EE-TP-98-101 COMMENT 01C

"" 

Federal Register/Vol. 63. No. 65/Monday, April 6, 1998/Proposed Rules C16707 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

10 CFR Part 430 

[Docket Number EE-TP-98-101] 

Workshop Regarding Test Procedures, 

Labeling, Standards Compliance, and 

Related Matters for Commercial Water 

Heaters, Boilers, Furnaces, Air 

Conditioners, and Heat Pumps 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

'Renewable Energy. Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of public workshop. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy 

(DOE) will hold an informal public 

workshop to discuss issues and gather 

information related to DOE's 

development of proposed rules for 

energy efficiency test procedures. 

labeling. and standards compliance as 

they relate to commercial water heaters. 

boilers. furnaces. air conditioners. and 

heat pumps. All persons are hereby 

given'notiCe of the opportunity to auend 

and participate in this public workshop 

and to submit written comments. 

DATES: The public workshop will be 

held On Tuesday. April 14. 1998. from 

9 a.m. until 4:45 p.m .. and on . 

Wednesday. April 15. 1998. from 9 a.m. 

to 3:30 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held 

at the U.S. Department of Energy. 

Forrestal Building. Room lE-245. 1000 

Independence Avenue. SW. 

Washington. DC 20585. , Written comments are welcome. 

especially following the workshop. 

Please submit 10 copies (no faxes) and 

a computer diskette (WordPerfect 6.1) 

to: Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones. U.S. 

Department of Energy. Office of Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy. 

"Energy Conservation Program for 

CommerCial Products: Water Heaters. 

Boilers. Furnaces. Air Conditioners. and 

Heat Pumps. Docket No. EE-TP-98-

101." EE-43. 1000 Independence 

Avenue. SW. Washington. DC 20585-

0121. Telephone: (202) 586-2945; 

Telefax: (202) 586-4617. 

Copies of the transcript of the public 

workshop. public comments received. 

and this notice may be read (or copied) 

auhe Freedom of Information Reading 

Room. U.S. Departmem of Energy. 

Forrestal Building. Room lE-190. 1000 

Independence Avenue. SW. 

Washington. DC20585. (202) 586-3142. 

between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m .. 

Monday through Friday. except Federal 

holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMAnON CONTACT: The Department is preparing a paper 

Cyrus Nasseri. U.S. Department of entitled. "Issues Paper for the 

Energy. Office of Energy Efficiency and Commercial Water Heaters. Boilers. 

Renewable Energy. EE-43. 1000 Furnaces. Air Conditioners. and Heat 

Independence Avenue. SW. ' Pumps Workshop on April 14 and 15. 

Washington. DC 20585-0121. (202) 586- 1998." that explains and discusses these 

9138. e-mail: cyrus.nasseri@ee.doe.gov: issues in greater detail. Copies will be 

or Edward Levy. Esq .. U.S. Department . available on request. For many of the 

of Energy. Office of General Counsel. issues. the paper sets forth alternative 

GC-72. 1000 Independence Avenue. approaches that the Department is 

SW. Washington. DC 20585. (202) 586- considering to include in the Notice of 

9507. e-mail: edward.levy@hq.doe.gov. Proposed Rulemaking. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMAnDN: The The Department is particularly 

Department of Energy is drafting a interested in receiving at the workshop 

proposed rule to implement the Energy comments and views of interested 

Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) parties concerning: (1) The above-listed 

provisions for energy effiCiency test issues: (2) alternative approaches the 

procedul'es. labeling. and standards Department is considering for 

compliance concerning commercial addressing these iSSues: (3) information 

water heaters. boilers. furnaces. air that the National Institute of Standards 

conditioners. and heat pumps. 42 U.s.C. and Technology should take into 

6314-6316. While EPCA calls for account in interpreting ASHRAE 

adopt ion of test procedures referenced Standard 90.1 test procedures for 

in the American Society of Heating. commercial water heaters. boilers. 

Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning furnaces. air conditioners. and heat 

Engineers. Inc. (ASH RAE). Standard pumps for DOE's consideration: and (4) 

90.1. several issues have been raised any viable alternatives that may have 

concerning how the Standard should be been overlooked in the preparation of 

interpreted. The purpose of the public the issue paper. The Department 

workshop is to discuss the following encourages those who wish to 

issues for developing the notice of participate in the workshop to obtain 

proposed rulemaking: the issue paper and to make 

a. Clarification of coverage and presentations that address its contents. 

category definitions in reference Workshop participants need not limit 

standards for commercial water heaters: their statements to those topiCS. 

b. Determination of procedures for however. The Department is interested 

measuring insulation value and heat in receiving views concerning other 

loss in unfired commercial hot water issues that participants believe would 

storage tanks: . affect the content of test procedures. 

c. Definition of "packaged" boiler for labeling. and standards compliance for 

purposes of the proposed rulemaking: commercial water heaters. boilers. 

d. Treatment of "jacket losses" in furnaces. air conditioners. and heat 

combustion and thermal efficiency pumps. calculations: The meeting will be conducted in an 

e. Uniformity of test conditions. informal. conference style. A court 

procedures. and setup requirements reporter will be present to record the 

across different types of commercial minutes of the meeting. There shall be 

boilers and furnaces; , no discussion of proprietary , r. Appropriate treatment of information, costs or prices. market 

commercial boilers and furnaces with shares. or other commercial mCltters 

unusual features for speCialized regulated under antitrust law. After the 

applications: meeQng and period for written 

g. Correct external static pressure test, comments. the Department will 

conditions for commercial air consider the views presented in 

conditioners and heat pumps in light of formulating a Notice of Proposed 

typical outlet duct pressures observed in Rulemaking regarding energy efficiency 

buildings: test procedures. labeling. and standards 

h. Determination of cost-effective and compliance as they relate to commercial 

reliable statistical sampling regimes for water heaters. boilers. furnaces. air 

standard certification and enforcement: conditioners. and heat pumps. , 1. Identification of practical If you would like to participate in the 

certification and enforcement testing workshop. to receive workshop 

regimes for products with low materials. or to be added to the DOE 

production volumes; mailing list to receive future notices and 

j. Determination of the information information regarding commercial water 

that should be displayed on certification heaters. boilers. furnaces. air 

labels: and conditioners. and heat pumps. please 

k. Effective schemes for labeling contact Ms. Brenda Edwards-Jones. 

mixed component systems. (202)586-2945. 
EE-TP-98-101 COMMENT 01C

16708: Federal Register/Vol. 63. No. 65/Monday. April 6. 1998/Proposed Rules 

Issued in Washington. DC. on April 1. 

1998. 

Dan W. Reicher. 

Assistant Secretary. Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy. 

IFR Doc. 98-8952 Filed 4-3-98: 8:45 ami 

BILLING CODE 645G-Ol-1' 

.DEPARTMENTOFTHETREASURV 

Comptroller of the Currency 

12 CFR Part 28 

[Docket No. 98-06] 

RIN 1557-AB58 

International Banking Activities 

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency. Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the Comptroller 

of the Currency (OCC) is proposing to 

amend its regulation governing 

international lending. by simplifying the 

discussion concerning the accounting 

for fees on international loans to make 

the regulation consistent with generallv 

accepted accounting principles (GAAP). 

This proposal also makes other changes 

to subpart C that are intended to clarify 

and simplify the rule. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before june 5. 1998. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be submitted to Docket No. 98-06. 

Communications Division. Third Floor. 

Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency. 250 E Street. S.W .. Washington. D.C. 20219. In addition. 

comments may be sent by facsimile 

transmission to FAX number (202)-874-

5274. or by electronic mail to 

regs.comments@occ.treas.gov. 

Comments will be available for 

inspection and photocopying at that 

address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATlON CONTACT: Tom 

Rees. Professional Accounting FelIow. 

Bank Supervision Policy. (202) 874-

5180: john Abbott. Deputy Comptroller. 

International Banking & Finance. (202) 

874-4730: Raija Bettauer. Counselor for 

International Activities. (202) 874-0680: 

or Saumya R. Bhavsar. Attorney. 

Legislative and Regulatory Activities. 

(202) 874-5090. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATlON: 

Background 

The International Lending 

Supervision Act of 1983 (ILSA) . 12 

U.s.C. 3901 et seq .. reqUires each 

Federal banking agency to evaluate the 

foreign country exposure and transfer 

risk of banks within its jurisdiction for 

use in the examination and supervision 

of these banks. To implement this 

provision. the Federal banking agenCies. 

through the Interagency Country 

Exposure Review Committee (lCERC). 

assess and categorize countries based on 

economic. socia!. and political 

conditions that may lead to increased 

transfer risk. "Transfer risk" arises from 

an obligor's inability to perform on its 

debt obligations using the agreed-upon 

currency due to the actions of the 

government that controls that currency. 

