Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 76847

1See 31 U.S.C. 5318(g)(1).

2See 31 CFR 103.17–21. The threshold for most 

financial institutions is $5,000; transactions 

conducted at points of sale for money services 

businesses have a reporting threshold of $2,000. See 

31 CFR 103.20.

3See TD F 90–22.47 (depository institutions); TD 

F 22.56 (money services businesses); FinCEN Form 

101 (securities and futures industries); FinCEN 

Form 102 (casinos and card clubs).

4 31 CFR 501.603.

5 31 CFR 501.603(b)(1)(i).

6The specific designations are as follows: 

Specially designated terrorist; foreign terrorist 

organization; specially designated global terrorist; 

specially designated narcotics trafficker; specially 

designated narcotics trafficker kingpin. See 31 CFR 

parts 595, 597, 598 and the Foreign Narcotics 

Kingpin Act, 21 U.S.C. 1901–08, 8 U.S.C. 1182. 

These categories of designations are subject solely 

to blocking requirements.

Dated: December 14, 2004.

Leslye M. Fraser,

Director, Office of Regulations and Policy, 

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

[FR Doc. 04–28043 Filed 12–22–04; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–01–S

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network 

31 CFR Part 103 

Interpretive Release No. 2004–02—

Unitary Filing of Suspicious Activity 

and Blocking Reports

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement 

Network (‘‘FinCEN’’), Department of the 

Treasury.

ACTION: Final rule; interpretive release.

SUMMARY: This FinCEN interpretive 

guidance clarifies that reports filed with 

the Department of the Treasury’s Office 

of Foreign Assets Control (‘‘OFAC’’) of 

blocked transactions with Specially 

Designated Global Terrorists, Specially 

Designated Terrorists, Foreign Terrorist 

Organizations, Specially Designated 

Narcotics Trafficker Kingpins, and 

Specially Designated Narcotics 

Traffickers will be deemed by FinCEN 

to fulfill the requirement to file 

suspicious activity reports on such 

transactions for purposes of FinCEN’s 

suspicious activity reporting rules. 

However, the filing of a blocking report 

with OFAC will not be deemed to 

satisfy a financial institution’s 

obligation to file a suspicious activity 

report if the transactions would be 

reportable under FinCEN’s suspicious 

activity reporting rules even if there 

were no OFAC match. Moreover, to the 

extent that the financial institution is in 

possession of information not included 

on the blocking report filed with OFAC, 

a separate suspicious activity report 

should be filed with FinCEN including 

that information.

DATES: This final rule is effective 

December 23, 2004. The DATES section 

of the rule published on December 14, 

2004, at 69 FR 74439 is corrected to read 

as follows: 

DATES: Appendix C is added to part 

103 effective December 14, 2004; 

however, Release 2004–01 is not 

effective until June 13, 2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Regulatory Policy and Programs 

Division, 1–800–949–2732, Financial 

Crimes Enforcement Network.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FinCEN is 

publishing this interpretation to clarify 

that the filing of required blocking 

reports with OFAC on transactions 

involving an individual or entity 

designated as a Specially Designated 

Global Terrorist, Specially Designated 

Terrorist, Foreign Terrorist 

Organization, Specially Designated 

Narcotics Trafficker Kingpin, or 

Specially Designated Narcotics 

Trafficker shall be deemed to satisfy the 

requirement, under existing and any 

forthcoming suspicious activity 

reporting regulations, that financial 

institutions file suspicious activity 

reports based on the fact of such a 

match.

List of Subjects in 31 CFR Part 103 

Authority delegations (government 

agencies), Banks, Banking, Currency, 

Investigations, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements.

Department of the Treasury 

1 CFR Chapter I 

Authority and Issuance

■ For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, part 103 of title 31 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations is amended as 

follows:

PART 103—FINANCIAL 

RECORDKEEPING AND REPORTING 

OF CURRENCY AND FOREIGN 

TRANSACTIONS

■ 1. The authority citation for part 103 

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 1829b and 1951–1959; 

31 U.S.C. 5311–5314 and 5316–5332; title III, 

sec. 312, 313, 314, 319, 326, 352. Pub. L. 

107–56, 115 Stat. 307, 21 U.S.C. 1786(q).

