This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

71510 

Vol. 76, No. 223 

Friday, November 18, 2011 

ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE OF 

THE UNITED STATES 

Meeting of the Assembly of the 

Administrative Conference of the 

United States 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92– 

463), notice is hereby given of a meeting 

of the Assembly of the Administrative 

Conference of the United States to 

consider proposed recommendations 

which deal with: (1) Innovations in erulemaking, (2) international regulatory 

cooperation, (3) the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, and (4) incorporation by 

reference. To facilitate public 

participation, the Conference is inviting 

public comment on the 

recommendations that will be 

considered at the meeting. 

DATES: Meeting dates are Thursday, 

December 8, 2011, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.; and 

Friday, December 9, 2011, 9 a.m. to 

12:30 p.m. Comments on the 

recommendations must be received by 

noon, Friday, December 2, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: The Public Meeting will be 

held at the Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 

1155 21st Street NW., Washington, DC 

20581 (Main Conference Room). 

Submit comments to either of the 

following: email comments@acus.gov, 

with ‘‘December 2011 Plenary Session 

Comments’’ in the subject line; or mail 

to December 2011 Plenary Session 

Comments, Administrative Conference 

of the United States, Suite 706 South, 

1120 20th Street NW., Washington, DC 

20036. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shawne McGibbon, General Counsel 

(the Designated Federal Officer), 

Administrative Conference of the 

United States, Suite 706 South, 1120 

20th Street NW., Washington, DC 20036; 

Telephone (202) 480–2088. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Administrative Conference of the 

United States makes recommendations 

to administrative agencies, the 

President, Congress, and the Judicial 

Conference of the United States 

regarding the improvement of Federal 

administrative procedures (5 U.S.C. 

594). The objectives of these 

recommendations are to ensure that 

private rights may be fully protected 

and regulatory activities and other 

Federal responsibilities may be carried 

out expeditiously in the public interest, 

to promote more effective public 

participation and efficiency in the 

rulemaking process, reduce unnecessary 

litigation in the regulatory process, 

improve the use of science in the 

regulatory process, and improve the 

effectiveness of laws applicable to the 

regulatory process (5 U.S.C. 591). 

The membership of the Conference 

meeting in plenary session constitutes 

the Assembly of the Conference (5 

U.S.C. 595). The Assembly will meet in 

plenary session to consider four 

proposed recommendations: 

(1) The recommendation ‘‘Agency 

Innovations in e-Rulemaking’’ addresses 

how Federal agency rulemaking can be 

improved by better use of Internet-based 

technologies. The goal of the project was 

to assess the landscape of existing 

innovative rulemaking technologies, 

and identify the most useful innovations 

and best practices that might be spread 

to other agencies. The recommendation 

proposes ways agencies can make 

rulemaking information, including open 

dockets, comment polices, and materials 

from completed rulemakings, more 

accessible electronically. The 

recommendation also addresses the 

issue of improving e-rulemaking 

participation by those who have 

historically faced barriers to access, 

including non-English speakers, users of 

low-bandwidth Internet connections, 

and individuals with disabilities. 

(2) The recommendation 

‘‘International Regulatory Cooperation’’ 

addresses how U.S. regulators can 

interact with their foreign counterparts 

to accomplish their domestic regulatory 

missions and eliminate unnecessary 

non-tariff barriers to trade more 

effectively. This project is intended to 

update Recommendation 91–1, ‘‘Federal 

Agency Cooperation with Foreign 

Government Regulators,’’ which was 

adopted by the Administrative 

Conference in 1991. The 

recommendation includes proposals for 

enhanced cooperation and information 

gathering, more efficient deployment of 

limited resources, and better 

information exchanges that result in 

evidence-based decision making. 

(3) The recommendation on the 

‘‘Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA)’’ addresses the issue of whether 

FACA is functioning effectively and 

efficiently almost 40 years after its 

enactment. Some of the relevant 

questions regarding FACA are whether 

it is hampering Federal agencies’ ability 

to obtain outside advice and whether it 

provides sufficient transparency in the 

advisory committee process. The 

recommendation offers three sets of 

proposed revisions to the existing FACA 

regime to make the law more relevant in 

light of agency experience with FACA 

and 21st century technologies. 

Specifically, the recommendation 

includes proposals designed to clarify 

the scope of FACA and its 

implementing regulations, alleviate 

certain procedural burdens associated 

with the existing regime, and promote 

‘‘best practices’’ aimed at enhancing the 

transparency and objectivity of the 

advisory committee process. 

(4) The recommendation 

‘‘Incorporation by Reference’’ addresses 

the legal and policy issues related to 

agencies’ adoption of or references to 

standards or other materials that have 

been published elsewhere. 

Incorporation by reference is common 

partly because Federal policy requires 

regulatory agencies to use voluntary 

consensus standards in lieu of 

government-designed standards when 

doing so is not impractical or 

inconsistent with the statutory mission. 

That policy builds upon 

Recommendation 78–4, ‘‘Federal 

Agency Interaction with Private 

Standard-Setting Organizations in 

Health and Safety Regulation,’’ adopted 

by the Conference in 1978. That 

recommendation encouraged the use of 

voluntary consensus standards in health 

and safety regulation. In the ensuing 

years, many agencies have promulgated 

thousands of regulations using 

standards that incorporate by reference 

standards published elsewhere. This 

practice raises common issues that 

individual agencies deal with 

differently, and the aim of the 

recommendation is to consolidate the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 223 / Friday, November 18, 2011 / Notices 71511 

dispersed knowledge of affected 

agencies, identify best practices, and 

recommend ways to improve the 

process. 

