42772 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 163 / Tuesday, August 25, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 

1Public Law 107–204, 116 Stat. 745 (2002). 

2 15 U.S.C. 77s(b). 

3See Commission Statement of Policy 

Reaffirming the Status of the FASB as a Designated 

Private-Sector Standard Setter, Release Nos. 33– 

8221; 34–47743; IC–26028; FR–70 (April 25, 2003) 

[68 FR 23333 (May 1, 2003)]. 

4The FASB Codification is available at http:// 

asc.fasb.org/home. 

5 17 CFR 210.1–01. 

6See, e.g., Rule 1–02(u) of Regulation S–X [17 

CFR 210.1–02(u)], which defines the term ‘‘related 

parties’’ by reference to FASB Statement of 

Financial Accounting Standards No. 57, Related 

Party Disclosures. 

7 17 CFR 229.402. 

Registry may not participate in any 

arrangement to share the cost of 

accessing the registry, including any 

arrangement with any telemarketer or 

service provider to divide the costs to 

access the registry among various clients 

of that telemarketer or service provider. 

(d) Each person who pays, either 

directly or through another person, the 

annual fee set forth in § 310.8(c), each 

person excepted under § 310.8(c) from 

paying the annual fee, and each person 

excepted from paying an annual fee 

under § 310.4(b)(1)(iii)(B), will be 

provided a unique account number that 

will allow that person to access the 

registry data for the selected area codes 

at any time for the twelve month period 

beginning on the first day of the month 

in which the person paid the fee (‘‘the 

annual period’’). To obtain access to 

additional area codes of data during the 

first six months of the annual period, 

each person required to pay the fee 

under § 310.8(c) must first pay $55 for 

each additional area code of data not 

initially selected. To obtain access to 

additional area codes of data during the 

second six months of the annual period, 

each person required to pay the fee 

under § 310.8(c) must first pay $27 for 

each additional area code of data not 

initially selected. The payment of the 

additional fee will permit the person to 

access the additional area codes of data 

for the remainder of the annual period. 

* * * * * 

By direction of the Commission. 

Donald S. Clark, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–20252 Filed 8–24–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6750–01–S 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

17 CFR Parts 211, 231, and 241 

[Release Nos. 33–9062A; 34–60519A; FR– 

80A] 

Commission Guidance Regarding the 

Financial Accounting Standards 

Board’s Accounting Standards 

Codification 

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange 

Commission. 

ACTION: Interpretation. 

SUMMARY: The Securities and Exchange 

Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’) is 

publishing interpretive guidance 

regarding the release by the Financial 

Accounting Standards Board (‘‘FASB’’) 

of its FASB Accounting Standards 

CodificationTM (‘‘FASB Codification’’). 

DATES: Effective Date: August 25, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions about specific filings should 

be directed to staff members responsible 

for reviewing the documents the 

registrant files with the Commission. 

General questions about this release 

should be referred to Jenifer MinkeGirard, Senior Associate Chief 

Accountant, or Jeffrey S. Cohan, Senior 

Special Counsel, Office of the Chief 

Accountant, at (202) 551–5300, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20549–6628. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Section 108 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 

of 2002 1 amended Section 19(b) of the 

Securities Act of 1933 2 to provide that 

the Commission may recognize, as 

generally accepted for purposes of the 

securities laws, any accounting 

principles established by a standard 

setting body that meets specified 

criteria. On April 25, 2003, the 

Commission issued a policy statement 

concluding that the FASB and its parent 

organization, the Financial Accounting 

Foundation, satisfied the criteria for an 

accounting standard setting body under 

the Act, and recognizing the FASB’s 

financial accounting and reporting 

standards as ‘‘generally accepted’’ for 

purposes of the federal securities laws.3

On June 30, 2009, the FASB issued 

FASB Statement of Financial 

Accounting Standards No. 168, The 

FASB Accounting Standards 

CodificationTM and the Hierarchy of 

Generally Accepted Accounting 

Principles—a replacement of FASB 

Statement No. 162 (Statement No. 168), 

to establish the FASB Codification as 

the source of authoritative nonCommission accounting principles 

recognized by the FASB to be applied 

by nongovernmental entities in the 

preparation of financial statements in 

conformity with U.S. generally accepted 

accounting principles (‘‘U.S. GAAP’’). 

