Federal Register/Vol. 68, No. 45/Friday, March 7, 2003/Proposed Rules 11009

submitted by the beef industry that

suggested that cattle born outside the

United States and finished in U.S.

feedlots for at least 100 days be allowed

to be labeled as "Product of the U.S.A.,"

and a strong interest in maintaining the

existing FSIS policy. According to one

respondent, any change in the existing

policy of FSIS would be costly and

damaging to the industry, provide no

real benefit for consumers, and

undermine U.S. efforts in international

negotiations.

Many respondents opposed any

change in FSIS' country-of-origin

labeling policy simply because no

change was warranted. One commenter

said that there is no convincing

evidence that there is a problem that

needs to be addressed by additional

Federal regulation. The comment went

on to say that applying the current

definition for "USA Beef" and "Fresh

American Beef" more broadly to

country-of-origin labels such as

"Product of the USA" is not necessary

and would be disruptive. It concluded

that substantiation and verification of

"born, raised, slaughtered, and prepared

in the United States" would be

unreliable and expensive since there is

no national tracking system for cattle in

this country.

A trade association director

commented that the introduction of new

rules for a single product category

would not be helpful or acceptable. The

comment stated that it would only add

to the inconsistencies and confusion for

industry, regulatory, and U.S. Customs

Service officials. In addition, the

commenter said such a change would

set an undesirable precedent for further

processed and other types of products.

Although there was minimal support

for a mandatory program, most

commenters strongly believed that a

labeling program should be kept

voluntary. One commenter stated that

mandatory labeling should be restricted

to protection of consumer health and

safety. Others cautioned that what is

acceptable for a voluntary labeling

program would be unacceptable as a

mandatory program. Voluntary labeling

of U.S. beef will be market driven in

private sector retail and foodservice

channels, said the commenter. USDA

should provide certification and audit

services for alternative U.S. labels and

allow competitive market forces to

determine the merit of various labels in

the marketplace, the commenter

concluded.

Many of the commenters discussed

the inconsistency of USDA's geographic

labeling policies, the variety of the

claims used to certify U.S. origin, and

the differences in regulations governing

domestic and foreign products. Some

called the policy confusing but

acceptable, because it was consistent

with international practices. Others

maintained that it was incumbent upon

USDA to authorize a single, universal

term.

Several respondents who opposed the

meat industry petition, referred to

above, mentioned a fear of Foot and

Mouth Disease and Bovine Spongiform

Encephalopathy. One commenter said

that it would be devastating to the U.S.

livestock industry and to consumer

confidence if an infected animal or

product entered the United States and

received a "Made in USA" label.

As a result of Congress' action, FSIS

is withdrawing the advance notice of

proposed rulemaking. Comments on

"country-of-origin" labeling should be

submitted in response to the AMS

published notice entitled

"Establishment of Guidelines for the

Interim Voluntary Country of Origin

Labeling of Beef, Lamb, Pork, Fish,

Perishable Agricultural Commodities

and Peanuts under the Authority of the

Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946."

Additional Public Notification

Public involvement in all segments of

rulemaking and policy development is

important. Consequently, in an effort to

better ensure that minorities, women,

and persons with disabilities are aware

of this notice and informed about the

mechanism for providing their

comments, FSIS will announce it and

make copies of this Federal Register

publication through the FSIS

Constituent Update. FSIS provides a

weekly FSIS Constituent Update, which

is communicated via Listserv, a free e -

mail subscription service. In addition,

the update is available online through

the FSIS Web page located at http://

www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is used

to provide information regarding FSIS

policies, procedures, regulations,

Federal Register notices, FSIS public

meetings, recalls, and any other types of

information that could affect or would

be of interest to our constituents and

stakeholders. The constituent Listserv

consists of industry, trade, and farm

groups, consumer interest groups, allied

health professionals, scientific

professionals, and other individuals

who have requested to be included.

Through the Listserv and Web page,

FSIS is able to provide information to a

much broader, more diverse audience.

For more information, contact the

Congressional and Public Affairs Office,

at (202) 720-9113. To be added to the

free e-mail subscription service

(Listserv), go to the "Constituent

Update" page on the FSIS Web site at

http://www.fsis. usda.gov/oa/

update.htm. Click on the "Subscribe to

the Constituent Update Listserv" link,

then fill out and submit the form.

Signed in Washington, DC on March 3,

2003.

Garry L. McKee,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 03-5363 Filed 3-6-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 341 O-DM-P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

10 CFR Part 430

[Docket No. EE-RM/TP--02-001]

RIN 1904-AB12

Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy; Energy

Conservation Program for Consumer

Products: Test Procedure for

Refrigerators and RefrigeratorFreezers

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy, Department of

Energy.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY: This notice of proposed

rulemaking contains an amendment to

the test procedure for measuring the

energy consumption of refrigerators and

refrigerator-freezers for models with a

long-time automatic defrost function.

The amendment gives credit for a slight

improvement in energy efficiency

because the defrost heater on such

models of refrigerators and refrigeratorfreezers is not required to heat the

evaporator from its coldest temperature.

This change in the test procedure will

encourage use of efficiency enhancing

technology. Because the amendment to

the rule is not expected to receive any

significant adverse comments, the

amendment is also being issued as a

direct final rule in this Federal Register.

DATES: Public comments on the

amendment proposed herein will be

accepted until April 7, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be addressed to: Ms. Brenda EdwardsJones, U.S. Department of Energy, Office

of Energy Efficiency and Renewable

Energy, EE-2J, 1000 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585-

0121. E-mail address: Brenda.EdwardsJones©ee.doe.gov. You should identify

all such documents both on the

envelope and on the documents as

Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products: Test Procedures for

Refrigerators and Refrigerator-Freezers,

Docket No. EE-RM/TP-02-001.