These actions include instances where a 

country is unable or unwilling to 

provide the necessary foreign exchange. 

because of. for example. a balance of 

trade defiCit or currency restrictions. 

In addition. ILSA directs each Federal 

banking agency to require banks to 

establish and maintain a special reserve 

whenever the agency determines either 

that the quality of a bank's international 

assets (i.e .. those assets included on a 

bank's Country Exposure Report. fonn 

FFIEC 009) has been impaired by the 

protracted inability of public or private 

borrowers in a foreign country to make 

payments on their external 

indebtedness; or that there are no 

definite prospects for the orderly 

restoration of debt service. 12 U.s.C. 

3904(a)(1) .. ILSA also reqUires that these 

reserves be charged against current 

income and not considered as part of 

capital and surplus or allowances for 

possible loan losses. 12 U.S.C. 

3904(a)(2) . 

Subpart C of 12 CFR part 28 

implements ILSA and requires national 

banks and District of Columbia banks to 

establish reserves. referred to as 

allocated transfer risk reserves (A TRR). 

against potential losses on banks' 

foreign loans due to certain countries' 

transfer risk. Subpart C also sets forth 

the accounting treatment for various 

fees received by banks when making 

international loans and contains explicit 

requirements for the reporting and 

disclosure of international assets. 

On july 5. 1995 (60 FR 34907). the 

OCC published proposed changes to 12 

CFR parts 20 and 28. which set out the 

OCC's rules governing the international 

operations of domestiC branches and 

Federal branches and agenCies of foreign 

banks. The proposed changes included 

substantive modifications to part 28 and 

a consolidation of all the provisions 

relating to international banking that 

were previously contained in parts 20 

and 28 into one CFR part. part 28. These 

proposed changes were part of the 

OCC's Regulation Review Program to 

update and streamline regulations and 

to eliminate requirements that impose 

inefficient and costly regulatory burdens 

on national banks. At that time the OCC 

did not propose changes to subpart C of 

part 28 but invited public comment on 

subpart C in order to bring to the OCC's 

attention issues that could warrant 

consideration in a subsequent 

rulemaking. 

On May 2.1996 (61 FR 19524). the 

OCC published a final rule on part 28. 

In the preamble to the final rule. the 

OCC noted that it had received one 

comment on subpart C of part 28 and 

that the commenter recommended that 

the accounting provisions be amended 

to be uniform among the Federal 

banking agenCies and consistent with 

GAAP. In response. the OCC stated in 

the preamble that it would address the 

issue raised by the commenter after 

further review of the rules in question. 

For the reasons discussed below. the 

OCC is proposing to amend subpart C 

consistent with the commenter's 

suggestion. This proposal does not. 

however. amend the other two 

substantive provisions in subpart C 

dealing with the ATRR and reporting . 

and disclosure of international assets. 

The OCC invites comment on any aspect 

of this proposal. 

Discussion of Proposal 

Accounting Treatment for Fees on 

International Loans (§ 2B.53) 

Current § 28.53 provides a lengthy 

discussion on the separate accounting 

treatment for each type of fee charged by 

banks in connection with their 

international lending. This proposal 

revises that section by replacing the 

discussion of the accounting treatment 

with a statement that banks are to 

account for fees on international loans 

in accordance with GAAP. 

ILSA reqUires the Federal banking 

agencies to issue regulations for 

accounting for fees charged by banks in 

connection with international loans. (12 

U.S.C. 3905(a)(2)(A». In order to avoid 

excessive debt service burden on debtor 

countries. section 906(a) of ILSA (12 

U.S.C. 3905(a» prohibits a bank. in 

connection with restructuring an 

international loan, from charging fees·in 

an amount that exceeds the 

administrative costs of restructuring the 

loan. unless the fee is amortized over 

the life of the loan. Section 906(b) of 

ILSA (12 U.s.C. 3905(b» requires the 

Federal banking agenCies to issue 

regulations prescribing the accounting 

treatment for agency. commitment. 

management, and other fees in 

connection with international loans to 

assure that the appropriate portion of 

such fees is accrued in income over the 

effective life of each such loan. 

When ILSA was enacted in 1983 and 

the Federal banking agencies' final rule