This meeting will be open to the 

public and may end prior to the 

designated end time if business is 

concluded earlier. Members of the 

public are invited to attend the meeting 

in person, subject to space limitations. 

The Conference will also provide 

remote public access to the meeting via 

webcast. Anyone who wishes to attend 

the meeting in person is asked to RSVP 

to comments@acus.gov, no later than 

December 6, 2011, in order to facilitate 

entry. Members of the public who 

attend the meetings of the full Assembly 

are only permitted to speak with the 

consent of the Chairman and the 

unanimous approval of the members. 

The Conference welcomes the 

attendance of the public and will make 

every effort to accommodate persons 

with physical disabilities or special 

needs. If you need special 

accommodations due to disability, 

please inform the contact person noted 

above no later than 7 days in advance 

of the meeting. 

Members of the public may submit 

written comments on any or all of the 

recommendations to either of the 

addresses listed above no later than 

noon, December 2, 2011. Copies of the 

proposed recommendations and 

information on remote access will be 

available at http://www.acus.gov. 

Comments relating to the individual 

proposed recommendations will be 

delivered to the Designated Federal 

Officer listed on this notice and will be 

posted on the Conference’s Web site 

when received. Comments received at 

this stage will be available to the full 

Assembly prior to their consideration of 

the final recommendations. 

Dated: November 14, 2011. 

Shawne McGibbon, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2011–29812 Filed 11–17–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6110–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

U.S. Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; 2012 Company 

Organization Survey 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, invites the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

take this opportunity to comment on 

proposed and/or continuing information 

collections, as required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)). 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before January 17, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Diana Hynek, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 

14th and Constitution Avenue NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at dHynek@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Joy P. Pierson, Economic 

Planning and Coordination Division, 

U.S. Census Bureau, Room 8K319, 

Washington, DC 20233–6100 (or by 

email at Joy.P.Pierson@census.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Census Bureau conducts the 

annual Company Organization Survey 

(COS) to update and maintain a central, 

multipurpose Business Register (BR) 

database. In particular, the COS 

supplies critical information on the 

composition, organizational structure, 

and operating characteristics of multilocation companies. 

The BR serves two fundamental 

purposes: 

—First and most important, it provides 

sampling populations and 

enumeration lists for the Census 

Bureau’s economic surveys and 

censuses, and it serves as an integral 

part of the statistical foundation 

underlying those programs. Essential 

for this purpose is the BR’s ability to 

identify all known United States 

business establishments and their 

parent companies. Further, the BR 

must accurately record basic business 

attributes needed to control sampling 

and enumeration. These attributes 

include industrial and geographic 

classifications, and name and address 

information. 

—Second, it provides establishment 

data that serve as the basis for the 

annual County Business Patterns 

(CBP) statistical series. The CBP 

reports present data on the number of 

establishments, first quarter payroll, 

annual payroll, and mid-March 

employment summarized by industry 

and employment size class for the 

United States, the District of 

Columbia, island areas, counties, and 

county-equivalents. No other annual 

or more frequent series of industry 

statistics provides comparable detail, 

particularly for small geographic 

areas. 

II. Method of Collection 

The Census Bureau will conduct the 

2012 COS in conjunction with the 2012 

Economic Census and will coordinate 

these collections to minimize response 

burden. The consolidated COS/census 

mail canvass will direct inquiries to the 

entire universe of multi-location 

enterprises, which comprises roughly 

164,000 parent companies and more 

than 1.6 million establishments. The 

decrease in response burden for the 

2012 COS of 36,733 hours is the result 

of obtaining most multi-location 

establishment data as part of the 2012 

Economic Census. Additionally, the 

panel will include approximately 

100,000 large single-location companies 

to capture data for the Enterprise 

Statistics Program (ESP). In 2010 the 

Census Bureau pretested ESP questions 

under its Generic Clearance for 

pretesting research. In 2011 the COS 

collected data from all multi-location 

companies and will use these data to 

baseline the 2012 Economic Census 

data. The primary collection medium 

for the COS and Economic Census is a 

paper questionnaire; however, many 

enterprises will submit automated/ 

electronic COS and Economic Census 

reports. For 2012, electronic reporting 

will be available to all COS and 

Economic Census respondents. 

Companies will receive and return 

responses by secure Internet 

transmission. Companies that cannot 

use the Internet will receive a CD–ROM 

containing their electronic data. All 

respondents will be allowed to mail the 

data via diskette or CD–ROM or submit 

their response data via the Internet. COS 

content is identical for all of the 

reporting modes. 

The 2012 COS will include companylevel questions to approximately 

164,000 multi-location enterprises with 

industrial activities out-of-scope of the 

2012 Economic Census. The companylevel portion will include inquiries on 

ownership or control by domestic or 

foreign parents, ownership of foreign 

affiliates, research and development, 

leased employment, and manufacturing 

activities related to the Enterprise 

Statistics Program. Additional COS 

inquiries will apply to the 15,000 multiunit establishments classified in 

industries that are out-of-scope of the 

economic census. The additional 

inquiries will list an inventory of those 

out-of-scope establishments and request 

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