This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

71973 

Vol. 79, No. 233 

Thursday, December 4, 2014 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Parts 318 and 319 

[Docket No. APHIS–2010–0082] 

RIN 0579–AD71 

Establishing a Performance Standard 

for Authorizing the Importation and 

Interstate Movement of Fruits and 

Vegetables 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: We are reopening the 

comment period for our proposed rule 

that would amend our regulations 

governing the importation and interstate 

movement of fruits and vegetables by 

broadening our existing performance 

standard to provide for approval of all 

new fruits and vegetables for 

importation or interstate movement into 

or within the United States using a 

notice-based process. This action will 

allow interested persons additional time 

to prepare and submit comments. 

DATES: The comment period for the 

proposed rule published on September 

9, 2014 (79 FR 53346–53352) is 

reopened. We will consider all 

comments that we receive on or before 

January 9, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/#!docket

Detail;D=APHIS-2010-0082. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2010–0082, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Supporting documents and any 

comments we receive on this docket 

may be viewed at http://www.

regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=

APHIS-2010-0082 or in our reading 

room, which is located in Room 1141 of 

the USDA South Building, 14th Street 

and Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC. Normal reading room 

hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except holidays. To be 

sure someone is there to help you, 

please call (202) 799–7039 before 

coming. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Nicole L. Russo, Assistant Director, 

Regulatory Coordination and 

Compliance, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River 

Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737– 

1231; (301) 851–2159. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

September 9, 2014, we published in the 

Federal Register (79 FR 53346–53352) a 

proposal to amend our regulations 

governing the importations of fruits and 

vegetables by broadening our existing 

performance standard to provide for 

approval of all new fruits and vegetables 

for importation into the United States 

using a notice-based process. We also 

proposed to remove the region- or 

commodity-specific phytosanitary 

requirements currently found in these 

regulations. Likewise, we proposed an 

equivalent revision of the performance 

standard in our regulations governing 

the interstate movement of fruits and 

vegetables from Hawaii and the U.S. 

territories (Guam, Northern Mariana 

Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin 

Islands) and the removal of commodityspecific phytosanitary requirements 

from those regulations. This proposal 

would allow for the approval of requests 

to authorize the importation or 

interstate movement of new fruits and 

vegetables in a manner that enables a 

more flexible and responsive regulatory 

approach to evolving pest situations in 

both the United States and exporting 

countries. It would not however, alter 

the science-based process in which the 

risk associated with importation or 

interstate movement of a given fruit or 

vegetable is evaluated or the manner in 

which risks associated with the 

importation or interstate movement of a 

fruit or vegetable are mitigated. 

Comments on the proposed rule were 

required to be received on or before 

November 10, 2014. We are reopening 

the comment period on Docket No. 

APHIS–2010–0082 for an additional 60 

days. We will also accept all comments 

received between November 11, 2014 

(the day after the close of the original 

comment period) and the date of this 

notice. This action will allow interested 

persons additional time to prepare and 

submit comments. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701–7772, and 

7781–7786; 21 U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 7 CFR 

2.22, 2.80, and 371.3. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 1st day of 

December 2014. 

Kevin Shea, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–28488 Filed 12–3–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING 

COMMISSION 

17 CFR Parts 1, 15, 17, 19, 32, 37, 38, 

140, and 150 

RIN 3038–AD99; 3038–AD82 

Position Limits for Derivatives and 

Aggregation of Positions 

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; 

reopening of comment periods. 

SUMMARY: On December 12, 2013, the 

Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’) published 

in the Federal Register a notice of 

proposed rulemaking (the ‘‘Position 

Limits Proposal’’) to establish 

speculative position limits for 28 

exempt and agricultural commodity 

futures and options contracts and the 

physical commodity swaps that are 

economically equivalent to such 

contracts. On November 15, 2013, the 

Commission published in the Federal 

Register a notice of proposed 

rulemaking (the ‘‘Aggregation 

Proposal’’) to amend existing 

regulations setting out the Commission’s 

policy for aggregation under its position 

limits regime. The Commission’s 

Agricultural Advisory Committee has 

scheduled a public meeting to be held 

on December 9, 2014, which will 

consider, among other matters, 

deliverable supply and exemptions for 

bona fide hedging positions. To provide 

commenters with a sufficient period of 

time to respond to questions raised and 

points made at the Agricultural 

Advisory Committee meeting, the 

Commission is reopening the comment 

periods for an additional 45 days. 

Comments should be limited to the 

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71974 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 233 / Thursday, December 4, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

1 7 U.S.C. 1 et seq. 

2See 17 CFR part 150. Part 150 of the 

Commission’s regulations establishes federal 

position limits on futures and option contracts in 

nine enumerated agricultural commodities. 

3See 17 CFR 150.2. 

4See 17 CFR 150.3. 

5See 17 CFR 150.4. 

6See Position Limits for Derivatives, 78 FR 75680 

(Dec. 12, 2013). 

7See Aggregation of Positions, 78 FR 68946 (Nov. 

15, 2013). 

8See Aggregation Proposal, 78 FR at 68947. 9See 79 FR 2394 (Jan. 14, 2014). 

following issues as they pertain to 

agricultural commodities: Hedges of a 

physical commodity by a commercial 

enterprise; and the process for 

estimating deliverable supplies used in 

the setting of spot month limits. 

