81_FR_37355 81 FR 37244 - Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

81 FR 37244 - Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 111 (June 9, 2016)

Page Range37244-37248
FR Document2016-12869

The Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. Publication of the Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions represents a key component of the regulatory planning mechanism prescribed in Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review'' (58 FR 51735) and incorporated by reference in the President's Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,'' issued on January 18, 2011 (76 FR 3821). 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). In the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Unified Agenda) agencies report regulatory actions upcoming in the next year. 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. The Unified Agenda helps agencies fulfill these requirements. All Federal regulatory agencies have chosen to publish their regulatory agendas as part of the Unified Agenda. The complete Unified Agenda for spring 2016, which contains the regulatory agendas for 57 Federal agencies, is available to the public at http://reginfo.gov. The spring 2016 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal Register consists of 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.

Federal Register, Volume 81 Issue 111 (Thursday, June 9, 2016)
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 111 (Thursday, June 9, 2016)]
[Unknown Section]
[Pages 37244-37248]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12869]



[[Page 37243]]

Vol. 81

Thursday,

No. 111

June 9, 2016

Part II





 Regulatory Information Service Center





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Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

Federal Register / Vol. 81 , No. 111 / Thursday, June 9, 2016 / 
Unified Agenda

[[Page 37244]]


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REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER


Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Actions

AGENCY: Regulatory Information Service Center.

ACTION: Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Actions.

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SUMMARY: The Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Actions.
    Publication of the Spring 2016 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory 
and Deregulatory Actions represents a key component of the regulatory 
planning mechanism prescribed in Executive Order 12866 ``Regulatory 
Planning and Review'' (58 FR 51735) and incorporated by reference in 
the President's Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and 
Regulatory Review,'' issued on January 18, 2011 (76 FR 3821).
    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).
    In the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory 
Actions (Unified Agenda) agencies report regulatory actions upcoming in 
the next year. 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.
    The Unified Agenda helps agencies fulfill these requirements. All 
Federal regulatory agencies have chosen to publish their regulatory 
agendas as part of the Unified Agenda. The complete Unified Agenda for 
spring 2016, which contains the regulatory agendas for 57 Federal 
agencies, is available to the public at http://reginfo.gov.
    The spring 2016 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal 
Register consists of 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.

ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information Service Center (MVE), General 
Services Administration, 1800 F Street NW., MVE, Room 2219F, 
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 (MVE), General Services 
Administration, 1800 F Street NW., MVE, Room 2219F, Washington, DC 
20405, (202) 482-7340. You may also send comments to us by email at: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Actions

I. What is the Unified Agenda?
II. Why is the Unified Agenda published?
III. How is the Unified Agenda organized?
IV. What information appears for each entry?
V. Abbreviations
VI. How can users get copies of the Plan and the Agenda?

Agency Agendas

Cabinet Departments

Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department of Education
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Department of Transportation
Department of the Treasury

Other Executive Agencies

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board
Environmental Protection Agency
General Services Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Small Business Administration

Joint Authority

Department of Defense/General Services Administration/National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration (Federal Acquisition 
Regulation)

Independent Regulatory Agencies

Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Consumer Product Safety Commission
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Reserve System
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Securities and Exchange Commission
Surface Transportation Board

Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Actions

I. What is the Unified Agenda?

    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. The complete Unified Agenda is available 
to the public at http://reginfo.gov. The online Unified Agenda offers 
user-friendly flexible search tools and a vast historical database.
    The spring 2016 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal 
Register consists of 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. The complete 
online edition of the Unified Agenda includes regulatory agendas from 
57 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. The regulatory agendas of 
these agencies are available to the public at http://reginfo.gov.

Department of State
Department of Veterans Affairs
Agency for International Development
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
Institute of Museum and Library Services
National Archives and Records Administration
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities

[[Page 37245]]

National Science Foundation
Office of Government Ethics
Office of Management and Budget
Office of Personnel Management
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Peace Corps
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Railroad Retirement Board
Social Security Administration
Farm Credit Administration
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Trade Commission
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council
National Credit Union Administration
National Indian Gaming Commission
National Transportation Safety Board

    The Regulatory Information Service Center compiles 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 (incorporated by reference in Executive Order 
13563). The Center also provides information about Federal regulatory 
activity to the President and his Executive Office, the Congress, 
agency officials, and the public.
    The activities included in the Unified 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 Unified Agenda does 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 is the Unified Agenda published?

    The Unified Agenda helps agencies comply with their obligations 
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and various Executive orders and 
other statutes.

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 13563

    Executive Order 13563 entitled ``Improving Regulation and 
Regulatory Review,'' issued on January 18, 2011, supplements and 
reaffirms the principles, structures, and definitions governing 
contemporary regulatory review that were established in Executive Order 
12866, which includes the general principles of regulation and public 
participation, and orders integration and innovation in coordination 
across agencies; flexible approaches where relevant, feasible, and 
consistent with regulatory approaches; scientific integrity in any 
scientific or technological information and processes used to support 
the agencies' regulatory actions; and retrospective analysis of 
existing regulations.

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 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 a regulation with federalism implications, which either 
preempt State law or impose non-statutory 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 a regulation, 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

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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 is the Unified Agenda organized?

