This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

25661 

Vol. 79, No. 87 

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Commodity Credit Corporation 

7 CFR Part 1487 

RIN 0551–AA71 

Technical Assistance for Specialty 

Crops 

AGENCY: Foreign Agricultural Service 

(FAS) and Commodity Credit 

Corporation (CCC), USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule amends an 

existing provision in the regulations for 

the Technical Assistance for Specialty 

Crops Program (TASC). Section 3205 of 

the Agricultural Act of 2014 enacted on 

February 7, 2014, amended the existing 

TASC statute by striking ‘‘related 

barriers to trade’’ and inserting 

‘‘technical barriers to trade’’. This rule 

makes the corresponding change to the 

TASC regulations. 

DATE: Effective June 5, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mark Slupek at (202) 720–4327, fax at 

(202) 720–9361, or by email at: 

podadmin@fas.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Order 12866 

This rule is issued in conformance 

with Executive Order 12866. It has been 

determined to be not significant for the 

purposes of Executive Order 12866 and 

has not been reviewed by the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB). A costbenefit assessment of this rule was not 

completed. 

Executive Order 12988 

This rule has been reviewed in 

accordance with Executive Order 12988. 

This rule does not preempt State or 

local laws, regulations, or policies 

unless they present an irreconcilable 

conflict with this rule. This rule would 

not be retroactive. 

Executive Order 12372 

This program is not subject to 

Executive Order 12372, which requires 

intergovernmental consultation with 

State and local officials. See 7 CFR part 

3015, subpart V, and the related notice 

published at 48 FR 29115 (June 24, 

1983). 

Executive Order 13175 

This rule does not have tribal 

implications as specified by Executive 

Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 

2000) that will preempt Tribal law. 

Executive Order 13132 

This rule does not have any 

substantial direct effect on States, on the 

relationship between the Federal 

government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government, nor does this rule 

impose substantial direct compliance 

costs on State and local governments. 

Therefore, consultation with the States 

was not required. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act does 

not apply to this rule because CCC is not 

required by 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other 

law to publish a notice of proposed 

rulemaking with respect to the subject 

matter of this rule. 

Environmental Assessment 

CCC has determined that this rule 

does not constitute a major State or 

Federal action that would significantly 

affect the human or natural 

environment, consistent with the 

regulations implementing the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 40 

CFR parts 1500–1508. Therefore, no 

environmental assessment or 

environmental impact statement will be 

prepared. 

Unfunded Mandates 

Although CCC is publishing this as a 

final rule, Title II of the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) 

does not apply to this rule because this 

rule contains no unfunded mandates as 

defined in section 202 of UMRA. Nor 

does this rule potentially affect small 

governments or contain significant 

Federal intergovernmental mandates. 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, CCC has 

previously received approval from OMB 

with respect to the information 

collection required to support this 

program. The information collection is 

described below: 

Title: Technical Assistance for 

Specialty Crops. 

OMB Control Number: 0551–0038. 

E-Government Act Compliance 

CCC is committed to complying with 

the E-Government Act to promote the 

use of the Internet and other 

information technologies to provide 

increased opportunities for citizen 

access to Government information and 

services and for other purposes. The 

forms, regulations, and other 

information collection activities 

required to be utilized by a person 

subject to this rule are available at 

http://www.fas.usda.gov. 

Background 

This final rule amends the regulations 

at 7 CFR part 1487 applicable to the 

TASC program. The Farm Security and 

Rural Investment Act of 2002, which 

was reauthorized by the Food, 

Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, 

directed CCC to establish a program to 

provide mandatory funding to assist 

U.S. organizations to undertake projects 

that address sanitary, phytosanitary, and 

related barriers that prohibit or threaten 

the export of U.S. specialty crops. The 

Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), 

which administers the TASC program 

on behalf of CCC, provides grant funds 

as direct assistance to U.S. 

organizations. 

In addressing sanitary and 

phytosanitary trade barriers, FAS has 

provided TASC funding for projects 

such as pre-clearance programs, export 

protocol and work support plans, pest 

and disease research, the development 

of pest lists, field surveys, seminars and 

other plant health related projects. Until 

the passage of the Agricultural Act of 

2014 (Pub. L. 113–79), certain export 

barriers such as quality or packaging 

issues and environmental sustainability 

labeling requirements could not be 

addressed under the TASC program 

because, although legitimate export 

barriers, they did not appear to meet the 

requirement of being related to a 

sanitary or phytosanitary barrier to 

trade. Industry groups requested 

Congress amend the law to broaden the 

types of trade barriers eligible under 

TASC. Section 3205 of the Agriculture 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with RULES
25662 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 87 / Tuesday, May 6, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

Act of 2014 amended the TASC statute 

by striking ‘‘related barriers to trade’’ 

and inserting ‘‘technical barriers to 

trade’’ in 7 U.S.C. 5680(b). 

