This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

53779 

Vol. 77, No. 171 

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

14 CFR Part 235 

[Docket No. DOT–OST–2010–0211] 

RIN 2105–AE07 

Reports by Air Carriers on Incidents 

Involving Animals During Air Transport 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Extension of comment period on 

proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: This action extends the 

comment period of an NPRM on the 

reporting of incidents involving animals 

during air transport that was published 

in the Federal Register on June 29, 

2012. See 77 FR 38747. The Department 

of Transportation is extending the 

period for interested persons to submit 

comments on this rulemaking from 

August 28, 2012, to September 27, 2012. 

This extension is a result of a request to 

extend the comment period for the 

proposal. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

September 27, 2012. Comments received 

after this date will be considered to the 

extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: You may file comments 

identified by the docket number DOT– 

OST–2010–0211 by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE., Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

• Fax: 202–493–2251. 

Instructions: You must include the 

agency name and docket number DOT– 

OST–2010–0211 or Regulatory 

Identification Number (RIN) for the 

rulemaking at the beginning of your 

comment. All comments will be posted 

without change to http://www.

regulations.gov, including any personal 

information provided. 

Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search 

the electronic form of all comments 

received in any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or signing the comment if 

submitted on behalf of an association, a 

business, a labor union, etc.). You may 

review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

statement in the Federal Register 

published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 

19477–78), or you may visit http://

DocketsInfo.dot.gov. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http://www.

regulations.gov or to the street address 

listed above. Follow the online 

instructions for accessing the docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Vinh Q. Nguyen, Trial Attorney, Office 

of the Assistant General Counsel for 

Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Ave. SE., Washington, DC 

20590, 202–366–9342 (phone), 202– 

366–7152 (fax), vinh.nguyen@dot.gov. 

You may also contact Blane A. Workie, 

Deputy Assistant General Counsel, 

Office of the Assistant General Counsel 

for Aviation Enforcement and 

Proceedings, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. 

SE., Washington, DC 20590, 202–366– 

9342 (phone), 202–366–7152 (fax), 

blane.workie@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 

29, 2012, the Department published a 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 

concerning the requirement for air 

carriers to report to the Department 

incidents involving the loss, injury, or 

death of an animal during air transport. 

The NPRM proposed to: (1) Expand the 

reporting requirement to U.S. carriers 

that operate scheduled service with at 

least one aircraft with a design capacity 

of more than 60 seats; (2) expand the 

definition of ‘‘animal’’ to include all 

cats and dogs transported by the 

carriers, regardless of whether the cat or 

dog is transported as a pet by its owner 

or as part of a commercial shipment 

(e.g., shipped by a breeder); and (3) 

require all covered carriers to provide in 

their December reports for each year the 

total number of animals that were lost, 

injured, or died during air transport for 

the calendar year. We also sought 

comment on requiring carriers to report 

the total number of animals transported 

in the calendar year in the December 

reports. Comments on the matters 

proposed were to be received 60 days 

after publication of the NPRM, or by 

August 28, 2012. 

Request for Comment Period Extension 

We received a joint request for an 

extension of time in the comment 

period for this rulemaking from Airlines 

for America (A4A), the Regional Airline 

Association (RAA), the Air Carrier 

Association of America, Inc. (ACAA), 

and their respective members (the 

petitioners). According to the request, 

the extension of time is needed so 

interested parties have sufficient time to 

review and comment on the preliminary 

regulatory analysis (PRA). The 

petitioners state that as of July 20, 2012, 

the docket associated with this 

rulemaking did not yet include the 

Department’s PRA, which provides the 

cost and benefit analysis underpinning 

the proposal. The petitioners state that 

comment development cannot progress 

until the PRA is available. The PRA was 

posted in the docket on July 24, 2012. 

Under the circumstances, we concur 

with the request for an extension of the 

comment period. We have decided to 

grant an extension of 30 days, or until 

September 27, 2012, for the public to 

comment on the NPRM. In doing so, we 

have balanced the stated need for 

additional time for comments with the 

need to proceed expeditiously with this 

important rulemaking. We take note of 

the fact that with the additional 30 days 

we are granting here, interested parties 

will have more than two months to 

comment on the PRA, which we believe 

is adequate time for analysis and 

coordination regarding the proposals. 

Accordingly, the Department finds that 

good cause exists to extend the time for 

comments on the proposed rule from 

August 28, 2012, to September 27, 2012. 

We do not anticipate any further 

extension of the comment period for 

this rulemaking. Comments received 

after September 27, 2012, will be 

considered to the extent practicable. 

Request for Clarification 

In addition to requesting that the 

comment period be extended, the 

petitioners posed a number of questions 


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
53780 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 171 / Tuesday, September 4, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

to the Department concerning the 

proposed requirement that carriers 

report the total number of animals 

transported during a calendar year with 

that year’s December reports, the cost to 

carriers of amending the definition of 

‘‘animal’’ for reporting purposes, and 

the number of carriers affected by the 

reporting requirement. 

Issues Concerning the Proposed 

Requirement That Carriers Report the 

Total Number of Animals Transported 

in the Calendar Year in the December 

Reports 

The petitioners state that there are 

conflicting statements between the 

NPRM summary and the NPRM 

Regulatory Analyses and Notices (RAN) 

section with respect to the proposed 

requirement that carriers report the total 

number of animals transported in the 

calendar year in the December reports. 