    Agency regulatory flexibility agendas are printed in a single daily 
edition of the Federal Register. A regulatory flexibility agenda is 
printed for each agency whose agenda includes entries for rules which 
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 parts are organized 
alphabetically in four groups: Cabinet departments; other executive 
agencies; the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a joint authority; and 
independent regulatory agencies. Agencies may in turn be divided into 
sub-agencies. Each agency's part of the Agenda contains a preamble 
providing information specific to that agency. Each printed agency 
agenda has a table of contents listing the agency's printed entries 
that follow.
    The online, complete Unified Agenda contains the preambles of all 
participating agencies. 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 Unified Agenda is associated with one of five 
rulemaking stages. 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.
    Long-Term Actions are rulemakings reported during the publication 
cycle that are outside of the required 12-month reporting period for 
which the Agenda was intended. Completed Actions in the publication 
cycle are rulemakings that are ending their lifecycle either by 
Withdrawal or completion of the rulemaking process. Therefore, the 
Long-Term and Completed RINs do not represent the ongoing, forward-
looking nature intended for reporting developing rulemakings in the 
Agenda pursuant to Executive Order 12866, section 4(b) and 4(c). To 
further differentiate these two stages of rulemaking in the Unified 
Agenda from active rulemakings, Long-Term and Completed Actions are 
reported separately from active rulemakings, which can be any of the 
first three stages of rulemaking listed above. A separate search 
function is provided on http://reginfo.gov to search for Completed and 
Long-Term Actions apart from each other and active RINs.
    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 online 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''

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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 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 displayed in the form 06/00/14 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.
    Included in the Regulatory Plan--whether the rulemaking was 
included in the agency's current regulatory plan published in fall 
2015.
    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, email 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 RIN(s) associated with 
activity related to this action, such as merged RINs, split RINs, new 
activity for previously completed RINs, or duplicate RINs.
    Some agencies that participated in the fall 2015 edition of The 
Regulatory Plan have chosen to include the following information for 
those entries that appeared in the Plan:
    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.

[[Page 37248]]

    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.

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.
    E.O.--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 
110-4 is the fourth public law of the 110th 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 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 Unified Agenda. Sequence numbers are 
not used in the online Unified Agenda.
    U.S.C.--The United States Code is a consolidation and codification 
of all general and permanent laws of the United States. The U.S.C. is 
divided into 50 titles, each title covering a broad area of Federal 
law.

VI. How can users get copies of the Agenda?

    Copies of the Federal Register issue containing the printed edition 
of 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 Web site. 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, along with flexible 
search tools.
    The Government Printing Office's GPO FDsys Web site contains copies 
of the Agendas and Regulatory Plans that have been printed in the 
Federal Register. These documents are available at http://www.fdsys.gov.

    Dated: May 18, 2016.
 John C. Thomas,
Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-12869 Filed 6-8-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6820-27-P



                                                   37244                    Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 111 / Thursday, June 9, 2016 / Unified Agenda

