[The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions]
[Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 243 / Monday, December 20, 2010 / The
Regulatory Plan
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 243 / Monday, December 20, 2010 / The
Regulatory Plan
[[Page 79449]]
REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER
Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
AGENCY: Regulatory Information Service Center.
ACTION: Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
_______________________________________________________________________
SUMMARY: The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies publish
semiannual regulatory agendas in the Federal Register describing
regulatory actions they are developing that may have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (5 U.S.C.
602). Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' signed
September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735) and Office of Management and Budget
memoranda implementing section 4 of that Order establish minimum
standards for agencies' agendas, including specific types of
information for each entry. Section 4 of Executive Order 12866 also
directs that each agency prepare, as part of its submission to the fall
edition of the Unified Agenda, a regulatory plan of the most important
significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to
issue in proposed or final form during the upcoming fiscal year. The
Regulatory Plan (Plan) and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and
Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) help agencies fulfill these
requirements.
Editions of the Unified Agenda prior to fall 2007 were printed in
their entirety in the Federal Register. Beginning with the fall 2007
edition, the Internet is the basic means for conveying regulatory
agenda information to the maximum extent legally permissible. The
complete Unified Agenda for fall 2010, including The Regulatory Plan,
is available to the public at:
http://reginfo.gov.
The fall 2010 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal
Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory
flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas
contain only those Agenda entries for rules which are likely to have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section
610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
The complete fall 2010 Unified Agenda contains the plans of 29
Federal agencies and the regulatory agendas for these and 29 other
Federal agencies.
ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information Service Center (MI), General Services
Administration, 1800 F Street NW., Suite 3039, Washington, DC 20405.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about specific
regulatory actions, please refer to the Agency Contact listed for each
entry.
To provide comment on or to obtain further information about this
publication, contact: John C. Thomas, Executive Director, Regulatory
Information Service Center (MI), General Services Administration, 1800
F Street NW., Suite 3039, Washington, DC 20405, (202) 482-7340. You may
also send comments to us by e-mail at:
[email protected]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction to the Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
I. What Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda?......... 79450
II. Why Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 79451
Published?.....................................................
III. How Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 79451
Organized?.....................................................
IV. What Information Appears for Each Entry?.................... 79452
V. Abbreviations................................................ 79454
VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda?........ 79454
Introduction to the Fall 2010 Regulatory Plan................... 79455
AGENCY REGULATORY PLANS
Cabinet Departments
Department of Agriculture....................................... 79467
Department of Commerce.......................................... 79496
Department of Defense........................................... 79504
Department of Education......................................... 79509
Department of Energy............................................ 79512
Department of Health and Human Services......................... 79518
Department of Homeland Security................................. 79536
Department of Housing and Urban Development..................... 79572
Department of the Interior...................................... 79576
Department of Justice........................................... 79583
Department of Labor............................................. 79587
Department of Transportation.................................... 79606
Department of the Treasury...................................... 79626
Department of Veterans Affairs.................................. 79639
Other Executive Agencies
Environmental Protection Agency................................. 79640
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission......................... 79669
Financial Stability Oversight Council........................... 79671
General Services Administration................................. 79672
National Aeronautics and Space Administration................... 79675
National Archives and Records Administration.................... 79677
Office of Personnel Management.................................. 79679
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation............................ 79681
Small Business Administration................................... 79683
Social Security Administration.................................. 79687
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau............................ 79692
Consumer Product Safety Commission.............................. 79693
Federal Trade Commission........................................ 79695
National Indian Gaming Commission............................... 79706
Postal Regulatory Commission.................................... 79708
AGENCY AGENDAS
Cabinet Departments
Department of Agriculture....................................... 79709
Department of Commerce.......................................... 79725
Department of Defense........................................... 79751
Department of Education......................................... 79755
Department of Energy............................................ 79759
Department of Health and Human Services......................... 79763
Department of Homeland Security................................. 79787
Department of the Interior...................................... 79795
Department of Justice........................................... 79799
Department of Labor............................................. 79803
Department of Transportation.................................... 79811
Department of the Treasury...................................... 79837
Other Executive Agencies
Environmental Protection Agency................................. 79843
[[Page 79450]]
General Services Administration................................. 79859
Small Business Administration................................... 79863
Joint Authority
Department of Defense/General Services Administration/National 79873
Aeronautics and Space Administration (Federal Acquisition
Regulation)....................................................