■ 2. Part 103 is amended by adding a 

new Intrepretive Release at the end of 

Appendix C to read as follows:

APPENDIX C TO PART 103—

INTERPRETIVE RULES

* * * * *

Release No. 2004–02 

This FinCEN interpretive guidance clarifies 

that reports filed with the Department of the 

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control 

(‘‘OFAC’’) of blocked transactions with 

Specially Designated Global Terrorists, 

Specially Designated Terrorists, Foreign 

Terrorist Organizations, Specially Designated 

Narcotics Trafficker Kingpins, and Specially 

Designated Narcotics Traffickers will be 

deemed by FinCEN to fulfill the requirement 

to file suspicious activity reports on such 

transactions for purposes of FinCEN’s 

suspicious activity reporting rules. However, 

the filing of a blocking report with OFAC will 

not be deemed to satisfy a financial 

institution’s obligation to file a suspicious 

activity report if the transactions would be 

reportable under FinCEN’s suspicious 

activity reporting rules even if there were no 

OFAC match. Moreover, to the extent that the 

financial institution is in possession of 

information not included on the blocking 

report filed with OFAC, a separate suspicious 

activity report should be filed with FinCEN 

including that information.

Background 

The Bank Secrecy Act authorizes the 

Secretary of the Treasury to require financial 

institutions to report ‘‘any suspicious 

transaction relevant to a possible violation of 

law or regulation.’’ 1 Under this authority, 

FinCEN has issued regulations requiring 

banks, securities broker-dealers, introducing 

brokers, casinos, futures commission 

merchants, and money services businesses, to 

report suspicious activity that meets a 

particular dollar threshold.2 Each rule 

includes filing procedures requiring that a 

suspicious transaction shall be reported by 

completing a suspicious activity report and 

filing it with FinCEN in a central location to 

be determined by FinCEN. Generally, the 

rules provide a financial institution with 

thirty days from the date of the initial 

detection of suspicious activity to file a 

report, with an additional thirty days if the 

financial institution is unable to identify a 

suspect. Reports are filed on forms developed 

for each industry subject to the reporting 

requirement.3

OFAC administers and enforces economic 

and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign 

policy and national security goals against 

targeted foreign countries, terrorists, 

international narcotics traffickers, and those 

engaged in activities related to the 

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

OFAC’s Reporting, Procedures and Penalties 

Regulations at 31 CFR part 501 require U.S. 

financial institutions to block and file reports 

on accounts, payments, or transfers in which 

an OFAC-designated country, entity, or 

individual has any interest.4 These reports 

must be filed with OFAC within ten business 

days of the blocking of the property.5

Prior Guidance 

Transactions involving an individual or 

entity designated on OFAC’s list of Specially 

Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons as 

a global terrorist, terrorist, terrorist 

organization, narcotics trafficker, or narcotics 

kingpin 6 may be in furtherance of a criminal 

act, and therefore relevant to a possible 

violation of law. Thus, blocking reports 

related to such persons also describe 

76848 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 

7 Issue 6 (Nov. 2003).

8Such a report would be a voluntary report under 

the statute and regulations. See 31 U.S.C. 5318(g)(3) 

(extending safe harbor protection from civil liability 

to voluntary filings).

potentially suspicious activity. In the 

November 2003 edition of its ‘‘SAR Activity 

Review,’’ 7 FinCEN instructed financial 

institutions to file suspicious activity reports 

on verified matches of persons designated by 

OFAC. While this guidance ensured that the 

relevant information would be available to 

law enforcement, it also resulted in financial 

institutions being required to make two 

separate filings with the Department of the 

Treasury—one with OFAC pursuant to its 

Reporting, Procedures and Penalties 

Regulations, and one with FinCEN pursuant 

to its suspicious activity reporting rules.

Revised Guidance 

FinCEN is hereby revising its prior 

guidance to eliminate the need for 

duplicative reporting in cases where a 

financial institution identifies a verified 

match with individuals or entities designated 

by OFAC. As of the date of publication of this 

interpretation, FinCEN will deem its rules 

requiring the filing of suspicious activity 

reports to be satisfied by the filing of a 

blocking report with OFAC in accordance 

with OFAC’s Reporting, Penalties and 

Procedures Regulations. OFAC will then 

provide the information to FinCEN for 

inclusion in the suspicious activity reporting 

database where it will be made available to 

law enforcement. This construction of the 

suspicious activity reporting rules will serve 

the public interest by enabling FinCEN to 

obtain and provide potentially important 

information about terrorists and major drug 

traffickers to law enforcement on an 

expedited basis without imposing 

duplicative reporting burdens on the 

regulated industry. 

Accordingly, a financial institution that 

files a blocking report with OFAC due to the 

involvement in a transaction or account of a 

person designated as a Specially Designated 

Global Terrorist, a Specially Designated 

Terrorist, a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a 

Specially Designated Narcotics Trafficker 

Kingpin, or a Specially Designated Narcotics 

Trafficker, shall be deemed to have 

simultaneously filed a suspicious activity 

report on the fact of the match with FinCEN, 

in satisfaction of the requirements of the 

applicable suspicious activity reporting rule. 