                                                   REGULATORY INFORMATION                                  selected for periodic review under                     Federal Reserve System
                                                   SERVICE CENTER                                          section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility              Nuclear Regulatory Commission
                                                                                                           Act.                                                   Securities and Exchange Commission
                                                   Introduction to the Unified Agenda of                                                                          Surface Transportation Board
                                                                                                           ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information
                                                   Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory                     Service Center (MVE), General Services                 Introduction to the Unified Agenda of
                                                   Actions                                                 Administration, 1800 F Street NW.,                     Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory
                                                   AGENCY:  Regulatory Information Service                 MVE, Room 2219F, Washington, DC                        Actions
                                                   Center.                                                 20405.                                                 I. What is the Unified Agenda?
                                                   ACTION: Introduction to the Unified                     FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For                      The Unified Agenda provides
                                                   Agenda of Federal Regulatory and                        further information about specific                     information about regulations that the
                                                   Deregulatory Actions.                                   regulatory actions, please refer to the                Government is considering or
                                                                                                           agency contact listed for each entry. To               reviewing. The Unified Agenda has
                                                   SUMMARY:    The Spring 2016 Unified                     provide comment on or to obtain further                appeared in the Federal Register twice
                                                   Agenda of Federal Regulatory and                        information about this publication,                    each year since 1983 and has been
                                                   Deregulatory Actions.                                   contact: John C. Thomas, Executive                     available online since 1995. The
                                                      Publication of the Spring 2016                       Director, Regulatory Information Service               complete Unified Agenda is available to
                                                   Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory                    Center (MVE), General Services                         the public at http://reginfo.gov. The
                                                   and Deregulatory Actions represents a                   Administration, 1800 F Street NW.,                     online Unified Agenda offers user-
                                                   key component of the regulatory                         MVE, Room 2219F, Washington, DC                        friendly flexible search tools and a vast
                                                   planning mechanism prescribed in                        20405, (202) 482–7340. You may also                    historical database.
                                                   Executive Order 12866 ‘‘Regulatory                      send comments to us by email at: RISC@                    The spring 2016 Unified Agenda
                                                   Planning and Review’’ (58 FR 51735)                     gsa.gov.                                               publication appearing in the Federal
                                                   and incorporated by reference in the                    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:                             Register consists of agency regulatory
                                                   President’s Executive Order 13563,                                                                             flexibility agendas, in accordance with
                                                   ‘‘Improving Regulation and Regulatory                   Table of Contents
                                                                                                                                                                  the publication requirements of the
                                                   Review,’’ issued on January 18, 2011 (76                Introduction to the Unified Agenda of                  Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency
                                                   FR 3821).                                               Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions            regulatory flexibility agendas contain
                                                      The Regulatory Flexibility Act                       I. What is the Unified Agenda?                         only those Agenda entries for rules that
                                                   requires that agencies publish                          II. Why is the Unified Agenda published?               are likely to have a significant economic
                                                   semiannual regulatory agendas in the                    III. How is the Unified Agenda organized?              impact on a substantial number of small
                                                   Federal Register describing regulatory                  IV. What information appears for each entry?
                                                                                                           V. Abbreviations
                                                                                                                                                                  entities and entries that have been
                                                   actions they are developing that may                                                                           selected for periodic review under
                                                   have a significant economic impact on                   VI. How can users get copies of the Plan and
                                                                                                                 the Agenda?                                      section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility
                                                   a substantial number of small entities                                                                         Act. Printed entries display only the
                                                   (5 U.S.C. 602).                                         Agency Agendas
                                                                                                                                                                  fields required by the Regulatory
                                                      In the Unified Agenda of Federal                     Cabinet Departments                                    Flexibility Act. Complete agenda
                                                   Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions                     Department of Agriculture                              information for those entries appears, in
                                                   (Unified Agenda) agencies report                        Department of Commerce                                 a uniform format, in the online Unified
                                                   regulatory actions upcoming in the next                 Department of Defense                                  Agenda at http://reginfo.gov.
                                                   year. Executive Order 12866                             Department of Education                                   These publication formats meet the
                                                   ‘‘Regulatory Planning and Review,’’                     Department of Energy
                                                                                                                                                                  publication mandates of the Regulatory
                                                   signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR                        Department of Health and Human Services
                                                                                                           Department of Homeland Security                        Flexibility Act and Executive Order
                                                   51735), and Office of Management and                                                                           12866. The complete online edition of
                                                   Budget memoranda implementing                           Department of Housing and Urban
                                                                                                             Development                                          the Unified Agenda includes regulatory
                                                   section 4 of that Order establish                       Department of the Interior                             agendas from 57 Federal agencies.
                                                   minimum standards for agencies’                         Department of Justice                                  Agencies of the United States Congress
                                                   agendas, including specific types of                    Department of Labor                                    are not included.
                                                   information for each entry.                             Department of Transportation                              The following agencies have no
                                                      The Unified Agenda helps agencies                    Department of the Treasury                             entries identified for inclusion in the
                                                   fulfill these requirements. All Federal                 Other Executive Agencies                               printed regulatory flexibility agenda.
                                                   regulatory agencies have chosen to                                                                             The regulatory agendas of these agencies
                                                                                                           Architectural and Transportation Barriers
                                                   publish their regulatory agendas as part                  Compliance Board                                     are available to the public at http://
                                                   of the Unified Agenda. The complete                     Environmental Protection Agency                        reginfo.gov.
                                                   Unified Agenda for spring 2016, which                   General Services Administration
                                                   contains the regulatory agendas for 57                                                                         Department of State
                                                                                                           National Aeronautics and Space
                                                                                                                                                                  Department of Veterans Affairs
                                                   Federal agencies, is available to the                     Administration
                                                                                                                                                                  Agency for International Development
                                                   public at http://reginfo.gov.                           Small Business Administration                          Commission on Civil Rights
                                                      The spring 2016 Unified Agenda                       Joint Authority                                        Committee for Purchase From People Who
                                                   publication appearing in the Federal                    Department of Defense/General Services                   Are Blind or Severely Disabled
                                                   Register consists of agency regulatory
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                                                                                                             Administration/National Aeronautics and              Corporation for National and Community
                                                   flexibility agendas, in accordance with                   Space Administration (Federal Acquisition              Service
                                                   the publication requirements of the                       Regulation)                                          Court Services and Offender Supervision
                                                   Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency                                                                               Agency for the District of Columbia
                                                                                                           Independent Regulatory Agencies                        Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
                                                   regulatory flexibility agendas contain                  Commodity Futures Trading Commission                   Institute of Museum and Library Services
                                                   only those Agenda entries for rules that                Consumer Financial Protection Bureau                   National Archives and Records
                                                   are likely to have a significant economic               Consumer Product Safety Commission                       Administration
                                                   impact on a substantial number of small                 Federal Communications Commission                      National Endowment for the Arts
                                                   entities and entries that have been                     Federal Maritime Commission                            National Endowment for the Humanities



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                                                                            Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 111 / Thursday, June 9, 2016 / Unified Agenda                                            37245

