in Government contracting.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announces a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC).

Summary of Application: Applicants request an order that would permit (a) series of certain open-end management investment companies that track the performance of an index provided by an affiliated person to issue shares (``Shares'') redeemable in large aggregations only (``Creation Units''); (b) secondary market transactions in Shares to occur at negotiated market prices rather than at net asset value (``NAV''); (c) certain series to pay redemption proceeds, under certain circumstances, more than seven days after the tender of Shares for redemption; (d) certain affiliated persons of the series to deposit securities into, and receive securities from, the series in connection with the purchase and redemption of Creation Units; and (e) certain registered management investment companies and unit investment trusts outside of the same group of investment companies as the series to acquire Shares.

Section 165(i) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (``Section 165(i)'') requires the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the ``FDIC'' or ``Corporation'') to issue regulations that mandate FDIC-insured state nonmember banks and FDIC-insured state-chartered savings associations with total consolidated assets of more than $10 billion (``covered banks'') to conduct annual stress tests, report the results of such stress tests to the Corporation and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (``Board of Governors''), and publish a summary of the results of the stress tests. On October 15, 2012, the FDIC published in the Federal Register a final rule implementing the requirements of Section 165(i) (the ``Stress Test Rule''). Under the Stress Test Rule covered banks are required to conduct annual stress tests using a minimum of three stress test scenarios (baseline, adverse, and severely adverse) provided by the FDIC. On November 20, 2012, the FDIC published in the Federal Register interim guidance setting forth the general processes and factors to be used by the FDIC in developing and distributing the stress test scenarios. The FDIC is now adopting the interim guidance as final without change, except for two technical corrections.