Independent Regulatory Agencies
Federal Communications Commission............................... 79877
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation........................... 79921
Federal Reserve System.......................................... 79925
Federal Trade Commission........................................ 79929
Nuclear Regulatory Commission................................... 79933
Securities and Exchange Commission.............................. 79937
INTRODUCTION TO THE REGULATORY PLAN AND THE UNIFIED AGENDA OF
FEDERAL REGULATORY AND DEREGULATORY ACTIONS
I. What Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda?
The Regulatory Plan serves as a defining statement of the
Administration's regulatory and deregulatory policies and priorities.
The Plan is part of the fall edition of the Unified Agenda. Each
participating agency's regulatory plan contains: (1) A narrative
statement of the agency's regulatory priorities and, for most agencies,
(2) a description of the most important significant regulatory and
deregulatory actions that theagency reasonably expects to issue in
proposed or final form during the upcoming fiscal year. This edition
includes the regulatory plans of 29 agencies.
The Unified Agenda provides information about regulations that the
Government is considering or reviewing. The Unified Agenda has appeared
in the Federal Register twice each year since 1983 and has been
available online since 1995. To further the objective of using modern
technology to deliver better service to the American people for lower
cost, beginning with the fall 2007 edition, the Internet is the basic
means for conveying regulatory agenda information to the maximum extent
legally permissible. The complete Unified Agenda, including The
Regulatory Plan, is available to the public at http://reginfo.gov. The
online Unified Agenda offers flexible search tools and will soon offer
access to the entire historic Unified Agenda database.
The fall 2010 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal
Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory
flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas
contain only those Agenda entries for rules that are likely to have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section
610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Printed entries display only the
fields required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Complete agenda
information for those entries appears, in a uniform format, in the
online Unified Agenda at:
http://reginfo.gov.
These publication formats meet the publication mandates of the
Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866, as well as move
the Agenda process toward the goal of e-Government, at a substantially
reduced printing cost compared with prior editions. The current format
does not reduce the amount of information available to the public, but
it does limit most of the content of the Agenda to online access. The
complete online edition of the Unified Agenda includes regulatory
agendas from 56 Federal agencies. Agencies of the United States
Congress are not included.
The following agencies have no entries identified for inclusion in
the printed regulatory flexibility agenda. An asterisk (*) indicates
agencies that appear in The Regulatory Plan. The regulatory agendas of
these agencies are available to the public at:
http://reginfo.gov.
Department of Housing and Urban Development *
Department of State
Department of Veterans Affairs *
Agency for International Development
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board
Commission on Civil Rights
Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely
Disabled
Corporation for National and Community Service
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of
Columbia
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission *
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
Institute of Museum and Library Services
National Aeronautics and Space Administration *
National Archives and Records Administration *
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Science Foundation
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Management and Budget
Office of Personnel Management *
Peace Corps
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation *
Railroad Retirement Board
Selective Service System
Social Security Administration *
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Consumer Product Safety Commission *
Farm Credit Administration
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Maritime Commission *
National Credit Union Administration
National Indian Gaming Commission *
Postal Regulatory Commission *
Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board
Surface Transportation Board
The Regulatory Information Service Center (the Center) compiles the
Plan and the Unified Agenda for the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office of Management and Budget.
OIRA is responsible for overseeing the Federal Government's regulatory,
paperwork, and information resource management activities, including
implementation of Executive Order 12866. The Center also provides
information about Federal regulatory activity to the President and his
Executive Office, the Congress, agency managers, and the public.
[[Page 79451]]
The activities included in the Agenda are, in general, those that
will have a regulatory action within the next 12 months. Agencies may
choose to include activities that will have a longer timeframe than 12
months. Agency agendas also show actions or reviews completed or
withdrawn since the last Unified Agenda. Executive Order 12866 does not
require agencies to include regulations concerning military or foreign
affairs functions or regulations related to agency organization,
management, or personnel matters.
Agencies prepared entries for this publication to give the public
notice of their plans to review, propose, and issue regulations. They
have tried to predict their activities over the next 12 months as
accurately as possible, but dates and schedules are subject to change.
Agencies may withdraw some of the regulations now under development,
and they may issue or propose other regulations not included in their
agendas. Agency actions in the rulemaking process may occur before or
after the dates they have listed. The Regulatory Plan and the Unified
Agenda do not create a legal obligation on agencies to adhere to
schedules in this publication or to confine their regulatory activities
to those regulations that appear within it.
