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

42771 

Vol. 74, No. 163 

Tuesday, August 25, 2009 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

RIN 3084-AA98 

16 CFR Part 310 

Telemarketing Sales Rule Fees 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Trade 

Commission (the ‘‘Commission’’ or 

‘‘FTC’’) is amending its Telemarketing 

Sales Rule (‘‘TSR’’) by updating the fees 

charged to entities accessing the 

National Do Not Call Registry (the 

‘‘Registry’’) as required by the Do-NotCall Registry Fee Extension Act of 2007. 

DATES: This amendment will become 

effective October 1, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of this 

document should be sent to: Public 

Reference Branch, Federal Trade 

Commission, Room 130, 600 

Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., 

Washington, DC 20580. Copies of this 

document are also available on the 

Internet at the Commission’s website: 

(http://www.ftc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kelly A. Horne, (202) 326-3031, 

Division of Planning & Information, 

Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal 

Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania 

Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To comply 

with the Do-Not-Call Registry Fee 

Extension Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-188, 

122 Stat. 635) (‘‘Act’’), the Commission 

is amending the TSR by updating the 

fees entities are charged for accessing 

the Registry: The revised rule increases 

the annual fee for access to the Registry 

for each area code of data to $55 per 

area code, or $27 per area code of data 

during the second six months of an 

entity’s annual subscription period. The 

maximum amount that would be 

charged to any single entity for 

accessing area codes of data is increased 

to $15,058. 

This increase is in accordance with 

the Act, which specifies that beginning 

after fiscal year 2009, the dollar 

amounts charged shall be increased by 

an amount equal to the amounts 

specified in the Act, whichever fee is 

applicable, multiplied by the percentage 

(if any) by which the average of the 

monthly consumer price index (for all 

urban consumers published by the 

Department of Labor) (‘‘CPI’’) for the 

most recently ended 12-month period 

ending on June 30 exceeds the CPI for 

the 12-month period ending June 30, 

2008. The Act also states that any 

increase shall be rounded to the nearest 

dollar and that there shall be no 

increase in the dollar amounts if the 

change in the CPI is less than 1 percent. 

The adjustments to the applicable fees, 

if any, are to be published in the 

Federal Register no later than 

September 1 of each year. 

The Act specified that, for fiscal year 

2009, the annual fee for access to the 

Registry for each area code of data 

would be $54 per area code, or $27 per 

area code of data during the second six 

months of an entity’s annual 

subscription period, and that the 

maximum amount that would be 

charged to any single entity for 

accessing area codes of data would be 

$14,850. The average value of the CPI 

for July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008 was 

211.702; the average value for July 1, 

2008 to June 30, 2009 was 214.658, an 

increase of 1.4 percent. Applying the 1.4 

percent increase to the fiscal year 2009 

amounts leads to an increase in the fee 

for access to a single area code for a full 

year to $54.76 (rounded to $55) and an 

increase in the maximum amount 

charged to $15,057.90 (rounded to 

$15,058). The fee for accessing an 

additional area code for a half year 

remains $27 because the increase is 

$0.38, and, therefore, the new amount 

continues to round to $27. 

Administrative Procedure Act; 

Regulatory Flexibility Act; Paperwork 

Reduction Act. The revisions to the Fee 

Rule are technical in nature and merely 

incorporate statutory changes to the 

TSR. These statutory changes have been 

adopted without change or 

interpretation, making public comment 

unnecessary. Therefore, the Commission 

has determined that the notice and 

comment requirements of the 

Administrative Procedure Act do not 

apply. See 5 U.S.C. 553(b). For this 

reason, the requirements of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act also do not 

apply. See 5 U.S.C. 603, 604. Pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 

U.S.C. 3501-3521, the Office of 

Management and Budget (‘‘OMB’’) 

approved the information collection 

requirements in the Amended TSR and 

assigned the following existing OMB 

Control Number: 3084-0097. The 

amendments outlined in this Final Rule 

pertain only to the fee provision (sec. 

310.8) of the Amended TSR and will not 

establish or alter any record keeping, 

reporting, or third-party disclosure 

requirements elsewhere in the Amended 

TSR. 

List of Subjects in 16 CFR Part 310 

Advertising, Consumer protection, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Telephone, Trade 

practices. 

■ Accordingly, the Federal Trade 

Commission amends part 310 of title 16 

of the Code of Federal Regulations as 

follows: 

PART 310—TELEMARKETING SALES 

RULE 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 310 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 6101-6108; 15 U.S.C. 

6151-6155. 

■ 2. Revise §§ 310.8(c) and (d) to read as 

follows: 

§ 310.8 Fee for access to the National Do 

Not Call Registry. 

* * * * * 

(c) The annual fee, which must be 

paid by any person prior to obtaining 

access to the National Do Not Call 

Registry, is $55 for each area code of 

data accessed, up to a maximum of 

$15,058; provided, however, that there 

shall be no charge to any person for 

accessing the first five area codes of 

data, and provided further, that there 

shall be no charge to any person 

engaging in or causing others to engage 

in outbound telephone calls to 

consumers and who is accessing area 

codes of data in the National Do Not 

Call Registry if the person is permitted 

to access, but is not required to access, 

the National Do Not Call Registry under 

this Rule, 47 CFR 64.1200, or any other 

Federal regulation or law. Any person 

accessing the National Do Not Call 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with RULES
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 


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