40262 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 141 / Tuesday, July 24, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 

Issued on July 9, 2007. 

Nicole R. Nason, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. E7–13565 Filed 7–23–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Transportation Security Administration 

49 CFR Part 1540 

RIN 1652–ZA13 

Prohibited Items; New Enforcement 

Policy Regarding Lighters 

AGENCY: Transportation Security 

Administration (TSA), DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of enforcement policy. 

SUMMARY: The Transportation Security 

Administration (TSA) is providing 

notice that, in accordance with section 

530 of Public Law 109–295, TSA will 

not enforce the prohibition on bringing 

lighters onboard commercial aircraft. 

The effect of the new enforcement 

policy will be to allow passengers to 

carry a lighter onboard commercial 

aircraft. This action is being taken to 

enable Transportation Security Officers 

(TSOs) to concentrate on more 

effectively confronting the threat of 

concealed explosives and improvised 

explosive devices being brought into the 

cabin of an aircraft. 

DATES: Effective August 4, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kevin Donovan, Office of Security 

Operations, TSA–29, Transportation 

Security Administration, 601 South 

12th Street, Arlington, VA 22202–4220; 

telephone (571) 227–3230. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Availability of Documents 

You can get an electronic copy using 

the Internet by—

(1) Accessing the Government 

Printing Office’s Web page at http:// 

www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html; or 

(2) Visiting TSA’s Security 

Regulations Web page at http:// 

www.tsa.gov and accessing the link for 

‘‘Research Center’’ at the top of the page. 

In addition, copies are available by 

writing or calling the individual in the 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section. 

Statutory and Regulatory Background 

TSA is responsible for security in all 

modes of transportation, including 

aviation. See 49 U.S.C. 114(d). TSA 

restricts what passengers may carry into 

the sterile areas of airports and into the 

cabins of air carrier aircraft. Under 

TSA’s regulation for acceptance and 

screening of individuals and accessible 

property, 49 CFR 1540.111, an 

individual (other than a law 

enforcement or other authorized 

individual) may not have a weapon, 

explosive, or incendiary, on or about the 

individual’s person or accessible 

property—

• When performance has begun of the 

inspection of the individual’s person or 

accessible property before entering a 

sterile area, or before boarding an 

aircraft for which screening is 

conducted under § 1544.201 or 

§ 1546.201; 

• When the individual is entering or 

in a sterile area; or 

• When the individual is attempting 

to board or onboard an aircraft for 

which screening is conducted under 

§ 1544.201 or § 1546.201. 

On March 1, 2005 (70 FR 9877), TSA 

announced, via a notice in the Federal 

Register, a prohibition on passengers’

ability to bring lighters onboard the 

cabin of an aircraft consistent with sec. 

4025 of the Intelligence Reform and 

Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 

(IRTPA) (Pub. L. 108–458, 118 Stat. 

3710, Dec. 13, 2004), which required 

TSA to add butane lighters to the 

prohibited items list and to make any 

other modifications that TSA deemed 

appropriate. Specifically, TSA 

prohibited passengers from carrying any 

type of lighter on their person or in 

accessible property in airport sterile 

areas or on board an aircraft for which 

screening is conducted. 

Through this notice, TSA is changing 

its enforcement policy with respect to 

lighters. Under the new policy, TSA 

will no longer enforce the prohibition 

on lighters. The effect of this change in 

policy is to allow passengers to carry a 

lighter through a passenger screening 

checkpoint and into the cabin of an 


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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 141 / Tuesday, July 24, 2007 / Rules and Regulations 40263 

aircraft. Micro-torches and gas torches 

will continue to be prohibited. 

New Enforcement Policy Regarding 

Lighters 

In sec. 530 of the Department of 

Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 

2007 (Pub. L. 109–295, 120 Stat. 1355, 

Oct. 4, 2006), Congress provided TSA 

with the authority to refrain from 

enforcing the statutory butane lighter 

ban, if the Assistant Secretary 

determines that butane lighters are not 

a significant threat to civil aviation 

security. If the Assistant Secretary 

determines that butane lighters are not 

a significant threat, the Assistant 

Secretary must notify the 

Appropriations Committees of the 

Senate and House of Representatives 15 

days in advance of the determination 

and include a report on whether the 

effectiveness of screening operations is 

enhanced by suspending enforcement of 

the prohibition. 

In accordance with this authority 

granted by Congress, TSA has 

determined, based on intelligencedriven threat assessments, that the 

carriage of butane and other types of 

lighters by passengers on board 

commercial aircraft does not pose a 

significant threat to civil aviation 

security. TSA has further determined 

that aviation security is better served if 

TSOs focus their efforts on detecting 

improvised explosive devices, firearms, 

and other deadly devices rather than 

searching for butane and other types of 

lighters. The search for lighters at 

screening checkpoints is a time 

consuming process that ultimately 

distracts TSOs from efforts to detect the 

type of deadly weapons likely to be 

used by terrorists and which could be 

used to inflict catastrophic damage to an 

aircraft and loss of lives. 

