52548 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 163 / Tuesday, August 23, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

endometrium on the third set of cultures 

only. 

We are reopening the comment period 

for 15 days to allow additional public 

comment on the March 2011 interim 

rule, and we particularly welcome 

comments on the modifications we are 

considering to those requirements 

described above. 

Based on our review of the comments 

received to date, we consider it 

advisable to delay the enforcement of 

the interim rule until further notice. 

This additional time will allow APHIS 

to consider all comments and make 

adjustments to the interim rule that may 

be necessary in order to successfully 

implement it. 

Accordingly, enforcement of the 

interim rule amending 9 CFR part 93, 

published at 76 FR 16683–16686 on 

March 25, 2011, and delayed until July 

25, 2011, in a document published at 76 

FR 31220–31221 on May 31, 2011, is 

delayed until further notice. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622 and 8301–8317; 

21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 

CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of 

August 2011. 

Gregory L. Parham, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–21524 Filed 8–22–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

9 CFR Part 161 

[Docket No. APHIS–2006–0093] 

RIN 0579–AC04 

National Veterinary Accreditation 

Program; Currently Accredited 

Veterinarians Performing Accredited 

Duties and Electing To Participate 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule; technical amendment 

and announcement of end of period for 

election to participate. 

SUMMARY: We are announcing to the 

public that veterinarians who are 

currently accredited in the National 

Veterinary Accreditation Program 

(NVAP) may continue to perform 

accredited duties and may elect to 

continue to participate in the NVAP 

until October 1, 2011. The regulations 

indicate that currently accredited 

veterinarians must elect to continue 

their participation in the NVAP in order 

to maintain their accredited status, after 

which we will confirm their continued 

participation and notify them of their 

first renewal date. A previous document 

announced that currently accredited 

veterinarians may continue to perform 

accredited duties until further notice, 

even if they have not received a date for 

their first accreditation renewal. That 

document stated that we would specify 

a date by which veterinarians would 

have to elect to participate in a 

subsequent document. 

DATES: Effective Date: August 23, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Todd Behre, National Veterinary 

Accreditation Program, VS, APHIS, 

4700 River Road Unit 200, Riverdale, 

MD 20737; (301) 851–3401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

regulations in 9 CFR chapter I, 

subchapter J (parts 160 through 162, 

referred to below as the regulations), 

govern the accreditation of veterinarians 

and the suspension and revocation of 

such accreditation. These regulations 

are the foundation for the National 

Veterinary Accreditation Program 

(NVAP). Accredited veterinarians are 

approved by the Administrator of the 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS), U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, to perform certain 

regulatory tasks to control and prevent 

the spread of animal diseases 

throughout the United States and 

internationally. 

On December 9, 2009 (74 FR 64998– 

65013, Docket No. APHIS–2006–0093), 

we published a final rule in the Federal 

Register that amended the regulations to 

establish two accreditation categories in 

place of the former single category, to 

add requirements for supplemental 

training and renewal of accreditation, 

and to offer program certifications. The 

final rule was effective February 1, 

2010, a date intended to give us time to 

prepare to implement the new 

regulations, which affect about 71,000 

veterinarians who are currently 

accredited. 

Section 161.3 of the final rule 

contained the requirements for 

supplemental training and renewal of 

accreditation. Because accredited 

veterinarians have not previously been 

required to renew their accreditation or 

complete supplemental training, we 

established in paragraph (d) of § 161.3 a 

process allowing currently accredited 

veterinarians to determine whether they 

wished to continue to participate in the 

NVAP. 

Paragraph (d) of § 161.3 states that 

veterinarians who are accredited as of 

February 1, 2010, may continue to 

perform accredited duties between 

February 1, 2010, and the date of their 

first renewal. In accordance with 

paragraph (d), APHIS provided notice 

for 3 months to accredited veterinarians 

who were accredited as of February 1, 

2010, to notify them that they must elect 

to participate in the NVAP as a Category 

I or Category II veterinarian. Paragraph 

(d) requires veterinarians to elect to 

continue to participate within 3 months 

of the end of the notification period, or 

their accredited status will expire. 