Statement No. 168 is effective for 

financial statements issued for interim 

and annual periods ending after 

September 15, 2009. The FASB 

Codification reorganizes existing U.S. 

accounting and reporting standards 

issued by the FASB and other related 

private-sector standard setters, and all 

guidance contained in the FASB 

Codification carries an equal level of 

authority.4

The FASB Codification directly 

impacts certain of the Commission’s 

rules, regulations, releases and staff 

bulletins (collectively referred to in this 

release as ‘‘Commission’s rules and staff 

guidance’’), which refer to specific 

FASB standards or other private sector 

standard-setter literature under U.S. 

GAAP, because such references are now 

superseded by the FASB Codification. 

The Commission is therefore issuing 

interpretive guidance to avoid confusion 

on the part of issuers, auditors, 

investors, and other users of financial 

statements and Commission rules and 

staff guidance. 

II. Discussion 

Many parts of the Commission’s rules 

and staff guidance include direct 

references to specific standards under 

U.S. GAAP. For example, Regulation 

S–X, which, together with the 

Commission’s Financial Reporting 

Releases, sets forth the form and content 

of and requirements for financial 

statements required to be filed with the 

Commission,5 includes specific 

references to specific standards under 

U.S. GAAP.6 In addition, some parts of 

the Commission’s rules and staff 

guidance outside of the financial 

statement context include specific 

references to specific standards under 

U.S. GAAP, such as in Item 402 of 

Regulation S–K regarding disclosure of 

executive compensation.7

Given the possible confusion between 

the Commission’s rules and staff 

guidance, on the one hand, and the 

FASB Codification, on the other hand, 

the Commission believes it is necessary 

to publish the guidance in this release. 

Concurrent with the effective date of the 

FASB Codification, references in the 

Commission’s rules and staff guidance 

to specific standards under U.S. GAAP 

should be understood to mean the 

corresponding reference in the FASB 

Codification. We note that the FASB 

Codification includes a cross-reference 

finding tool that can assist users in 

identifying where previous accounting 

literature resides in the FASB 

Codification. The Commission and its 

staff also intend to embark on a longer 

term rulemaking and updating initiative 

to revise comprehensively specific 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 163 / Tuesday, August 25, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 42773 

references to specific standards under 

U.S. GAAP in the Commission’s rules 

and staff guidance. 

It should be noted that although the 

FASB has stated that the FASB 

Codification supersedes existing 

references in U.S. GAAP, the FASB 

Codification does not supersede 

Commission rules or regulations. We 

understand that the FASB Codification, 

as a service to users, includes references 

to some Commission rules and staff 

guidance. However, the FASB 

Codification is not the authoritative 

source for such content, nor does its 

inclusion in the FASB Codification 

affect how such content may be updated 

in the future. 

III. Codification Update 

The ‘‘Codification of Financial 

Reporting Policies’’ announced in 

Financial Reporting Release No. 1 (April 

15, 1982) [47 FR 21028] is updated by 

adding at the end of Section 101, under 

the Financial Reporting Number (FR– 

80A) assigned to this interpretive 

release, the text in Sections I and II of 

this release. 

The Codification is a separate 

publication of the Commission. It will 

not be published in the Federal 

Register/Code of Federal Regulations. 

List of Subjects 

17 CFR Part 211 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Securities. 

17 CFR Parts 231 and 241 

Securities. 