Since TSA prohibited lighters on 

March 1, 2005, TSA continues to 

intercept more than 22,000 lighters each 

day at screening checkpoints across the 

country. Lighters represent 

approximately 85 percent of prohibited 

items discovered by TSA and 

abandoned by passengers at screening 

checkpoints. The number of lighters 

discovered at checkpoints and the time 

and effort dedicated to positively 

identifying them is clearly 

disproportionate to any threat they may 

pose. 

Results from field surveys indicate 

that the greater the numbers of items 

TSOs are required to identify and 

evaluate, the more difficult it is to detect 

any one item. Accordingly, TSA has 

determined that aviation security is 

better served if TSOs are focused on 

detecting improvised explosive devices, 

firearms, and other deadly devices 

instead of employing resources in the 

search for lesser threats, such as 

lighters. Shifting attention from lower 

security risks to address markedly 

higher security risks is fundamental to 

a risk-based approach. TSA believes the 

effectiveness of screening operations 

will be enhanced if the time and 

resources devoted to detecting, 

collecting, and disposing of lighters is 

shifted to the search for higher threat 

items. Freeing TSOs from searching for 

lighters will not only enable them to 

focus on finding explosives, it will also 

enhance their ability to use behavior 

recognition, conduct random screening 

procedures, and deploy other measures 

that increase complexity in the security 

system and make its security protocols 

less transparent and predictable to 

potential terrorists. 

It is noteworthy that the United States 

is currently the only country that bans 

lighters. Permitting passengers to carry 

lighters will align the United States with 

the international security standards on 

lighters. This will serve as another step 

in our efforts to harmonize security 

measures with international partners. 

Further, this change will better 

harmonize TSA’s regulations with 

current Department of Transportation 

(DOT) regulations regarding the carriage 

of hazardous materials on board aircraft. 

Under the DOT regulations (49 CFR 

175.10), a passenger may carry one 

lighter for the individual’s use on his or 

her person or in carry-on baggage. 

Issued in Arlington, Virginia, on July 19, 

2007. 

Kip Hawley, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 07–3630 Filed 7–20–07; 1:37 pm] 

BILLING CODE 9110–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 061020273–6321–02] 

RIN 0648–XB60 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Scup Fishery; Adjustment to 

the 2007 Winter II Quota 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason 

adjustment. 

SUMMARY: NMFS adjusts the 2007 

Winter II commercial scup quota and 

possession limit. This action complies 

with Framework Adjustment 3 

(Framework 3) to the Summer Flounder, 

Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery 

Management Plan, which established a 

process to allow the rollover of unused 

commercial scup quota from the Winter 

I period to the Winter II period. 

DATES: Effective July 24, 2007, through 

December 31, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Ruccio, Fishery Policy Analyst, 

(978) 281–9104. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

published a final rule in the Federal 

Register on November 3, 2003 (68 FR 

62250), implementing a process, for 

years in which the full Winter I 

commercial scup quota is not harvested, 

to allow unused quota from the Winter 

I period (January 1 through April 30) to 

be added to the quota for the Winter II 

period (November 1 through December 

31), and to allow adjustment of the 

commercial possession limits for the 

Winter II period commensurate with the 

amount of quota rolled over from the 

Winter I period. Table 4 of the final 

2007 quota specifications for summer 

flounder, scup, and black sea bass (71 

FR 75134, December 14, 2006) 

presented detailed information 

regarding Winter II possession limits, 

based on the amount of scup to be rolled 

over from Winter I to Winter II. 

For 2007, the Winter II quota is 

1,417,991 lb (643,201 kg), and the best 

available landings information indicates 

that 644,155 lb (292,184 kg) remain of 

the Winter I quota of 4,012,895 lb 

(1,820,249 kg). Consistent with the 

intent of Framework 3, the full amount 

of unused 2007 Winter I quota is 

transferred to Winter II, resulting in a 

revised 2007 Winter II quota of 

2,062,146 lb (935,374 kg). In addition to 

the quota transfer, the 2007 Winter II 

possession limit is increased, consistent 

with the rollover specifications 

established in the 2007 final rule, to 

3,500 lb (1,588 kg) per trip to provide 

an appropriate opportunity for fishing 

vessels to obtain the increased Winter II 

quota. 

Classification 

This action is required by 50 CFR part 

648 and is exempt from review under 

Executive Order 12866. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 


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