                                                   National Science Foundation                             II. Why is the Unified Agenda                          (64 FR 43255), directs agencies to have
                                                   Office of Government Ethics                             published?                                             an accountable process to ensure
                                                   Office of Management and Budget                                                                                meaningful and timely input by State
                                                   Office of Personnel Management                             The Unified Agenda helps agencies
                                                                                                           comply with their obligations under the                and local officials in the development of
                                                   Office of the United States Trade
                                                     Representative                                        Regulatory Flexibility Act and various                 regulatory policies that have
                                                   Peace Corps                                             Executive orders and other statutes.                   ‘‘federalism implications’’ as defined in
                                                   Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation                                                                           the Order. Under the Order, an agency
                                                   Railroad Retirement Board                               Executive Order 12866                                  that is proposing a regulation with
                                                   Social Security Administration                             Executive Order 12866 entitled                      federalism implications, which either
                                                   Farm Credit Administration                              ‘‘Regulatory Planning and Review,’’                    preempt State law or impose non-
                                                   Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation                   signed September 30, 1993, (58 FR                      statutory unfunded substantial direct
                                                   Federal Energy Regulatory Commission                    51735), requires covered agencies to                   compliance costs on State and local
                                                   Federal Housing Finance Agency                                                                                 governments, must consult with State
                                                                                                           prepare an agenda of all regulations
                                                   Federal Maritime Commission                                                                                    and local officials early in the process
                                                   Federal Trade Commission                                under development or review. The
                                                   Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council                Order also requires that certain agencies              of developing the regulation. In
                                                   National Credit Union Administration                    prepare annually a regulatory plan of                  addition, the agency must provide to the
                                                   National Indian Gaming Commission                       their ‘‘most important significant                     Director of the Office of Management
                                                   National Transportation Safety Board                    regulatory actions,’’ which appears as                 and Budget a federalism summary
                                                                                                           part of the fall Unified Agenda.                       impact statement for such a regulation,
                                                      The Regulatory Information Service                   Executive Order 13497, signed January                  which consists of a description of the
                                                   Center compiles the Unified Agenda for                  30, 2009 (74 FR 6113), revoked the                     extent of the agency’s prior consultation
                                                   the Office of Information and Regulatory                amendments to Executive Order 12866                    with State and local officials, a
                                                   Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office of                   that were contained in Executive Order                 summary of their concerns and the
                                                   Management and Budget. OIRA is                          13258 and Executive Order 13422.                       agency’s position supporting the need to
                                                   responsible for overseeing the Federal                                                                         issue the regulation, and a statement of
                                                   Government’s regulatory, paperwork,                     Executive Order 13563                                  the extent to which those concerns have
                                                   and information resource management                        Executive Order 13563 entitled                      been met. As part of this effort, agencies
                                                   activities, including implementation of                 ‘‘Improving Regulation and Regulatory                  include in their submissions for the
                                                   Executive Order 12866 (incorporated by                  Review,’’ issued on January 18, 2011,                  Unified Agenda information on whether
                                                   reference in Executive Order 13563).                    supplements and reaffirms the                          their regulatory actions may have an
                                                   The Center also provides information                    principles, structures, and definitions                effect on the various levels of
                                                   about Federal regulatory activity to the                governing contemporary regulatory                      government and whether those actions
                                                   President and his Executive Office, the                 review that were established in                        have federalism implications.
                                                   Congress, agency officials, and the                     Executive Order 12866, which includes
                                                                                                                                                                  Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
                                                   public.                                                 the general principles of regulation and
                                                                                                           public participation, and orders                          The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
                                                      The activities included in the Unified
