Office of the Secretary 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated 21 July 1996.

The Department is seeking additional comments on our proposal to clarify policies that it may use to evaluate air carriers' citizenship during initial and continuing fitness reviews. Our proposal would affect how we determine ``actual control'' of the carrier in situations where the foreign investor's home country has an open skies air services agreement with the United States, and permits reciprocal investment opportunities in its own national air carriers for U.S. investors. We continue to believe that our proposed policy would remove unnecessary restrictions on U.S. air carriers' access to the global capital market without compromising the statutory requirement that U.S. citizens remain in actual control of such carriers. We are issuing a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) because, after reviewing comments submitted on the NPRM and in consultation with other Executive Branch agencies, we have decided to strengthen the proposal in several areas. We have revised the proposed rule further to ensure that U.S. citizens will have actual control of the air carrier. We are also mindful of the strong interest in this proposal expressed by members of Congress. This SNPRM will furnish Congress the opportunity to review the proposal in its refined form, and to undertake a more informed assessment of its likely consequences. Our NPRM proposal would allow for delegation to foreign investors of decision-making authority regarding commercial issues, but in the areas of organizational documents, safety, security, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program the NPRM would not permit these delegations. In a key refinement of our original proposal, we now propose in this SNPRM to require that any such delegation of authority to foreign interests by the U.S. citizen majority owners be revocable. We are proposing this change to ensure that, notwithstanding their ability to delegate decision-making authority over certain commercial matters (as described in the NPRM) to foreign investor interests, the U.S. voting shareholders of a U.S. airline will retain actual control of the airline. We originally proposed to reserve exclusively to U.S. citizens decisions relating to organizational documents, safety, security, and CRAF. In another refinement, in keeping with suggestions received from the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense as well as the Federal Aviation Administration, we are now proposing to broaden the scope of the decision-making that must remain under the actual control of U.S. citizens. The aspects of control of safety and security decisions would no longer be limited to those implementing FAA and TSA safety and security regulations, but would cover safety and security decisions generally. Similarly, the proposed control of CRAF decisions would be expanded to cover all national defense airlift commitments. Our proposed expansion of the coverage of these three areas will ensure that all critical elements of a carrier's decision-making that could impact safety, security, and national defense airlift are fully covered, and that our review of a carrier's compliance with these requirements will not be unduly narrow. We tentatively conclude that, as modified, this proposal will eliminate unnecessary and anachronistic limitations on the ability of eligible foreign minority investors to participate in the commercial decision-making at a U.S. airline in which they have made an otherwise statutorily-permitted investment. At the same time, it should eliminate any doubt that the voting stockholders (75 percent of whom are U.S. citizens) and the board of directors (two-thirds of whom are U.S. citizens) will retain full control over decisions regarding safety, security, and contributions to our national defense airlift capability, and that those U.S. citizens also retain ``actual control'' of the carrier as a whole as required by statute.

The proposal for the collection of information listed below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). Copies of the proposed information collection request may be obtained by contacting the Clearance Officer at the phone number listed below. Comments and suggestions on the requirement should be made directly to the Office of Management and Budget. A copy of the comments and suggestions should also be sent to the Clearance Officer.

The Per Diem, Travel and Transportation Allowance Committee is publishing Civilian Personnel Per Diem Bulletin Number 244. This bulletin lists revisions in the per diem rates prescribed for U.S. Government employees for official travel in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and Possessions of the United States. AEA changes announced in Bulletin Number 194 remain in effect. Bulletin Number 244 is being published in the Federal Register to assure that travelers are paid per diem at the most current rates.

Under the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix), the Department of Defense gives notice that the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, which is determined to be in the public interest, is hereby renewed on April 17, 2006. This committee provides necessary and valuable independent advice to the Secretary of Defense and other senior Defense officials in their respective areas of expertise. It is a continuing DoD policy to make every effort to achieve a balanced membership on all DoD advisory committees. Each committee is evaluated in terms of the functional disciplines, levels of experience, professional diversity, public and private association, and similar characteristics required to ensure a high degree of balance is obtained.

This notice announces a meeting of the Uniform Formulary Beneficiary Advisory Panel. The panel will review and comment on recommendations made to the Director, TRICARE Management Activity, by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee regarding the Uniform Formulary. The meeting will be open to the public. Seating is limited and will be provided only to the first 220 people signing in. All persons must sign in legibly. Notice of this meeting is required under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense proposes to add a system of records to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is altering a system of records to its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The charter for the Advisory Committee to the Office of State and Local Training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center was renewed for a 2-year period beginning March 22, 2006.

The Department of Transportation is directing all interested persons to show cause why it should not issue an order (1) finding that Aero Leasings, Inc. d/b/a Air Florida Airlines lacks the compliance disposition to hold part 298 exemption authority (2) proposing to cancel its part 298 exemption authority.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is amending a system of records notice in its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. The notice corrects a system of records published on February 22, 2006 (71 FR 9103). The words ``Social Security Number'' were omitted from the Categories of Records. The notice is being republished in its entirety.

The free trade agreement between the United States and the CAFTA-DR countries establishes a commitment to effectively enforce domestic labor laws. This project will assist CAFTA-DR countries to develop and implement measures to improve compliance with their national labor laws. The project will build on work currently being carried out by FUNPADEM under the existing cooperative agreement number E-9-K-3-0097 with the Department of Labor, which was awarded through a competitive process in 2003 (SGA 03-20, Vol. 68, No. 139 of the Federal Register on July 21, 2003). Utilizing FUNPADEM eliminates unnecessary costs, project duplication, and inconsistencies that would occur with a new implementer. The new funds will allow FUNPADEM to develop new activities and to extend activities currently under way at the national level to additional geographic regions within each country. The activities that FUNPADEM will extend and develop include: Develop and implement inspection and mediation case management systems; Improve inspection procedures and training for labor inspectors; Implement public awareness campaigns and training for workers and employers about labor laws and standards; Strengthen mediation centers and training for labor mediators; and Provide equipment such as computers and vehicles. In addition, a specific gender component will be developed and incorporated into the work described above. The component will focus on reducing discrimination against women and sexual harassment in the maquila sector through public awareness, training for workers and employers, and the development or strengthening of gender offices within the Ministries of Labor.

The Office of the Secretary is revising regulations found at 43 CFR 5.1 to allow implementation of legislation that directs the establishment of a reasonable fee for commercial filming activities or similar projects and still photography where a permit is required.