This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

6525

Vol. 69, No. 28

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

11 CFR Part 111

[Notice 2004–5] 

Extension of Administrative Fines 

Program

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.

ACTION: Final rule and transmittal of 

regulations to Congress. 

SUMMARY: Section 639 of the Fiscal 2004 

Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations 

Act (‘‘2004 Appropriations Act’’) 

amended the Treasury and General 

Government Appropriations Act, 2000, 

by extending the expiration date in 

which the Federal Election Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) may assess civil 

monetary penalties for violations of the 

reporting requirements of section 434(a) 

of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

(‘‘Act’’ or ‘‘FECA’’). Accordingly, the 

Commission is extending the 

applicability of its rules and penalty 

schedules in implementing the 

administrative fines program (‘‘AFP’’). 

Further information is provided in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION that 

follows.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 11, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Mai T. Dinh, Acting Assistant General 

Counsel, or Mr. Daniel E. Pollner, 

Attorney, 999 E Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20463, (202) 694–1650 

or (800) 424–9530.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Explanation and Justification for 11 

CFR 111.30 

Section 640 of the Treasury and 

General Government Appropriations 

Act, 2000, Pub. L. No. 106–58, 106th 

Cong., 113 Stat. 430, 476–77 (1999), 

amended 2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(4) to provide 

for a modified enforcement process for 

violations of certain reporting 

requirements. Under 2 U.S.C. 

437g(a)(4)(C), the Commission may 

assess a civil monetary penalty for 

violations of the reporting requirements 

of 2 U.S.C. 434(a). This authority, 

however, terminated on December 31, 

2003. See Pub. L. No. 107–67, 107th 

Cong., 640(c). Recently, section 639 of 

the 2004 Appropriations Act amended 

the Treasury and General Government 

Appropriations Act, 2000, by extending 

the sunset date to include all reports 

that cover activity between July 14, 2000 

and December 31, 2005. Accordingly, 

the Commission is issuing this final rule 

to amend section 11 CFR 111.30 to 

renew the applicability of the 

administrative fines regulations, 11 CFR 

part 111, subpart B, to include all 

violations relating to reports that cover 

the period between July 14, 2000 and 

December 31, 2003 and the period 

between the date that this final rule is 

published in the Federal Register and 

December 31, 2005. 

Until the 2004 Appropriations Act 

was enacted, the Commission did not 

have the authority to extend the AFP 

beyond December 31, 2003. 

Consequently, there is a gap in the 

applicability of the AFP from January 1, 

2004 to February 10, 2004. All reports 

covering reporting periods that began 

and ended during this gap and that are 

due before February 11, 2004, the 

effective date of this final rule, are not 

subject to the AFP. This includes certain 

48-hour reports and pre-election reports. 

These reports are, however, subject to 

the Commission’s enforcement 

procedures set forth at 11 CFR subpart 

A. See 11 CFR 111.31(a). 

The Commission notes that Congress, 

in extending the Commission’s AFP 

authority, provided for continuous 

applicability of the AFP through 

December 31, 2005. Moreover, the AFP 

is procedural; the underlying 

substantive reporting requirements have 

remained continuously in effect. 

Consequently, it is appropriate to apply 

the AFP to reports that are due after 

February 10, 2004 even though those 

reports may relate to reporting periods 

that include the gap. 

The Commission is promulgating this 

final rule without notice or an 

opportunity for comment because it falls 

under the ‘‘good cause’’ exemption of 

the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 

U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B). This exemption 

allows agencies to dispense with notice 

and comment if the procedures are 

‘‘impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary 

to public interest.’’ Id. This final rule 

satisfies the ‘‘good cause’’ exemption 

because a notice and comment period is 

impracticable in that it would prevent 

this final rule from taking effect without 

an even larger gap in the applicability 

of the AFP. See Administrative 

Procedures Act: Legislative History, S. 

Doc. No. 248 200 (1946) 

(‘‘ ‘Impracticable’ means a situation in 

which the due and required execution 

of the agency functions would be 

unavoidably prevented by its 

undertaking public rule-making 

proceedings’’). In addition, this final 

rule merely extends the applicability of 

the AFP and does not change the 

substantive regulations themselves. 

Those regulations were already subject 

to notice and comment when they were 

proposed in March 2000, 65 FR 16534, 

and adopted in May 2000, 65 FR 31787, 

and again when substantive revisions to 

the AFP were proposed in April 2002, 

67 FR 20461, and adopted in March 

2003, 68 FR 12572. Thus, it is 

appropriate and necessary for the 

Commission to publish this final rule 

without providing a notice and 

comment period. 

The Commission is making this final 

rule effective immediately upon 

publication in the Federal Register

because it falls within the ‘‘good cause’’ 

exception to the thirty-day delayed 

effective date requirement set forth at 

section 553(d)(3) of the Administrative 

Procedures Act. See 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3). 

The same reasons that justify the 

promulgation of this final rule without 

a notice and comment period, which are 

set forth above, also justify making this 

final rule effective without the thirtyday delay. Moreover, making this final 

rule effective immediately upon 

publication in the Federal Register is 

justified because a thirty-day delay of 

the effective date would increase the 

gap in the AFP. 

The Commission is submitting this 

final rule to the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives and the President of the 

Senate pursuant to the Congressional 

Review of Agency Regulations Act, 5 

U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), on February 6, 2004. 

Since this is a non-major rule, it is not 

subject to the delayed effective date 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(3). 

6526 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 28 / Wednesday, February 11, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 

Certification of No Effect Pursuant to 5 

U.S.C. 605(b) (Regulatory Flexibility 

Act) 

The attached final rule will not have 

a significant impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. The basis for 

this certification is that this final rule 

merely extends the applicability of 

existing regulations for two more years. 