Paragraph (d) of § 161.3 goes on to 

state that when APHIS receives notice 

from an accredited veterinarian that he 

or she elects to participate, APHIS will 

notify the accredited veterinarian of his 

or her date for first renewal. The 

accredited veterinarian must then 

complete all the training requirements 

for renewal, as described in § 161.3, by 

his or her first renewal date. The 

notification of the first renewal date was 

thus intended to be the means by which 

APHIS notifies an accredited 

veterinarian that we have received 

notice that he or she has elected to 

participate and can thus continue 

performing accredited duties. 

In a notice published in the Federal 

Register and effective on September 28, 

2010 (75 FR 59605–59606, Docket No. 

APHIS–2006–0093), we announced that 

currently accredited veterinarians may 

continue to perform accredited duties 

until further notice, even if they have 

not received a date for their first 

accreditation renewal from APHIS. We 

stated that we would also allow 

currently accredited veterinarians to 

continue to elect to participate in the 

NVAP. We took this action because 

logistical difficulties had prevented us 

from processing the elections to 

participate of all the currently 

accredited veterinarians (over 50,000) 

who elected to participate. We stated 

that, when we are closer to reaching the 

goal of processing those elections, we 

would publish another document in the 

Federal Register that would amend 

§ 161.3(d) to indicate the date by which 

veterinarians must elect to continue to 

participate in the NVAP. 

We have determined that setting a 

deadline of October 1, 2011, will allow 

adequate time for currently accredited 

veterinarians to elect to continue 

participating, if they wish to do so, and 

for us to process the elections to 

participate that we have received to this 

point and any further elections to 

participate that may be submitted by 

that date. Accordingly, this document 

amends § 161.3(d) to indicate that 

currently accredited veterinarians must 

elect to participate by October 1, 2011. 

A Web seminar on the revisions to the 

NVAP and how to elect to participate is 


rmajette on DSK89S0YB1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 163 / Tuesday, August 23, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 52549 

1 17 CFR 240.12h–3, 17 CFR 240.12h–6, and 17 

CFR 240.15d–22. 

2 17 CFR 249.323. 

3 15 U.S.C. 78a et seq. 

4Pub. L. 111–203 (July 21, 2010). 

5 15 U.S.C. 78o(d). 

6Suspension of the Duty to File Reports for 

Classes of Asset-Backed Securities Under Section 

15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 

Release No. 34–63652 (Jan. 6, 2011) [76 FR 2049] 

(the ‘‘Proposing Release’’). 

7 15 U.S.C. 77a et seq. 

8ABS offerings are typically registered on shelf 

registration statements and each ABS offering is 

typically sold in a separate ‘‘takedown’’ off of the 

shelf. In 2004, the Commission adopted Exchange 

Act Rule 15d–22 relating to ABS reporting under 

Exchange Act Section 15(d). Exchange Act Rule 

15d–22 codified the staff position regarding the 

starting and suspension dates for any reporting 

obligation with respect to a takedown of ABS and 

clarified that a new takedown for a new ABS 

offering off the same shelf registration statement did 

not necessitate continued reporting for a class of 

securities from a prior takedown that was otherwise 

eligible to suspend reporting. See Asset-Backed 

Securities, Release No. 33–8518 (Dec. 22, 2004) [70 

FR 1506] (the ‘‘ABS Adopting Release’’). 

9 In a securitization using a master trust structure, 

the ABS transaction contemplates future issuances 

of ABS backed by the same, but expanded, asset 

pool that consists of revolving assets. Pre-existing 

and newly issued securities would therefore be 

backed by the same expanded asset pool. Thus, 

given their continued issuance, master trust ABS 

issuers typically continue to report, even after the 

first annual report is filed. 

10One source noted that in a survey of 100 

randomly selected asset-backed transactions, the 

number of record holders provided in reports on 

Form 15 ranged from two to more than 70. The 

survey did not consider beneficial owner numbers. 

See Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, The 

Global Financial Crisis: A Plan for Regulatory 

Reform, May 2009, at fn. 349. 

11 15 U.S.C. 78o(d)(2). 

available at mms:// 

ocbmtcwmp.usda.gov/content/aphis/ 

aphis21.wmv. 

List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 161 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Veterinarians. 

Accordingly, we are amending 9 CFR 

part 161 as follows: 

PART 161—REQUIREMENTS AND 

STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITED 

VETERINARIANS AND SUSPENSION 

OR REVOCATION OF SUCH 

ACCREDITATION 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 161 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 8301–8317; 15 U.S.C. 