                                                                                                           integration and innovation in                          of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–4, title II) requires
                                                   Agenda are, in general, those that will
                                                                                                           coordination across agencies; flexible                 agencies to prepare written assessments
                                                   have a regulatory action within the next
                                                                                                           approaches where relevant, feasible, and               of the costs and benefits of significant
                                                   12 months. Agencies may choose to
                                                                                                           consistent with regulatory approaches;                 regulatory actions ‘‘that may result in
                                                   include activities that will have a longer
                                                                                                           scientific integrity in any scientific or              the expenditure by State, local, and
                                                   timeframe than 12 months. Agency
                                                                                                           technological information and processes                tribal governments, in the aggregate, or
                                                   agendas also show actions or reviews
                                                                                                           used to support the agencies’ regulatory               by the private sector, of $100,000,000 or
                                                   completed or withdrawn since the last
                                                                                                           actions; and retrospective analysis of                 more . . . in any 1 year . . . .’’ The
                                                   Unified Agenda. Executive Order 12866
                                                                                                           existing regulations.                                  requirement does not apply to
                                                   does not require agencies to include
                                                                                                                                                                  independent regulatory agencies, nor
                                                   regulations concerning military or                      Regulatory Flexibility Act                             does it apply to certain subject areas
                                                   foreign affairs functions or regulations
                                                                                                              The Regulatory Flexibility Act                      excluded by section 4 of the Act.
                                                   related to agency organization,
                                                                                                           requires agencies to identify those rules              Affected agencies identify in the Unified
                                                   management, or personnel matters.
                                                                                                           that may have a significant economic                   Agenda those regulatory actions they
                                                      Agencies prepared entries for this                   impact on a substantial number of small                believe are subject to title II of the Act.
                                                   publication to give the public notice of                entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Agencies meet
                                                   their plans to review, propose, and issue                                                                      Executive Order 13211
                                                                                                           that requirement by including the
                                                   regulations. They have tried to predict                 information in their submissions for the                  Executive Order 13211 entitled
                                                   their activities over the next 12 months                Unified Agenda. Agencies may also                      ‘‘Actions Concerning Regulations That
                                                   as accurately as possible, but dates and                indicate those regulations that they are               Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
                                                   schedules are subject to change.                        reviewing as part of their periodic                    Distribution, or Use,’’ signed May 18,
                                                   Agencies may withdraw some of the                       review of existing rules under the                     2001, (66 FR 28355), directs agencies to
                                                   regulations now under development,                      Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.                   provide, to the extent possible,
                                                   and they may issue or propose other                     610). Executive Order 13272 entitled                   information regarding the adverse
                                                   regulations not included in their                                                                              effects that agency actions may have on
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                                                                                                           ‘‘Proper Consideration of Small Entities
                                                   agendas. Agency actions in the                          in Agency Rulemaking,’’ signed August                  the supply, distribution, and use of
                                                   rulemaking process may occur before or                  13, 2002, (67 FR 53461), provides                      energy. Under the Order, the agency
                                                   after the dates they have listed. The                   additional guidance on compliance with                 must prepare and submit a Statement of
                                                   Unified Agenda does not create a legal                  the Act.                                               Energy Effects to the Administrator of
                                                   obligation on agencies to adhere to                                                                            the Office of Information and Regulatory
                                                   schedules in this publication or to                     Executive Order 13132                                  Affairs, Office of Management and
                                                   confine their regulatory activities to                     Executive Order 13132 entitled                      Budget, for ‘‘those matters identified as
                                                   those regulations that appear within it.                ‘‘Federalism,’’ signed August 4, 1999,                 significant energy actions.’’ As part of