The existing regulations have already 

been certified as not having a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 65 FR 31793 

(2000). Therefore, the extension of these 

existing regulations will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities.

List of Subjects in 11 CFR Part 111 

Administrative practice and 

procedures, Elections, Law enforcement.

■ For the reasons set out in the preamble, 

subchapter A, chapter I of title 11 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations is amended 

as follows:

PART 111—COMPLIANCE 

PROCEDURES (2 U.S.C. 437g, 437d(a))

■ 1. The authority for part 111 continues 

to read as follows:

Authority: 2 U.S.C. 437g, 437d(a), 

438(a)(8); 28 U.S.C. 2461 nt.

■ 2. 11 CFR 111.30 is revised to read as 

follows:

§ 111.30 When will subpart B apply? 

Subpart B applies to violations of the 

reporting requirements of 2 U.S.C. 

434(a) committed by political 

committees and their treasurers that 

relate to the reporting periods that begin 

on or after July 14, 2000 and end on or 

before December 31, 2005. This subpart, 

however, does not apply to reports that 

are due between January 1, 2004 and 

February 10, 2004 and that relate to 

reporting periods that begin and end 

between January 1, 2004 and February 

10, 2004.

Dated: February 5, 2004. 

Bradley A. Smith, 

Chairman, Federal Election Commission.

[FR Doc. 04–2845 Filed 2–10–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6715–01–P

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

12 CFR Part 222

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

16 CFR Part 602

[Regulation V; Docket Nos. R–1172 and R–

1175; and Project No. PO44804] 

RIN 3084–AA94

Effective Dates for the Fair and 

Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 

2003

AGENCIES: Board of Governors of the 

Federal Reserve System (Board) and 

Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

ACTION: Joint final rules.

SUMMARY: The recently enacted Fair and 

Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 

2003 (FACT Act or the Act) requires the 

Board and the FTC (the Agencies) 

jointly to adopt rules establishing the 

effective dates for provisions of the Act 

that do not contain specific effective 

dates. The Agencies are adopting joint 

final rules that establish a schedule of 

effective dates for many of the 

provisions of the FACT Act for which 

the Act itself does not specifically 

provide an effective date. The Agencies 

also are jointly making final rules that 

previously were adopted on an interim 

basis. Those rules establish December 

31, 2003, as the effective date for 

provisions of the Act that determine the 

relationship between the Fair Credit 

Reporting Act (FCRA) and state laws 

and provisions that authorize 

rulemakings and other implementing 

action by various agencies.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective on March 12, 

2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Board: Thomas E. Scanlon, Counsel, 

Legal Division, (202) 452–3594; David 

A. Stein, Counsel, Minh-Duc T. Le, Ky 

Tran-Trong, Senior Attorneys, Krista P. 

DeLargy, Attorney, Division of 

Consumer and Community Affairs, (202) 

452–3667 or (202) 452–2412; for users of 

Telecommunications Device for the Deaf 

(‘‘TDD’’) only, contact (202) 263–4869. 

FTC: Christopher Keller or Katherine 

Armstrong, Attorneys, Division of 

Financial Practices, (202) 326–3224.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The FACT Act became law on 

December 4, 2003. Pub. L. 108–159, 117 

Stat. 1952. In general, the Act amends 

the FCRA to enhance the ability of 

consumers to combat identity theft, to 

increase the accuracy of consumer 

reports, and to allow consumers to 

exercise greater control regarding the 

type and amount of marketing 

solicitations they receive. The FACT Act 

also restricts the use and disclosure of 

sensitive medical information. To 

bolster efforts to improve financial 

literacy among consumers, title V of the 

Act (entitled the ‘‘Financial Literacy and 

Education Improvement Act’’) creates a 

new Financial Literacy and Education 

Commission empowered to take 

appropriate actions to improve the 

financial literacy and education 

programs, grants, and materials of the 

Federal government. Lastly, to promote 

increasingly efficient national credit 

markets, the FACT Act establishes 

uniform national standards in key areas 

of regulation. 

The Act includes effective dates for 

many of its sections that vary to take 

account of the need for rulemaking, 

implementation efforts by industry, and 

other policy concerns. Section 3 of the 

FACT Act requires the Agencies to 

prescribe joint regulations establishing 

an effective date for each provision of 

the Act ‘‘[e]xcept as otherwise 

specifically provided in this Act and the 

amendments made by this Act.’’ The 

FACT Act requires that the Agencies 

jointly adopt final rules establishing the 

effective dates within two months of the 

date of the enactment of the Act. Thus, 

by law, the Agencies must complete 

these rulemaking efforts by February 4, 

2004. The Act also provides that each of 

the effective dates set by the Agencies 

must be ‘‘as early as possible, while 

allowing a reasonable time for the 

implementation’’ of that provision, but 

in no case later than ten months after 

the date of issuance of the Agencies’

joint final rules establishing the 

effective dates for the Act. 117 Stat. 

1953. 

In mid-December of 2003, the 

Agencies took two related actions to 

comply with the requirement to 

establish effective dates for the Act. In 

the first action, the Agencies 

implemented joint interim final rules 

that establish December 31, 2003, as the 

effective date for sections 151(a)(2), 

212(e), 214(c), 311(b), and 711 of the 

FACT Act, each of which determines 

the relationship of State laws to areas 

governed by the FCRA. See 68 FR 74467 

(Dec. 24, 2003). In the second action, the 

Agencies proposed joint rules that 

would establish a schedule of effective 

dates for certain other provisions of the 

FACT Act for which the Act itself does 

not specifically provide an effective 

date. See 68 FR 74529 (Dec. 24, 2003). 

The Agencies sought comment on both 

of these related actions.