Copies of public comments received

may be read in the Freedom of

 EE-RM/TP-02-001 COMMENT 02
11010 Federal Register/Vol. 68, No. 45/Friday, March 7, 2003/Proposed Rules

Information Reading Room (Room No.

1E-190) at the U.S. Department of

Energy, Forrestal Building, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC, between the hours of

9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through

Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michael Raymond, U.S. Department of

Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy, EE-2J, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20585-0121, (202) 586-

9611, e-mail:

Michael.Raymond@ee.doe.gov; or

Francine Pinto, Esq., U.S. Department of

Energy, Office of General Counsel, GC72, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-9507,

e-mail: Francine.Pinto@hq.doe.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR)

proposes an amendment to the test

procedure for measuring the energy

consumption of refrigerators and

refrigerator-freezers. The amendment

changes the calculation of the test time

period for long-time automatic defrost to

allow for a control capable of timing

defrost to occur other than during a

compressor "on" cycle, thereby taking

advantage of the natural warming of the

evaporator during an "off" cycle, and

saving additional energy. The

amendment has no effect on the testing

of refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers

that do not have a long-time automatic

defrost system.

Today, the Department of Energy

(Department) is also publishing,

elsewhere in this issue of the Federal

Register, a direct final rule that makes

the change to this test procedure that is

being proposed in this NOPR. As

explained in the preamble of the direct

final rule, the Department considers this

amendment to be uncontroversial and

unlikely to generate any significant

adverse or critical comments. If no

significant adverse or critical comments

are received by the Department on the

amendment, the direct final rule will

become effective on the date specified

in that rule, and there will be no further

action on this proposal. If significant

adverse or critical comments are timely

received on the direct final rule, the

direct final rule will be withdrawn. The

public comments will then be addressed

in a subsequent final rule based on the

rule proposed in this NOPR (which is

the same as the rule set forth in the

direct final rule). Because the

Department will not institute a second

comment period on this proposed rule,

any parties interested in commenting

should do so during this comment

period.

For further supplemental information,

the detailed rationale, and the rule

amendment, see the information

provided in the direct final rule in this

Federal Register.

List of Subjects in 10 CFR Part 430

Administrative practice and

procedure, Energy conservation,

Household appliances.

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 28,

2003.

David K. Garman,

Assistant Secretary, En ergy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy.

[FR Doc. 03-5405 Filed 3-6-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

12 CFR Part 203

(Regulation C; Docket No. R-1145]

Home Mortgage Disclosure

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the

Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Proposed rule; official staff

commentary.

SUMMARY: In 2002, the Board revised

Regulation C and imposed new data

collection requirements with an

effective date of January 1, 2004. This

proposal would revise the official staff

commentary to Regulation C to provide

transition rules for applications received

before January 1, 2004, on which final

action is taken on or after January 1,

2004.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before April 8, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Comments should refer to

Docket No. R-1145 and should be

mailed to Jennifer Johnson, Secretary,

Board of Governors of the Federal

Reserve System, 20th Street and

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,

DC 20551, or mailed electronically to

regs.comments@federalreserve.gov.

Comments addressed to Ms. Johnson

may also be delivered, between 8:45

a.m. and 5:15 p.m., to the Board's mail

facility in the West Courtyard, located

on 21st Street between Constitution and

C Street, NW. Members of the public

may inspect comments in Room MP500 of the Martin Building between 9

a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays pursuant

to § 261.12, except as provided in

§ 261.14, of the Board's Rules Regarding

Availability of Information, 12 CFR

261.12 and 261.14.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John

C. Wood, Counsel, Kathleen C. Ryan,

Senior Attorney, or Dan S. Sokolov,

Attorney, Division of Consumer and

Community Affairs, Board of Governors

of the Federal Reserve System,

Washington, DC 20551, at (202) 452-

3667 or (202) 452-2412. For users of

Telecommunications Device for the Deaf

(TDD) only, contact (202) 263-4869.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act

(HMDA; 12 U.S.C. 2801-2810) has three

purposes. One is to provide the public

and government officials with data that

will help show whether lenders are

serving the housing needs of the

neighborhoods and communities in

which they are located. A second

purpose is to help public officials target

public investment to promote private

investment where it is needed. A third

purpose is to provide data that assist in

identifying possible discriminatory

lending patterns and enforcing

antidiscrimination statutes.

HMDA accordingly requires certain

depository and for-profit nondepository

lenders to collect, report, and disclose

data about originations, purchases, and

refinancings of home purchase and

home improvement loans. Lenders must

also report data about applications that

did not result in originations.

The Board's Regulation C implements

HMDA. 12 CFR part 203. Regulation C

generally requires that lenders report

data about:

• Each application or loan, including

the application date; the action taken

and the date of that action; the loan

amount; the loan type and purpose; and,

if the loan is sold, the type of purchaser;

• Each applicant or borrower,

including ethnicity, race, sex, and

income; and

• Each property, including location

and occupancy status.

Lenders report this information to

their supervisory agencies on an

application-by-application basis using a

loan application register format (HMDA/

LAR) set forth in appendix A to the

regulation. Each application must be

recorded within 30 calendar days after

the end of each calendar quarter in

which final action is taken (such as

origination or purchase of a loan, or

denial or withdrawal of an application)

on the lender's HMDA/LAR. Lenders

must make their HMDA/LARs-with

certain fields redacted to preserve

applicants' privacy-available to the

public. The Federal Financial

Institutions Examination Council

(FFIEC), acting on behalf of the

supervisory agencies, compiles the

reported information and prepares an

individual disclosure statement for each

institution, aggregate reports for all

covered lenders in each metropolitan

 EE-RM/TP-02-001 COMMENT 02