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                                                   37246                    Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 111 / Thursday, June 9, 2016 / Unified Agenda

                                                   this effort, agencies may optionally                       1. Prerule Stage—actions agencies                   reference in the printed table of
                                                   include in their submissions for the                    will undertake to determine whether or                 contents. Sequence numbers are not
                                                   Unified Agenda information on whether                   how to initiate rulemaking. Such actions               used in the online Unified Agenda
                                                   they have prepared or plan to prepare a                 occur prior to a Notice of Proposed                    because the unique Regulation Identifier
                                                   Statement of Energy Effects for their                   Rulemaking (NPRM) and may include                      Number (RIN) is able to provide this
                                                   regulatory actions.                                     Advance Notices of Proposed                            cross-reference capability.
                                                                                                           Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of                       Editions of the Unified Agenda prior
                                                   Small Business Regulatory Enforcement                                                                          to fall 2007 contained several indexes,
                                                                                                           existing regulations.
                                                   Fairness Act                                               2. Proposed Rule Stage—actions for                  which identified entries with various
                                                      The Small Business Regulatory                        which agencies plan to publish a Notice                characteristics. These included
                                                   Enforcement Fairness Act (Pub. L. 104–                  of Proposed Rulemaking as the next step                regulatory actions for which agencies
                                                   121, title II) established a procedure for              in their rulemaking process or for which               believe that the Regulatory Flexibility
                                                   congressional review of rules (5 U.S.C.                 the closing date of the NPRM Comment                   Act may require a Regulatory Flexibility
                                                   801 et seq.), which defers, unless                      Period is the next step.                               Analysis, actions selected for periodic
                                                   exempted, the effective date of a                          3. Final Rule Stage—actions for which               review under section 610(c) of the
                                                   ‘‘major’’ rule for at least 60 days from                agencies plan to publish a final rule or               Regulatory Flexibility Act, and actions
                                                   the publication of the final rule in the                an interim final rule or to take other                 that may have federalism implications
                                                   Federal Register. The Act specifies that                final action as the next step.                         as defined in Executive Order 13132 or
                                                   a rule is ‘‘major’’ if it has resulted, or is              4. Long-Term Actions—items under                    other effects on levels of government.
                                                   likely to result, in an annual effect on                development but for which the agency                   These indexes are no longer compiled,
                                                   the economy of $100 million or more or                  does not expect to have a regulatory                   because users of the online Unified
                                                   meets other criteria specified in that                  action within the 12 months after                      Agenda have the flexibility to search for
                                                   Act. The Act provides that the                          publication of this edition of the Unified             entries with any combination of desired
                                                   Administrator of OIRA will make the                     Agenda. Some of the entries in this                    characteristics. The online edition
                                                   final determination as to whether a rule                section may contain abbreviated                        retains the Unified Agenda’s subject
                                                   is major.                                               information.                                           index based on the Federal Register
                                                                                                              5. Completed Actions—actions or                     Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. In
                                                   III. How is the Unified Agenda                          reviews the agency has completed or
                                                   organized?                                                                                                     addition, online users have the option of
                                                                                                           withdrawn since publishing its last                    searching Agenda text fields for words
                                                      Agency regulatory flexibility agendas                agenda. This section also includes items               or phrases.
                                                   are printed in a single daily edition of                the agency began and completed
                                                   the Federal Register. A regulatory                      between issues of the Agenda.                          IV. What information appears for each
                                                   flexibility agenda is printed for each                     Long-Term Actions are rulemakings                   entry?
                                                   agency whose agenda includes entries                    reported during the publication cycle                     All entries in the online Unified
                                                   for rules which are likely to have a                    that are outside of the required 12-                   Agenda contain uniform data elements
                                                   significant economic impact on a                        month reporting period for which the                   including, at a minimum, the following
                                                   substantial number of small entities or                 Agenda was intended. Completed                         information:
                                                   rules that have been selected for                       Actions in the publication cycle are                      Title of the Regulation—a brief
                                                   periodic review under section 610 of the                rulemakings that are ending their                      description of the subject of the
                                                   Regulatory Flexibility Act. Each printed                lifecycle either by Withdrawal or                      regulation. In the printed edition, the
                                                   agenda appears as a separate part. The                  completion of the rulemaking process.                  notation ‘‘Section 610 Review’’
                                                   parts are organized alphabetically in                   Therefore, the Long-Term and                           following the title indicates that the
                                                   four groups: Cabinet departments; other                 Completed RINs do not represent the                    agency has selected the rule for its
                                                   executive agencies; the Federal                         ongoing, forward-looking nature                        periodic review of existing rules under
                                                   Acquisition Regulation, a joint                         intended for reporting developing                      the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.
                                                   authority; and independent regulatory                   rulemakings in the Agenda pursuant to                  610(c)). Some agencies have indicated
                                                   agencies. Agencies may in turn be                       Executive Order 12866, section 4(b) and                completions of section 610 reviews or
                                                   divided into sub-agencies. Each                         4(c). To further differentiate these two               rulemaking actions resulting from
                                                   agency’s part of the Agenda contains a                  stages of rulemaking in the Unified                    completed section 610 reviews. In the
                                                   preamble providing information specific                 Agenda from active rulemakings, Long-                  online edition, these notations appear in
                                                   to that agency. Each printed agency                     Term and Completed Actions are                         a separate field.
                                                   agenda has a table of contents listing the              reported separately from active                           Priority—an indication of the
                                                   agency’s printed entries that follow.                   rulemakings, which can be any of the                   significance of the regulation. Agencies
                                                      The online, complete Unified Agenda                  first three stages of rulemaking listed                assign each entry to one of the following
                                                   contains the preambles of all                           above. A separate search function is                   five categories of significance.
                                                   participating agencies. In the online                   provided on http://reginfo.gov to search
                                                   Agenda, users can select the particular                                                                        (1) Economically Significant
                                                                                                           for Completed and Long-Term Actions
                                                   agencies whose agendas they want to                     apart from each other and active RINs.                    As defined in Executive Order 12866,
                                                   see. Users have broad flexibility to                       A bullet (•) preceding the title of an              a rulemaking action that will have an
                                                   specify the characteristics of the entries              entry indicates that the entry is                      annual effect on the economy of $100
                                                                                                                                                                  million or more or will adversely affect
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                                                   of interest to them by choosing the                     appearing in the Unified Agenda for the
                                                   desired responses to individual data                    first time.                                            in a material way the economy, a sector
                                                   fields. To see a listing of all of an                      In the printed edition, all entries are             of the economy, productivity,
                                                   agency’s entries, a user can select the                 numbered sequentially from the                         competition, jobs, the environment,
                                                   agency without specifying any                           beginning to the end of the publication.               public health or safety, or State, local,
                                                   particular characteristics of entries.                  The sequence number preceding the                      or tribal governments or communities.
                                                      Each entry in the Unified Agenda is                  title of each entry identifies the location            The definition of an ‘‘economically
                                                   associated with one of five rulemaking                  of the entry in this edition. The                      significant’’ rule is similar but not
                                                   stages. The rulemaking stages are:                      sequence number is used as the                         identical to the definition of a ‘‘major’’