Notice and Comment 

In general, the Administrative 

Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 551 et.al) 

requires that a notice of proposed 

rulemaking be published in the Federal 

Register and interested persons be given 

an opportunity to participate in the 

rulemaking through submission of 

written data, views, or arguments with 

or without opportunity for oral 

presentation, except when the rule 

involves a matter relating to public 

property, loans, grants, benefits, or 

contracts. Because this rule involves 

grants and is a minor administrative 

change with no discretionary 

interpretation of law possible, CCC is 

publishing this rule without 

opportunity for public comment. The 

change will allow TASC funding of 

projects that address technical barriers 

to trade that are not related to any 

sanitary or phytosanitary barrier. In the 

past, the TASC program has been 

undersubscribed, while significant, but 

ineligible, trade barriers for specialty 

crops were unable to be addressed 

through the program. The specialty 

crops industry will now be able to use 

the program to fund a broader range of 

projects that all have the same 

underlying goal of increasing U.S. 

specialty crop exports. This change will 

increase the number of proposals that 

qualify for the program. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1487 

Agricultural commodities, Exports, 

Specialty crops. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 1487 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 1487—TECHNICAL 

ASSISTANCE FOR SPECIALTY CROPS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1487 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Sec. 3205 of Pub. L. 107–171. 

■ 2. Revise § 1487.2 to read as follows: 

§ 1487.2 What is the TASC program? 

Under the TASC program, CCC, an 

agency and instrumentality of the 

United States within the Department of 

Agriculture, provides funds to eligible 

organizations, on a grant basis, to 

implement activities that are intended 

to address a sanitary, phytosanitary, or 

technical barrier that prohibits or 

threatens the export of U.S. specialty 

crops that are currently available on a 

commercial basis. The TASC program is 

intended to benefit the represented 

industry rather than a specific company 

or brand. This program is administered 

by FAS. 

Signed at Washington, DC, on the 22nd of 

April, 2014. 

Bryce Quick, 

Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural 

Service, and Vice President, Commodity 

Credit Corporation. 

[FR Doc. 2014–10375 Filed 5–5–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–10–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

16 CFR Part 803 

Premerger Notification; Reporting and 

Waiting Period Requirements 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Commission is amending 

the Hart-Scott-Rodino (‘‘HSR’’) 

Premerger Notification Rules (the 

‘‘Rules’’), and the Premerger 

Notification and Report Form and 

associated Instructions (‘‘Form and 

Instructions’’) to reflect the new address 

of the Commission’s Premerger 

Notification Office (the ‘‘PNO’’). 

DATES: Effective May 6, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert L. Jones, Assistant Director, 

Premerger Notification Office, Bureau of 

Competition, Room 5301, Federal Trade 

Commission, 400 7th Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: 

(202) 326–3100, Email: rjones@ftc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction 

Section 7A of the Clayton Act (the 

‘‘Act’’) requires the parties to certain 

mergers or acquisitions to file with the 

Federal Trade Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’ or ‘‘FTC’’) and the 

Antitrust Division of the Department of 

Justice (the ‘‘Assistant Attorney 

General’’ or the ‘‘Antitrust Division’’) 

(together the ‘‘Antitrust Agencies’’ or 

‘‘Agencies’’) to allow the agencies to 

conduct their initial review of a 

proposed transaction’s competitive 

impact and requires the parties to wait 

a specified period of time before 

consummating such transactions. The 

reporting requirement and the waiting 

period that it triggers are intended to 

enable the Antitrust Agencies to 

determine whether a proposed merger 

or acquisition may violate the antitrust 

laws if consummated and, when 

appropriate, to seek a preliminary 

injunction in federal court to prevent 

consummation, pursuant to Section 7 of 

the Act. 

Section 7A(d)(1) of the Act, 15 U.S.C. 

18a(d)(1), directs the Commission, with 

the concurrence of the Assistant 

Attorney General, in accordance with 

the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 

U.S.C. 553, to require that premerger 

notification be in such form and contain 

such information and documentary 

material as may be necessary and 

appropriate to determine whether the 

proposed transaction may, if 

consummated, violate the antitrust laws. 

Section 7A(d)(2) of the Act, 15 U.S.C. 

18a(d)(2), grants the Commission, with 

the concurrence of the Assistant 

Attorney General, in accordance with 5 

U.S.C. 553, the authority to define the 

terms used in the Act and prescribe 

such other rules as may be necessary 

and appropriate to carry out the 

purposes of § 7A. 

Pursuant to that authority, the 

Commission, with the concurrence of 

the Assistant Attorney General, 

developed the Rules, codified in 16 CFR 

Parts 801, 802 and 803, and the Form 

and its associated Instructions, codified 

at Part 803—Appendix, to govern the 

form of premerger notifications to be 

provided by merging parties. The Form 

is designed to provide the Commission 

and the Assistant Attorney General with 

the information and documentary 

material necessary for an initial 

evaluation of the potential 

anticompetitive impact of significant 

mergers, acquisitions and certain similar 

transactions. 

Changes to the Form, Instructions and 

Rules 

The Commission is amending Section 

803.10 of the Rules, as well as the 

accompanying Form and Instructions, to 

incorporate the new address of the PNO. 

Accordingly, the Commission is 

updating the address of the PNO in the 

General Instructions (Information and 

Filing Sections), in the Disclosure 

Notice section of the Form, and in 

Section 803.10(c)(1)(i) of the 

Commission’s Rules, to read as follows: 

Premerger Notification Office, Federal 

Trade Commission, Room 5301, 400 7th 

Street SW., Washington, DC 20024. 

Administrative Procedure Act 

The Commission finds good cause to 

adopt these changes without prior 

public comment. Under the APA, notice 

and comment are not required ‘‘when 

the agency for good cause finds (and 

incorporates the finding and a brief 

statement of reasons therefore in the 

rules issued) that notice and public 

procedure thereon are impracticable, 

unnecessary, or contrary to the public 

interest.’’ 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B). 


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