II. Why Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda Published?
The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda help agencies comply
with their obligations under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and various
Executive orders and other statutes.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to identify those
rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Agencies meet that requirement
by including the information in their submissions for the Unified
Agenda. Agencies may also indicate those regulations that they are
reviewing as part of their periodic review of existing rules under the
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 610). Executive Order 13272
entitled ``Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Agency
Rulemaking,'' signed August 13, 2002 (67 FR 53461), provides additional
guidance on compliance with the Act.
Executive Order 12866
Executive Order 12866 entitled ``Regulatory Planning and Review,''
signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735), requires covered agencies to
prepare an agenda of all regulations under development or review. The
Order also requires that certain agencies prepare annually a regulatory
plan of their ``most important significant regulatory actions,'' which
appears as part of the fall Unified Agenda. Executive Order 13497,
signed January 30, 2009 (74 FR 6113), revoked the amendments to
Executive Order 12866 that were contained in Executive Order 13258 and
Executive Order 13422.
Executive Order 13132
Executive Order 13132 entitled ``Federalism,'' signed August 4,
1999 (64 FR 43255), directs agencies to have an accountable process to
ensure meaningful and timely input by State and local officials in the
development of regulatory policies that have ``federalism
implications'' as defined in the Order. Under the Order, an agency that
is proposing regulations with federalism implications, which either
preempt State law or impose nonstatutory unfunded substantial direct
compliance costs on State and local governments, must consult with
State and local officials early in the process of developing the
regulation. In addition, the agency must provide to the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget a federalism summary impact statement
for such regulations, which consists of a description of the extent of
the agency's prior consultation with State and local officials, a
summary of their concerns and the agency's position supporting the need
to issue the regulation, and a statement of the extent to which those
concerns have been met. As part of this effort, agencies include in
their submissions for the Unified Agenda information on whether their
regulatory actions may have an effect on the various levels of
government and whether those actions have federalism implications.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4, title II)
requires agencies to prepare written assessments of the costs and
benefits of significant regulatory actions ``that may result in the
expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate,
or by the private sector, of $100,000,000 or more . . . in any 1 year .
. . .'' The requirement does not apply to independent regulatory
agencies, nor does it apply to certain subject areas excluded by
section 4 of the Act. Affected agencies identify in the Unified Agenda
those regulatory actions they believe are subject to title II of the
Act.
Executive Order 13211
Executive Order 13211 entitled ``Actions Concerning Regulations
That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,'' signed
May 18, 2001 (66 FR 28355), directs agencies to provide, to the extent
possible, information regarding the adverse effects that agency actions
may have on the supply, distribution, and use of energy. Under the
Order, the agency must prepare and submit a Statement of Energy Effects
to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, for ``those matters
identified as significant energy actions.'' As part of this effort,
agencies may optionally include in their submissions for the Unified
Agenda information on whether they have prepared or plan to prepare a
Statement of Energy Effects for their regulatory actions.
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (Pub. L.
104-121, title II) established a procedure for congressional review of
rules (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), which defers, unless exempted, the
effective date of a ``major'' rule for at least 60 days from the
publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The Act
specifies that a rule is ``major'' if it has resulted or is likely to
result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or
meets other criteria specified in that Act. The Act provides that the
Administrator of OIRA will make the final determination as to whether a
rule is major.
III. How Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda
Organized?
The Regulatory Plan appears in part II of a daily edition of the
Federal Register. The Plan is a single document beginning with an
introduction, followed by a table of contents, followed by each
agency's section of the Plan. Following the Plan in the Federal
Register, as separate parts, are the regulatory flexibility agendas for
each agency whose agenda includes entries for rules that are likely to
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities or rules that have been selected for periodic review under
section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Each printed agenda
appears as a separate part. The sections of the Plan and the parts of
the Unified Agenda are
[[Page 79452]]
organized alphabetically in four groups: Cabinet departments; other
executive agencies; the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a joint
authority (Agenda only); and independent regulatory agencies. Agencies
may in turn be divided into subagencies. Each printed agency agenda has
a table of contents listing the agency's printed entries that follow.