1828; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.4. 

§ 161.3 [Amended] 

■ 2. In § 161.3, paragraph (d) is 

amended by removing the words 

‘‘within 3 months of the end of the 

notification period’’ and adding the 

words ‘‘by October 1, 2011’’ in their 

place. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of 

August 2011. 

Gregory L. Parham, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–21526 Filed 8–22–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

17 CFR Parts 240 and 249 

[Release No. 34–65148; File No. S7–02–11] 

RIN 3235–AK89 

Suspension of the Duty To File 

Reports for Classes of Asset-Backed 

Securities Under Section 15(D) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

AGENCY: Securities and Exchange 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: Section 942(a) of the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act eliminated the automatic 

suspension of the duty to file under 

Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange 

Act of 1934 for asset-backed securities 

issuers and granted the Commission the 

authority to issue rules providing for the 

suspension or termination of such duty. 

We are adopting rules to provide certain 

thresholds for suspension of the 

reporting obligations for asset-backed 

securities issuers. We are also amending 

our rules relating to the Exchange Act 

reporting obligations of asset-backed 

securities issuers in light of these 

statutory changes. 

DATES: Effective Date: September 22, 

2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steven Hearne, Special Counsel, in the 

Office of Rulemaking, at (202) 551–3430 

or Kathy Hsu, Chief, Office of 

Structured Finance, Division of 

Corporation Finance, at (202) 551–3850, 

U.S. Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street, NE., 

Washington, DC 20549–3628. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We are 

adopting amendments to Rules 12h–3, 

12h–6, and 15d–22 1 and Form 15 2

under the Securities Exchange Act of 

1934 (‘‘Exchange Act’’).3

I. Background and Overview of the 

Amendments 

Section 942(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall 

Street Reform and Consumer Protection 

Act (the ‘‘Act’’) 4 eliminated the 

automatic suspension of the duty to file 

under Section 15(d) 5 of the Exchange 

Act for asset-backed securities (‘‘ABS’’) 

issuers and granted the Commission the 

authority to issue rules providing for the 

suspension or termination of such duty. 

We proposed amendments on January 6, 

2011 to provide for the suspension of 

reporting obligations for ABS issuers 

under certain circumstances and to 

revise our rules in light of the 

amendment of Exchange Act Section 

15(d).6 In this release, we are adopting 

the rule amendments with some 

changes to reflect comments we 

received on the proposed amendments. 

Exchange Act Section 15(d) generally 

requires an issuer with a registration 

statement that has become effective 

pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933 7

(‘‘Securities Act’’) to file ongoing 

Exchange Act reports with the 

Commission. Prior to enactment of the 

Act, Exchange Act Section 15(d) 

provided that for issuers without a class 

of securities registered under the 

Exchange Act the duty to file ongoing 

reports is automatically suspended as to 

any fiscal year, other than the fiscal year 

within which the registration statement 

for the securities became effective, if the 

securities of each class to which the 

registration statement relates are held of 

record by less than 300 persons. As a 

result, the reporting obligations of ABS 

issuers,8 other than those with master 

trust structures,9 were generally 

suspended after the ABS issuer filed one 

annual report on Form 10–K because the 

number of record holders was below, 

often significantly below, the 300 record 

holder threshold.10

The Act removed any class of ABS 

from the automatic suspension provided 

in Exchange Act Section 15(d) by 

inserting the phrase, ‘‘other than any 

class of asset-backed securities.’’ 

Consequently, ABS issuers no longer 

automatically suspend reporting under 

Exchange Act Section 15(d). Instead, the 

Act granted the Commission authority 

to ‘‘provide for the suspension or 

termination of the duty to file under this 

subsection for any class of asset-backed 

security, on such terms and conditions 

and for such period or periods as the 

Commission deems necessary or 

appropriate in the public interest or for 

the protection of investors.’’ 11

We proposed new Exchange Act Rule 

15d–22(b) to provide for suspension of 

the reporting obligations for a given 

class of ABS pursuant to Exchange Act 

Section 15(d) under certain limited 

circumstances. In addition, we proposed 

to update Exchange Act Rule 15d–22 to 

indicate when annual and other reports 

need to be filed and when starting and 

suspension dates are determined with 

respect to a takedown. 

We received seven comment letters in 

response to the proposed 


rmajette on DSK89S0YB1PROD with RULES