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                                                                            Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 111 / Thursday, June 9, 2016 / Unified Agenda                                           37247

                                                   rule under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104–                      Legal Deadline—whether the action is                the agency’s current regulatory plan
                                                   121). (See below.)                                      subject to a statutory or judicial                     published in fall 2015.
                                                                                                           deadline, the date of that deadline, and                  Agency Contact—the name and phone
                                                   (2) Other Significant                                                                                          number of at least one person in the
                                                                                                           whether the deadline pertains to an
                                                     A rulemaking that is not                              NPRM, a Final Action, or some other                    agency who is knowledgeable about the
                                                   Economically Significant but is                         action.                                                rulemaking action. The agency may also
                                                   considered Significant by the agency.                      Abstract—a brief description of the                 provide the title, address, fax number,
                                                   This category includes rules that the                   problem the regulation will address; the               email address, and TDD for each agency
                                                   agency anticipates will be reviewed                     need for a Federal solution; to the extent             contact.
                                                   under Executive Order 12866 or rules                    available, alternatives that the agency is                Some agencies have provided the
                                                   that are a priority of the agency head.                 considering to address the problem; and                following optional information:
                                                   These rules may or may not be included                  potential costs and benefits of the                       RIN Information URL—the Internet
                                                   in the agency’s regulatory plan.                        action.                                                address of a site that provides more
                                                                                                              Timetable—the dates and citations (if               information about the entry.
                                                   (3) Substantive, Nonsignificant                         available) for all past steps and a                       Public Comment URL—the Internet
                                                     A rulemaking that has substantive                     projected date for at least the next step              address of a site that will accept public
                                                   impacts but is neither Significant, nor                 for the regulatory action. A date                      comments on the entry. Alternatively,
                                                   Routine and Frequent, nor                               displayed in the form 06/00/14 means                   timely public comments may be
                                                   Informational/Administrative/Other.                     the agency is predicting the month and                 submitted at the governmentwide e-
                                                                                                           year the action will take place but not                rulemaking site, http://
                                                   (4) Routine and Frequent
                                                                                                           the day it will occur. In some instances,              www.regulations.gov.
                                                      A rulemaking that is a specific case of              agencies may indicate what the next                       Additional Information—any
                                                   a multiple recurring application of a                   action will be, but the date of that action            information an agency wishes to include
                                                   regulatory program in the Code of                       is ‘‘To Be Determined.’’ ‘‘Next Action                 that does not have a specific
                                                   Federal Regulations and that does not                   Undetermined’’ indicates the agency                    corresponding data element.
                                                   alter the body of the regulation.                       does not know what action it will take                    Compliance Cost to the Public—the
                                                   (5) Informational/Administrative/Other                  next.                                                  estimated gross compliance cost of the
                                                                                                              Regulatory Flexibility Analysis                     action.
                                                      A rulemaking that is primarily                       Required—whether an analysis is                           Affected Sectors—the industrial
                                                   informational or pertains to agency                     required by the Regulatory Flexibility                 sectors that the action may most affect,
                                                   matters not central to accomplishing the                Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) because the                 either directly or indirectly. Affected
                                                   agency’s regulatory mandate but that the                rulemaking action is likely to have a                  sectors are identified by North
                                                   agency places in the Unified Agenda to                  significant economic impact on a                       American Industry Classification
                                                   inform the public of the activity.                      substantial number of small entities as                System (NAICS) codes.
                                                      Major—whether the rule is ‘‘major’’                  defined by the Act.                                       Energy Effects—an indication of
                                                   under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104–121)                       Small Entities Affected—the types of                whether the agency has prepared or
                                                   because it has resulted or is likely to                 small entities (businesses, governmental               plans to prepare a Statement of Energy
                                                   result in an annual effect on the                       jurisdictions, or organizations) on which              Effects for the action, as required by
                                                   economy of $100 million or more or                      the rulemaking action is likely to have                Executive Order 13211 ‘‘Actions
                                                   meets other criteria specified in that                  an impact as defined by the Regulatory                 Concerning Regulations That
                                                   Act. The Act provides that the                          Flexibility Act. Some agencies have                    Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
                                                   Administrator of the Office of                          chosen to indicate likely effects on                   Distribution, or Use,’’ signed May 18,
                                                   Information and Regulatory Affairs will                 small entities even though they believe                2001 (66 FR 28355).
                                                   make the final determination as to                      that a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis                    Related RINs—one or more past or
                                                   whether a rule is major.                                will not be required.                                  current RIN(s) associated with activity
                                                      Unfunded Mandates—whether the                           Government Levels Affected—whether                  related to this action, such as merged
                                                   rule is covered by section 202 of the                   the action is expected to affect levels of             RINs, split RINs, new activity for
                                                   Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995                    government and, if so, whether the                     previously completed RINs, or duplicate
                                                   (Pub. L. 104–4). The Act requires that,                 governments are State, local, tribal, or               RINs.
                                                   before issuing an NPRM likely to result                 Federal.                                                  Some agencies that participated in the
                                                   in a mandate that may result in                            International Impacts—whether the                   fall 2015 edition of The Regulatory Plan
                                                   expenditures by State, local, and tribal                regulation is expected to have                         have chosen to include the following
                                                   governments, in the aggregate, or by the                international trade and investment                     information for those entries that
                                                   private sector of more than $100 million                effects, or otherwise may be of interest               appeared in the Plan:
                                                   in 1 year, agencies, other than                         to the Nation’s international trading                     Statement of Need—a description of
                                                   independent regulatory agencies, shall                  partners.                                              the need for the regulatory action.
                                                   prepare a written statement containing                     Federalism—whether the action has                      Summary of the Legal Basis—a
                                                   an assessment of the anticipated costs                  ‘‘federalism implications’’ as defined in              description of the legal basis for the
                                                   and benefits of the Federal mandate.                    Executive Order 13132. This term refers                action, including whether any aspect of
                                                      Legal Authority—the section(s) of the                to actions ‘‘that have substantial direct              the action is required by statute or court
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                                                   United States Code (U.S.C.) or Public                   effects on the States, on the relationship             order.
                                                   Law (Pub. L.) or the Executive order                    between the national government and                       Alternatives—a description of the
                                                   (E.O.) that authorize(s) the regulatory                 the States, or on the distribution of                  alternatives the agency has considered
                                                   action. Agencies may provide popular                    power and responsibilities among the                   or will consider as required by section
                                                   name references to laws in addition to                  various levels of government.’’                        4(c)(1)(B) of Executive Order 12866.
                                                   these citations.                                        Independent regulatory agencies are not                   Anticipated Costs and Benefits—a
                                                      CFR Citation—the section(s) of the                   required to supply this information.                   description of preliminary estimates of
                                                   Code of Federal Regulations that will be                   Included in the Regulatory Plan—                    the anticipated costs and benefits of the
                                                   affected by the action.                                 whether the rulemaking was included in                 action.


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                                                   37248                    Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 111 / Thursday, June 9, 2016 / Unified Agenda