Each agency's section of the Plan contains a narrative statement of
regulatory priorities and, for most agencies, a description of the
agency's most important significant regulatory and deregulatory
actions. Each agency's part of the Agenda contains a preamble providing
information specific to that agency plus descriptions of the agency's
regulatory and deregulatory actions.
The online, complete Unified Agenda contains the preambles of all
participating agencies. Unlike the printed edition, the online Agenda
has no fixed ordering. In the online Agenda, users can select the
particular agencies whose agendas they want to see. Users have broad
flexibility to specify the characteristics of the entries of interest
to them by choosing the desired responses to individual data fields. To
see a listing of all of an agency's entries, a user can select the
agency without specifying any particular characteristics of entries.
Each entry in the Agenda is associated with one of five rulemaking
stages. In the Plan, only the first three stages are applicable. Some
agencies use subheadings to identify regulations that are grouped
according to particular topics. The rulemaking stages are:
1. Prerule Stage -- actions agencies will undertake to determine
whether or how to initiate rulemaking. Such actions occur prior to a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and may include Advance Notices of
Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of existing regulations.
2. Proposed Rule Stage -- actions for which agencies plan to
publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as the next step in their
rulemaking process or for which the closing date of the NPRM Comment
Period is the next step.
3. Final Rule Stage -- actions for which agencies plan to publish a
final rule or an interim final rule or to take other final action as
the next step.
4. Long-Term Actions -- items under development but for which the
agency does not expect to have a regulatory action within the 12 months
after publication of this edition of the Unified Agenda. Some of the
entries in this section may contain abbreviated information.
5. Completed Actions -- actions or reviews the agency has completed
or withdrawn since publishing its last agenda. This section also
includes items the agency began and completed between issues of the
Agenda.
A bullet () preceding the title of an entry indicates that
the entry is appearing in the Unified Agenda for the first time.
In the printed edition, all entries are numbered sequentially from
the beginning to the end of the publication. The sequence number
preceding the title of each entry identifies the location of the entry
in this edition. The sequence number is used as the reference in the
printed table of contents. Sequence numbers are not used in the online
Unified Agenda because the unique Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) is
able to provide this cross-reference capability.
Editions of the Unified Agenda prior to fall 2007 contained several
indexes, which identified entries with various characteristics. These
included regulatory actions for which agencies believe that the
Regulatory Flexibility Act may require a Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis, actions selected for periodic review under section 610(c) of
the Regulatory Flexibility Act, and actions that may have federalism
implications as defined in Executive Order 13132 or other effects on
levels of government. These indexes are no longer compiled, because
users of the online Unified Agenda have the flexibility to search for
entries with any combination of desired characteristics. The online
edition retains the Unified Agenda's subject index based on the Federal
Register Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. In addition, online users have
the option of searching Agenda text fields for words or phrases.
IV. What Information Appears for Each Entry?
All entries in the Unified Agenda contain uniform data elements
including, at a minimum, the following information:
Title of the Regulation -- a brief description of the subject of
the regulation. In the printed edition, the notation ``Section 610
Review'' following the title indicates that the agency has selected the
rule for its periodic review of existing rules under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 610(c)). Some agencies have indicated
completions of section 610 reviews or rulemaking actions resulting from
completed section 610 reviews. In the online edition, these notations
appear in a separate field.
Priority -- an indication of the significance of the regulation.
Agencies assign each entry to one of the following five categories of
significance.
(1) Economically Significant
As defined in Executive Order 12866, a rulemaking action that will
have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, or
will adversely affect, in a material way, the economy; a sector of
the economy; productivity; competition; jobs; the environment;
public health or safety; or State, local, or tribal governments or
communities. The definition of an ``economically significant'' rule
is similar but not identical to the definition of a ``major'' rule
under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104-121). (See below.)
(2) Other Significant
A rulemaking that is not Economically Significant but is considered
Significant by the agency. This category includes rules that the
agency anticipates will be reviewed under Executive Order 12866 or
rules that are a priority of the agency head. These rules may or
may not be included in the agency's regulatory plan.
(3) Substantive, Nonsignificant
A rulemaking that has substantive impacts but is neither Significant,
nor Routine and Frequent, nor Informational/Administrative/Other.
(4) Routine and Frequent
A rulemaking that is a specific case of a multiple recurring
application of a regulatory program in the Code of Federal
Regulations and that does not alter the body of the regulation.