This interpretation does not affect a financial 

institution’s obligation to identify and report 

suspicious activity beyond the fact of the 

OFAC match. To the extent that the financial 

institution is in possession of information not 

included on the blocking report filed with 

OFAC, a separate suspicious activity report 

should be filed with FinCEN including that 

information. This interpretation also does not 

affect a financial institution’s obligation to 

file a suspicious activity report even if it has 

filed a blocking report with OFAC, to the 

extent that the facts and circumstances 

surrounding the OFAC match are 

independently suspicious—and are 

otherwise required to be reported under 

existing FinCEN regulations. In those cases, 

the OFAC blocking report would not satisfy 

a financial institution’s suspicious activity 

report filing obligation. 

Further, nothing in this interpretation is 

intended to preclude a financial institution 

from filing a suspicious activity report to 

disclose additional information concerning 

the OFAC match,8 nor does it preclude a 

financial institution from filing a suspicious 

activity report if the financial institution has 

reason to believe that terrorism or drug 

trafficking is taking place, even though there 

is no OFAC match. Finally, this 

interpretation does not apply to blocking 

reports filed to report transactions and 

accounts involving persons owned by, or 

who are nationals of, countries subject to 

OFAC-administered sanctions programs. 

Such transactions should be reported on 

suspicious activity reports under the 

suspicious activity reporting rules if, and 

only, if, the activity itself appears to be 

suspicious under the criteria established by 

the suspicious activity reporting rules.

William J. Fox, 

Director.

[FR Doc. 04–27739 Filed 12–22–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–02–P

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS 

ADMINISTRATION 

36 CFR Part 1228 

RIN 3095–AB41 

Records Management; Unscheduled 

Records; Correction

AGENCY: National Archives and Records 

Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Final rule; correction.

SUMMARY: NARA published in the 

Federal Register of December 15, 2004, 

a final rule allowing the transfer of 

unscheduled records to records storage 

facilities. Inadvertently, a word was 

deleted from the preamble, changing the 

meaning of a sentence. This document 

corrects that deletion.

DATES: This rule is effective January 14, 

2005.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cheryl Stadel-Bevans at telephone 

number (301) 837–3021 or fax number 

(301) 837–0319.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NARA 

published a final rule on December 15, 

2004, at 69 FR 74976. The second 

sentence in the SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION contains an error. This 

correction inserts the missing word. 

In the final rule published at 69 FR 

74976, make the following correction. 

On page 74977, in the first column, 

insert the word ‘‘not’’ in line 6 so that 

the line reads ‘‘* * * Executive Order 

12866 and has not been * * *’’.

Dated: December 17, 2004. 

Nancy Y. Allard, 

Federal Register Liaison Officer.

[FR Doc. 04–28048 Filed 12–22–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7515–01–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52

[R05–OAR–2004–MI–0002; FRL–7849–1] 

Approval and Promulgation of 

Implementation Plans: Michigan: 

Oxides of Nitrogen

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

SUMMARY: The EPA is approving a 

revision to the plan prepared by 

Michigan that will limit the emissions 

of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from large 

stationary sources (i.e. power plants, 

industrial boilers and cement kilns). 

This plan meets all of the requirements 

contained in an EPA rule that was 

published in the Federal Register on 

April 16, 2004. This rule, otherwise 

known as the NOX SIP Call Phase I 

provides for NOX reductions from 

sources in 20 States in the eastern half 

of the country. The effect of this 

approval is to ensure federal 

enforceability of the state air program 

plan and to maintain consistency 

between the state-adopted plan and the 

approved State Implementation Plan 

(SIP).

DATES: This ‘‘direct final’’ rule is 

effective February 22, 2005, unless EPA 

receives written adverse comment by 

January 24, 2005. If written adverse 

comment is received, EPA will publish 

a timely withdrawal of the direct final 

rule in the Federal Register and inform 

the public that the rule will not take 

effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, 

identified by Regional Material in 

EDocket (RME) ID No. R05–OAR–2004–

MI–0002, by one of the following 

methods: 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Agency Web site: http://

docket.epa.gov/rmepub/. Regional 

Material in EDocket (RME), EPA’s 

electronic public docket and comments 

system, is EPA’s preferred method for 

receiving comments. Once in the 

system, select ‘‘quick search,’’ then key 

in the appropriate RME Docket 

identification number. Follow the onVerDate jul<14>2003 14:29 Dec 22, 2004 Jkt 205001 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 4700 Sfmt 4700 E:\FR\FM\23DER1.SGM 23DER1