They state that while the RAN section 

indicates that carriers would be required 

to report only during the months where 

the carriers experience a reportable 

animal incident, the preamble asks 

whether carriers should be required to 

file reports in months when no incident 

takes place. The petitioners seek 

clarification on this issue and request 

that the RAN section of the preamble be 

clarified if the proposal is that carrier be 

required to file negative reports. 

As stated in the RAN section, in 

addition to proposing that covered 

carriers report the total number of 

animals transported in the calendar year 

in their December reports, the 

Department proposed that covered 

carriers only submit a report during the 

months when the carriers have a 

reportable animal incident. However, 

we also sought comment on whether to 

require carriers to file reports even if the 

carriers did not have any incidents 

involving the loss, injury, or death of an 

animal during a particular month. This 

is not inconsistent. The NPRM is not 

proposing that carriers file a negative 

report but is soliciting comment on this 

point so we can determine whether the 

final rule should include a general 

requirement that covered carriers must 

submit reports each month even if the 

carriers do not have any reportable 

incidents during a particular month or 

perhaps a requirement that carriers must 

file a December report regardless of 

whether any incidents occurred in that 

month to cover the total number of 

animals transported that year. 

Issues Concerning the Cost to Covered 

Carriers of Amending the Definition of 

Animal 

The petitioners state that for the 15 

carriers that are currently required to 

report incidents involving the loss, 

injury, or death of an animal during air 

transport, the RAN is incorrect in stating 

that there would be no additional costs 

associated with amending the definition 

of ‘‘animal’’ for reporting purposes to 

include all cats and dogs transported by 

the carrier regardless of whether the cat 

or dog is transported as a pet by its 

owner or as part of a commercial 

shipment. They state that the 15 carriers 

already subject to the reporting 

requirement would likely incur 

additional costs, and the Department 

should correct the RAN. 

The statement in the RAN that there 

would be no additional costs to the 15 

carriers that already collect information 

on incidents involving loss, injury, or 

death of an animal refers to costs 

associated with actually filing monthly 

reports. The Department acknowledges 

that there would be costs associated 

with collecting more information to 

report, i.e., not only on incidents 

involving pets but also incidents 

involving dogs and cats that are shipped 

commercially. In the NPRM, the 

Department states that it believes the 

cost of the proposed expanded 

definition of an animal covered by the 

reporting rule would impact airlines but 

the cost would still be minimal. We 

encourage comments and data about 

expected costs resulting from the 

expansion of the definition of ‘‘animal.’’ 

Issues Concerning the Scope of the 

Reporting Requirement 

The petitioners state that although the 

RAN states that the scope of the carriers 

covered by the animal incident 

reporting requirements would expand 

under the NPRM proposal from 15 to 36 

carriers, the NPRM does not list the 

carriers so there is no way to verify if 

the list is accurate. They point out that 

presumably the PRA lists the potentially 

impacted carriers and that informed 

comment cannot progress until the PRA 

and that information is available. 

The PRA does in fact list the carriers 

that would be affected by the NPRM 

and, as noted above, the PRA was 

posted in the docket on July 24, 2012. 

The public is invited to comment on the 

accuracy of that list. 

Issued this 28th day of August, 2012, in 

Washington, DC under authority delegated in 

14 CFR part 1. 

Robert S. Rivkin, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2012–21615 Filed 8–31–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Minority Business Development 

Agency 

15 CFR Part 1400 

[Docket No. 120517080–2402–04] 

Petition for Inclusion of the ArabAmerican Community in the Groups 

Eligible for MBDA Services 

AGENCY: Minority Business 

Development Agency, Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

and request for comments; amendment. 

SUMMARY: The Minority Business 

Development Administration publishes 

this notice to extend the date on which 

it plans to make its decision on a 

petition from the American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee requesting 

formal designation from August 30, 

2012 to November 30, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information about this Notice, 

contact Josephine Arnold, Minority 

Business Development Agency, 1401 

Constitution Avenue NW., Room 5053, 

Washington, DC 20230, (202) 482–2332. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 

30, 2012, the Minority Business 

Development Agency (MBDA) 

published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking and request for comments 

regarding a petition received on January 

11, 2012 from the American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee (ADC) 

requesting formal designation of ArabAmericans as a minority group that is 

socially or economically disadvantaged 

pursuant to 15 CFR Part 1400. The 

Notice included a thirty-day comment 

period that ended on June 29, 2012, but 

also stated that MBDA will make a 

decision on the petition no later than 

June 27, 2012. On June 12, 2012, MBDA 

published a notice in the Federal 

Register extending the date for making 

its decision to July 30, 2012. On August 

3, 2012, MBDA published a second 

amendment to extend the deadline for 

the decision until August 30, 2012, to 

allow MBDA to complete its 

independent review and analysis of the 

issues raised in the petition and 

comments received to the petition. The 

Agency has determined that further 

analysis of the information collected 

during its independent review is 

necessary to ensure a reasoned and 

sound decision. Therefore, MBDA is 

extending, for an additional ninety (90) 

day period, its consideration of the 

issues addressed in the petition and the 

information presented by MBDA’s 

independent review. The Agency will 


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