(5) Informational/Administrative/Other
A rulemaking that is primarily informational or pertains to agency
matters not central to accomplishing the
[[Page 79453]]
agency's regulatory mandate but that the agency places in the
Unified Agenda to inform the public of the activity.
Major -- whether the rule is ``major'' under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L.
104-121) because it has resulted or is likely to result in an annual
effect on the economy of $100 million or more or meets other criteria
specified in that Act. The Act provides that the Administrator of the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs will make the final
determination as to whether a rule is major.
Unfunded Mandates -- whether the rule is covered by section 202 of
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). The Act
requires that, before issuing an NPRM likely to result in a mandate
that may result in expenditures by State, local, and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector of more than
$100 million in 1 year, agencies, other than independent regulatory
agencies, shall prepare a written statement containing an assessment of
the anticipated costs and benefits of the Federal mandate.
Legal Authority -- the section(s) of the United States Code
(U.S.C.) or Public Law (Pub. L.) or the Executive order (E.O.) that
authorize(s) the regulatory action. Agencies may provide popular name
references to laws in addition to these citations.
CFR Citation -- the section(s) of the Code of Federal Regulations
that will be affected by the action.
Legal Deadline -- whether the action is subject to a statutory or
judicial deadline, the date of that deadline, and whether the deadline
pertains to an NPRM, a Final Action, or some other action.
Abstract -- a brief description of the problem the regulation will
address; the need for a Federal solution; to the extent available,
alternatives that the agency is considering to address the problem; and
potential costs and benefits of the action.
Timetable -- the dates and citations (if available) for all past
steps and a projected date for at least the next step for the
regulatory action. A date printed in the form 08/00/11 means the agency
is predicting the month and year the action will take place but not the
day it will occur. In some instances, agencies may indicate what the
next action will be, but the date of that action is ``To Be
Determined.'' ``Next Action Undetermined'' indicates the agency does
not know what action it will take next.
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required -- whether an analysis is
required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.)
because the rulemaking action is likely to have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities as defined by the Act.
Small Entities Affected -- the types of small entities
(businesses, governmental jurisdictions, or organizations) on which the
rulemaking action is likely to have an impact as defined by the
Regulatory Flexibility Act. Some agencies have chosen to indicate
likely effects on small entities even though they believe that a
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis will not be required.
Government Levels Affected -- whether the action is expected to
affect levels of government and, if so, whether the governments are
State, local, tribal, or Federal.
International Impacts --whether the regulation is expected to have
international trade and investment effects, or otherwise may be of
interest to the Nation's international trading partners.
Federalism -- whether the action has ``federalism implications''
as defined in Executive Order 13132. This term refers to actions ``that
have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship
between the national government and the States, or on the distribution
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.''
Independent regulatory agencies are not required to supply this
information.
Agency Contact -- the name and phone number of at least one person
in the agency who is knowledgeable about the rulemaking action. The
agency may also provide the title, address, fax number, e-mail address,
and TDD for each agency contact.
Some agencies have provided the following optional information:
RIN Information URL -- the Internet address of a site that provides
more information about the entry.
Public Comment URL -- the Internet address of a site that will
accept public comments on the entry. Alternatively, timely public
comments may be submitted at the Governmentwide e-rulemaking site,
http://www.regulations.gov.
Additional Information -- any information an agency wishes to
include that does not have a specific corresponding data element.
Compliance Cost to the Public -- the estimated gross compliance
cost of the action.
Affected Sectors -- the industrial sectors that the action may
most affect, either directly or indirectly. Affected Sectors are
identified by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
codes.
Energy Effects -- an indication of whether the agency has prepared
or plans to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects for the action, as
required by Executive Order 13211 ``Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,'' signed May
18, 2001 (66 FR 28355).
Related RINs-- one or more past or current RINs associated with
activity related to this action, such as merged RINs, split RINs, new
activity for previously completed RINs, or duplicate RINs.
Entries appearing in The Regulatory Plan include some or all of the
following additional data elements, but will, at a minimum, include
information in Statement of Need and in Anticipated Costs and Benefits:
Statement of Need -- a description of the need for the regulatory
action.
Summary of the Legal Basis -- a description of the legal basis for
the action, including whether any aspect of the action is required by
statute or court order.
Alternatives -- a description of the alternatives the agency has
considered or will consider as required by section 4(c)(1)(B) of
Executive Order 12866.