                                                     Risks—a description of the magnitude                     NPRM—A Notice of Proposed                           publication history of regulatory actions
                                                   of the risk the action addresses, the                   Rulemaking is the document an agency                   throughout their development.
                                                   amount by which the agency expects the                  issues and publishes in the Federal                      Seq. No.—The sequence number
                                                   action to reduce this risk, and the                     Register that describes and solicits                   identifies the location of an entry in the
                                                   relation of the risk and this risk                      public comments on a proposed                          printed edition of the Unified Agenda.
                                                   reduction effort to other risks and risk                regulatory action. Under the                           Note that a specific regulatory action
                                                   reduction efforts within the agency’s                   Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.                 will have the same RIN throughout its
                                                   jurisdiction.                                           553), an NPRM must include, at a                       development but will generally have
                                                                                                           minimum:                                               different sequence numbers if it appears
                                                   V. Abbreviations
                                                                                                           a statement of the time, place, and nature of          in different printed editions of the
                                                      The following abbreviations appear                   the public rulemaking proceeding; a                    Unified Agenda. Sequence numbers are
                                                   throughout this publication:                            reference to the legal authority under which           not used in the online Unified Agenda.
                                                      ANPRM—An Advance Notice of                           the rule is proposed; and
                                                                                                                                                                    U.S.C.—The United States Code is a
                                                   Proposed Rulemaking is a preliminary                    either the terms or substance of the proposed          consolidation and codification of all
                                                   notice, published in the Federal                        rule or a description of the subjects and
                                                                                                           issues involved.                                       general and permanent laws of the
                                                   Register, announcing that an agency is                                                                         United States. The U.S.C. is divided into
                                                   considering a regulatory action. An                        PL (or Pub. L.)—A public law is a law               50 titles, each title covering a broad area
                                                   agency may issue an ANPRM before it                     passed by Congress and signed by the                   of Federal law.
                                                   develops a detailed proposed rule. An                   President or enacted over his veto. It has
                                                   ANPRM describes the general area that                   general applicability, unlike a private                VI. How can users get copies of the
                                                   may be subject to regulation and usually                law that applies only to those persons                 Agenda?
                                                   asks for public comment on the issues                   or entities specifically designated.                      Copies of the Federal Register issue
                                                   and options being discussed. An                         Public laws are numbered in sequence                   containing the printed edition of the
                                                   ANPRM is issued only when an agency                     throughout the 2-year life of each                     Unified Agenda (agency regulatory
                                                   believes it needs to gather more                        Congress; for example, PL 110–4 is the
                                                                                                                                                                  flexibility agendas) are available from
                                                   information before proceeding to a                      fourth public law of the 110th Congress.
                                                                                                                                                                  the Superintendent of Documents, U.S.
                                                   notice of proposed rulemaking.                             RFA—A Regulatory Flexibility
                                                                                                           Analysis is a description and analysis of              Government Printing Office, P.O. Box
                                                      CFR—The Code of Federal                                                                                     371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250–7954.
                                                   Regulations is an annual codification of                the impact of a rule on small entities,
                                                                                                           including small businesses, small                      Telephone: (202) 512–1800 or 1–866–
                                                   the general and permanent regulations                                                                          512–1800 (toll-free).
                                                   published in the Federal Register by the                governmental jurisdictions, and certain
                                                                                                           small not-for-profit organizations. The                   Copies of individual agency materials
                                                   agencies of the Federal Government.                                                                            may be available directly from the
                                                                                                           Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601
                                                   The Code is divided into 50 titles, each                                                                       agency or may be found on the agency’s
                                                                                                           et seq.) requires each agency to prepare
                                                   title covering a broad area subject to                                                                         Web site. Please contact the particular
                                                                                                           an initial RFA for public comment when
                                                   Federal regulation. The CFR is keyed to                                                                        agency for further information.
                                                                                                           it is required to publish an NPRM and
                                                   and kept up to date by the daily issues                                                                           All editions of The Regulatory Plan
                                                                                                           to make available a final RFA when the
                                                   of the Federal Register.                                                                                       and the Unified Agenda of Federal
                                                                                                           final rule is published, unless the
                                                      E.O.—An Executive order is a                         agency head certifies that the rule                    Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
                                                   directive from the President to                         would not have a significant economic                  since fall 1995 are available in
                                                   Executive agencies, issued under                        impact on a substantial number of small                electronic form at http://reginfo.gov,
                                                   constitutional or statutory authority.                  entities.                                              along with flexible search tools.
                                                   Executive orders are published in the                      RIN—The Regulation Identifier                          The Government Printing Office’s
                                                   Federal Register and in title 3 of the                  Number is assigned by the Regulatory                   GPO FDsys Web site contains copies of
                                                   Code of Federal Regulations.                            Information Service Center to identify                 the Agendas and Regulatory Plans that
                                                      FR—The Federal Register is a daily                   each regulatory action listed in the                   have been printed in the Federal
                                                   Federal Government publication that                     Unified Agenda, as directed by                         Register. These documents are available
                                                   provides a uniform system for                           Executive Order 12866 (section 4(b)).                  at http://www.fdsys.gov.
                                                   publishing Presidential documents, all                  Additionally, OMB has asked agencies
                                                   proposed and final regulations, notices                 to include RINs in the headings of their                 Dated: May 18, 2016.
                                                   of meetings, and other official                         Rule and Proposed Rule documents                       John C. Thomas,
                                                   documents issued by Federal agencies.                   when publishing them in the Federal                    Executive Director.
                                                      FY—The Federal fiscal year runs from                 Register, to make it easier for the public             [FR Doc. 2016–12869 Filed 6–8–16; 8:45 am]
                                                   October 1 to September 30.                              and agency officials to track the                      BILLING CODE 6820–27–P
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Document Created: 2018-02-08 07:33:42
Document Modified: 2018-02-08 07:33:42
CategoryRegulatory Information
CollectionFederal Register
sudoc ClassAE 2.7:
GS 4.107:
AE 2.106:
PublisherOffice of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
SectionUnknown Section
ActionIntroduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
ContactFor 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 (MVE), General Services Administration, 1800 F Street NW., MVE, Room 2219F, Washington, DC 20405, (202) 482-7340. You may also send comments to us by email at: [email protected]
FR Citation81 FR 37244 

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