Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 228 / Tuesday, November 28, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 68739 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Office of the Secretary 

32 CFR Part 235 

[DOD–2005–OS–0149] 

RIN 0790–AH86 

Sale or Rental of Sexually Explicit 

Material on DoD Property (DoD 

Instruction 4105.70) 

AGENCY: Department of Defense. 

ACTION: Final rule; correction. 

SUMMARY: On Wednesday, November 

15, 2006 (71 FR 66457), the Department 

of Defense published a final rule, ‘‘Sale 

or Rental of Sexually Explicit Material 

on DoD Property (DoD Instruction 

4105.70)’’. This document corrects an 

error in the summary. 

DATES: Effective Date: December 15, 

2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Commander F. Stich, 703–602–4590. 

Correction 

In Federal Register at 71 FR 66457, 

the SUMMARY of the notice, ‘‘10 U.S.C. 

2489a’’ is corrected to read ‘‘10 U.S.C. 

2495b’’. All other information remains 

unchanged. 

Dated: November 21, 2006. 

L.M. Bynum, 

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison 

Officer, DoD. 

[FR Doc. 06–9417 Filed 11–27–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–M 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

38 CFR Part 17 

RIN 2900–AM19 

Medical: Informed Consent—Extension 

of Time Period and Modification of 

Witness Requirement for Signature 

Consent 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This document adopts as a 

final rule the proposed rule amending 

the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 

medical regulations on informed 

consent. This final rule extends the 

period of time during which a signed 

consent form remains valid from 30 to 

60 days and eliminates the requirement 

that a third-party witness the patient or 

surrogate and practitioner signing the 

consent form, except in those 

circumstances where the patient or 

surrogate signs with an ‘‘X’’ due to a 

debilitating illness or disability, i.e., 

significant physical impairment and/or 

difficulty in executing a signature due to 

an underlying health condition(s), or is 

unable to read and write. 

DATES: Effective Date: December 28, 

2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ruth Cecire, PhD., Policy Analyst, 

Ethics Policy Service, National Center 

for Ethics in Health Care (10E), Veterans 

Health Administration, Department of 

Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC 20420; 202–501–

2012 (this is not a toll-free number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a 

document published in the Federal 

Register on March 9, 2006 (71 FR 5204), 

VA proposed to amend its medical 

regulations at 38 CFR 17.32 on informed 

consent. Specifically, it proposed to 

extend the time during which a signed 

consent form is valid from 30 to 60 

days. Also, it proposed to eliminate the 

requirement that a consent form be 

witnessed, except in those situations 

where the patient or surrogate signs 

with an ‘‘X’’ due to a debilitating illness 

or disability. VA provided a 60-day 

comment period that ended on May 6, 

2006. No comments were received. 

Based on the rationale set forth in the 

proposed rule and those contained in 

this document, we are adopting the 

provisions of the proposed rule as a 

final rule without change. 

Unfunded Mandates 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 1532, that 

agencies prepare an assessment of 

anticipated costs and benefits before 

issuing any rule that may result in an 

expenditure by State, local, and tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of $100 million or more 

(adjusted annually for inflation) in any 

given year. This rule has no such effect 

on State, local, and tribal governments, 

or on the private sector. 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

This rule contains no new collections 

of information under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501–3521). 

The existing information collections 

associated with the informed consent 

procedures under § 17.32 have been 

approved by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) under 2900–0583. 

Executive Order 12866 

Executive Order 12866 directs 

agencies to assess all costs and benefits 

of available regulatory alternatives and, 

when regulation is necessary, to select 

regulatory approaches that maximize 

net benefits (including potential 

economic, environmental, public health 

and safety, and other advantages; 

distributive impacts; and equity). The 

Order classifies a rule as a significant 

regulatory action requiring review by 

the Office of Management and Budget if 

it meets any one of a number of 

specified conditions, including: having 

an annual affect on the economy of $100 

million or more, creating a serious 

inconsistency or interfering with an 

action of another agency, materially 

altering the budgetary impact of 

entitlements or the rights of entitlement 

recipients, or raising novel legal or 

policy issues. VA has examined the 

economic, legal, and policy implications 

of this final rule and concluded that it 

is a significant regulatory action because 

it raises novel policy issues. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Secretary hereby certifies that 

this rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities as they are 

defined in the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act, 5 U.S.C. 601–612. The rule will 

affect only individuals and will not 

directly affect any small entities. 

Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), 

this rule is exempt from the initial and 

final regulatory flexibility analysis 

requirements of sections 603 and 604. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

The Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance numbers and titles for the 

programs affected by this document are 

64.009, Veterans Medical Care Benefits; 

64.010, Veterans Nursing Home Care; 

and 64.011, Veterans Dental Care. 

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism, 

Claims, Day care, Dental health, Drug 

abuse, Foreign relations, Government 

contracts, Grant programs-health, Grant 

programs-veterans, Health care, Health 

facilities, Health professions, Health 

records, Homeless, Medical and dental 

schools, Medical devices, Medical 

research, Mental health programs, 

Nursing homes, Philippines, Reporting 

and recordkeeping requirements, 

Scholarships and fellowships, Travel 

and transportation expenses, Veterans. 

Approved: October 23, 2006. 

Gordon H. Mansfield, 

Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

■ For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, VA amends 38 CFR part 17 to 

read as follows: 

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