Anticipated Costs and Benefits -- a description of preliminary
estimates of the anticipated costs and benefits of the action.
Risks -- a description of the magnitude of the risk the action
addresses, the amount by which the agency expects the action to reduce
this risk, and the relation of the risk and this risk reduction effort
to other risks and risk reduction efforts within the agency's
jurisdiction.
[[Page 79454]]
V. Abbreviations
The following abbreviations appear throughout this publication:
ANPRM -- An Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is a preliminary
notice, published in the Federal Register, announcing that an agency is
considering a regulatory action. An agency may issue an ANPRM before it
develops a detailed proposed rule. An ANPRM describes the general area
that may be subject to regulation and usually asks for public comment
on the issues and options being discussed. An ANPRM is issued only when
an agency believes it needs to gather more information before
proceeding to a notice of proposed rulemaking.
CFR -- The Code of Federal Regulations is an annual codification
of the general and permanent regulations published in the Federal
Register by the agencies of the Federal Government. The Code is divided
into 50 titles, each title covering a broad area subject to Federal
regulation. The CFR is keyed to and kept up to date by the daily issues
of the Federal Register.
EO -- An Executive order is a directive from the President to
Executive agencies, issued under constitutional or statutory authority.
Executive orders are published in the Federal Register and in title 3
of the Code of Federal Regulations.
FR -- The Federal Register is a daily Federal Government
publication that provides a uniform system for publishing Presidential
documents, all proposed and final regulations, notices of meetings, and
other official documents issued by Federal agencies.
FY -- The Federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.
NPRM -- A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is the document an agency
issues and publishes in the Federal Register that describes and
solicits public comments on a proposed regulatory action. Under the
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), an NPRM must include, at a
minimum:
A statement of the time, place, and nature of the public
rulemaking proceeding;
A reference to the legal authority under which the rule is
proposed; and
Either the terms or substance of the proposed rule or a
description of the subjects and issues involved.
PL (or Pub. L.) -- A public law is a law passed by Congress and
signed by the President or enacted over his veto. It has general
applicability, unlike a private law that applies only to those persons
or entities specifically designated. Public laws are numbered in
sequence throughout the 2-year life of each Congress; for example, PL
111-5 is the fifth public law of the 111th Congress.
RFA -- A Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is a description and
analysis of the impact of a rule on small entities, including small
businesses, small governmental jurisdictions, and certain small not-
for-profit organizations. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601
et seq.) requires each agency to prepare an initial RFA for public
comment when it is required to publish an NPRM and to make available a
final RFA when the final rule is published, unless the agency head
certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities.
RIN -- The Regulation Identifier Number is assigned by the
Regulatory Information Service Center to identify each regulatory
action listed in The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda, as
directed by Executive Order 12866 (section 4(b)). Additionally, OMB has
asked agencies to include RINs in the headings of their Rule and
Proposed Rule documents when publishing them in the Federal Register,
to make it easier for the public and agency officials to track the
publication history of regulatory actions throughout their development.
Seq. No. -- The sequence number identifies the location of an
entry in the printed edition of the Unified Agenda. Note that a
specific regulatory action will have the same RIN throughout its
development but will generally have different sequence numbers if it
appears in different printed editions of The Regulatory Plan and the
Agenda. Sequence numbers are not used in the online Unified Agenda.
USC -- The United States Code is a consolidation and codification
of all general and permanent laws of the United States. The USC is
divided into 50 titles, each title covering a broad area of Federal
law.
VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda?
Copies of the Federal Register issue containing the printed edition
of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda (agency regulatory
flexibility agendas) are available from the Superintendent of
Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954,
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Telephone: (202) 512-1800 or 1-866-512-1800
(toll-free).
Copies of individual agency materials may be available directly
from the agency or may be found on the agency's website. Please contact
the particular agency for further information.
All editions of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions since fall 1995 are
available in electronic form at http://reginfo.gov. This site currently
offers flexible search tools for recent editions. Searchable access to
the entire historic Unified Agenda database back to 1983 will be added
to the site in time.
In accordance with regulations for the Federal Register, the
Government Printing Office's GPO Access website contains copies of the
Agendas and Regulatory Plans that have been printed in the Federal
Register. These documents are available at:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/index.html
Dated: November 29, 2010.
John C. Thomas,
Director.