Amendments to the Code of Federal 

Regulations 

■ For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, the Commission is amending 

title 17, chapter II of the Code of Federal 

Regulations as set forth below: 

PART 211—INTERPRETATIONS 

RELATING TO FINANCIAL REPORTING 

MATTERS 

■ Part 211, Subpart A, is amended by 

adding Release No. FR–80A and the 

release date of August 18, 2009 to the 

list of interpretive releases. 

PART 231—INTERPRETATIVE 

RELEASES RELATING TO THE 

SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 AND 

GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS 

THEREUNDER 

■ Part 231 is amended by adding 

Release No. 33–9062A and the release 

date of August 18, 2009 to the list of 

interpretive releases. 

PART 241—INTERPRETATIVE 

RELEASES RELATING TO THE 

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 

AND GENERAL RULES AND 

REGULATIONS THEREUNDER 

■ Part 241 is amended by adding 

Release No. 34–60519A and the release 

date of August 18, 2009 to the list of 

interpretive releases. 

By the Commission. 

Dated: August 19, 2009. 

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E9–20381 Filed 8–24–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Food and Drug Administration 

21 CFR Part 866 

[Docket No. FDA–2009–N–0344] 

Microbiology Devices; Reclassification 

of Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 

2 Serological Assays 

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, 

HHS. 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA) is implementing a 

direct final rule correcting the 

regulation classifying herpes simplex 

virus (HSV) serological assays by 

removing the reference to HSV 

serological assays other than type 1 and 

type 2. When reclassifying this device, 

FDA mistakenly distinguished between 

HSV serological assays type 1 and type 

2 and all other HSV serological assays. 

At that time, and today, the only 

preamendments HSV serological assays 

which FDA was aware of were type 1 

and type 2 and, therefore, the 

classification of HSV assays other than 

type 1 and type 2 was incorrect. FDA is 

correcting the classification of this 

device to eliminate possible confusion 

resulting from this error. Elsewhere in 

this issue of the Federal Register, we are 

publishing a companion proposed rule 

under FDA’s usual procedure for notice 

and comment to provide a procedural 

framework to finalize the rule in the 

event we receive significant adverse 

comment and withdraw this direct final 

rule. 

DATES: This rule is effective December 7, 

2009. Submit written or electronic 

comments on the direct final rule by 

October 8, 2009. If we receive no 

significant adverse comments within the 

specified comment period, we intend to 

publish a document confirming the 

effective date of the final rule in the 

Federal Register within 30 days after 

the comment period on this direct final 

rule ends. If we receive any timely 

significant adverse comment, we will 

withdraw this final rule in part or in 

whole by publication of a document in 

the Federal Register within 30 days 

after the comment period ends. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by Docket No FDA–2009–N– 

0344, by any of the following methods: 

Electronic Submissions 

Submit electronic comments in the 

following way: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Written Submissions 

Submit written submissions in the 

following ways: 

• Fax: 301–827–6870. 

• Mail/Hand delivery/Courier [For 

paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions]: 

Division of Dockets Management (HFA– 

305), Food and Drug Administration, 

5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, 

MD 20852. 

To ensure more timely processing of 

comments, FDA is no longer accepting 

comments submitted to the agency by email. FDA encourages you to continue 

to submit electronic comments by using 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal, as 

described previously, in the ADDRESSES

portion of this document under 

Electronic Submissions. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

Docket No(s). and Regulatory 

Information Number (RIN) (if a RIN 

number has been assigned) for this 

rulemaking. All comments received may 

be posted without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. For 

additional information on submitting 

comments, see the ‘‘Comments’’ heading 

of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

section of this document. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov and insert the 

docket number(s), found in brackets in 

the heading of this document, into the 

‘‘Search’’ box and follow the prompts 

and/or go to the Division of Dockets 

Management, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 

1061, Rockville, MD 20852. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Scott McFarland, Center for Devices and 

Radiological Health WO/66, rm. 5543, 

Food and Drug Administration, 10903 

New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, 

MD, 301–796–6217. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with RULES