DATES: The comment periods for the 

Aggregation Proposal published 

November 15, 2013, at 78 FR 68946, and 

for the Position Limits Proposal 

published December 12, 2013, at 78 FR 

75680, will reopen on December 9, 

2014, and close on January 22, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 3038–AD99 for the 

Position Limits Proposal or RIN 3038– 

AD82 for the Aggregation Proposal, by 

any of the following methods: 

• Agency Web site: http://

comments.cftc.gov; 

• Mail: Christopher Kirkpatrick, 

Secretary of the Commission, 

Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 

1155 21st Street NW., Washington, DC 

20581; 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Same as 

Mail, above; or 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Please submit your comments using 

only one method. All comments must be 

submitted in English, or if not, 

accompanied by an English translation. 

Comments will be posted as received to 

http://www.cftc.gov. You should submit 

only information that you wish to make 

available publicly. If you wish the 

Commission to consider information 

that may be exempt from disclosure 

under the Freedom of Information Act, 

a petition for confidential treatment of 

the exempt information may be 

submitted under § 145.9 of the 

Commission’s regulations (17 CFR 

145.9). 

The Commission reserves the right, 

but shall have no obligation, to review, 

pre-screen, filter, redact, refuse or 

remove any or all of your submission 

from http://www.cftc.gov that it may 

deem to be inappropriate for 

publication, such as obscene language. 

All submissions that have been redacted 

or removed that contain comments on 

the merits of the rulemaking will be 

retained in the public comment file and 

will be considered as required under the 

Administrative Procedure Act and other 

applicable laws, and may be accessible 

under the Freedom of Information Act. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Stephen Sherrod, Senior Economist, 

Division of Market Oversight, (202) 418– 

5452, ssherrod@cftc.gov; or Riva Spear 

Adriance, Senior Special Counsel, 

Division of Market Oversight, (202) 418– 

5494, radriance@cftc.gov; Commodity 

Futures Trading Commission, Three 

Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW., 

Washington, DC 20581. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Commission has long established 

and enforced speculative position limits 

for futures and options contracts on 

various agricultural commodities as 

authorized by the Commodity Exchange 

Act (‘‘CEA’’).1 The part 150 position 

limits regime 2 generally includes three 

components: (1) The level of the limits, 

which set a threshold that restricts the 

number of speculative positions that a 

person may hold in the spot-month, 

individual month, and all months 

combined,3 (2) exemptions for positions 

that constitute bona fide hedging 

transactions and certain other types of 

transactions,4 and (3) rules to determine 

which accounts and positions a person 

must aggregate for the purpose of 

determining compliance with the 

position limit levels.5 The Position 

Limits Proposal generally sets out 

proposed changes to the first and 

second components of the position 

limits regime and would establish 

speculative position limits for 28 

exempt and agricultural commodity 

futures and option contracts, and 

physical commodity swaps that are 

‘‘economically equivalent’’ to such 

contracts (as such term is used in CEA 

section 4a(a)(5)).6 The Aggregation 

Proposal generally sets out proposed 

changes to the third component of the 

position limits regime.7

The Commission published the 

Position Limits Proposal and the 

Aggregation Proposal separately because 

it believes that the proposed 

amendments regarding aggregation of 

positions could be appropriate 

regardless of whether the Position 

Limits Proposal is finalized.8 If the 

Aggregation Proposal is finalized first, 

the modifications would apply to the 

current position limits regime for 

futures and option contracts on nine 

enumerated agricultural commodities. If 

the Position Limits Proposal is 

subsequently finalized, the 

modifications in the Aggregation 

Proposal would apply to the position 

limits regime for 28 exempt and 

agricultural commodity futures and 

options contracts and the physical 

commodity swaps that are economically 

equivalent to such contracts. 

In order to provide interested parties 

with an opportunity to comment on the 

Aggregation Proposal during the 

comment period on the Position Limits 

Proposal, the Commission extended the 

comment period for the Aggregation 

Proposal to February 10, 2014, the same 

end date as the comment period for the 

Position Limits Proposal.9

Subsequent to publication of the 

Position Limits Proposal and the 

Aggregation Proposal, the Commission 

directed staff to schedule a June 19, 

2014, public roundtable to consider 

certain issues regarding position limits 

for physical commodity derivatives. The 

roundtable focused on hedges of a 

physical commodity by a commercial 

enterprise, including gross hedging, 

cross-commodity hedging, anticipatory 

hedging, and the process for obtaining a 

non-enumerated exemption. Discussion 

included the setting of spot month 

limits in physical-delivery and cashsettled contracts and a conditional spotmonth limit exemption. Further, the 

roundtable included discussion of: The 

aggregation exemption for certain 

ownership interests of greater than 50 

percent in an owned entity; and 

aggregation based on substantially 

identical trading strategies. As well, the 

Commission invited comment on 

whether to provide parity for wheat 

contracts in non-spot month limits. In 

conjunction with the roundtable, staff 

questions regarding these topics were 

posted on the Commission’s Web site. 

To provide commenters with a 

sufficient period of time to respond to 

questions raised and points made at the 

roundtable, the Commission published a 

notice in the Federal Register on May 

29, 2014, reopening the comment 

periods for the Position Limit Proposal 

and the Aggregation Proposal for three 

weeks, from June 12, 2014 to July 3, 

2014. The Commission published notice 

in the Federal Register on July 3, 2014, 

further extending the comment periods 

to August 4, 2014. 

Comment letters received on the 

Position Limits Proposal are available at 

http://comments.cftc.gov/

PublicComments/

CommentList.aspx?id=1436. Comment 

letters received on the Aggregation 

Proposal are available at http://

comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments/

CommentList.aspx?id=1427. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 233 / Thursday, December 4, 2014 / Proposed Rules 71975 

II. Reopening of Comment Period 

The Commission’s Agricultural 

Advisory Committee has scheduled a 

meeting to be held on December 9, 2014, 

and adopted an agenda that includes 

consideration, among other matters, of 

two issues associated with the Position 

Limits rulemaking: Deliverable supply 

and exemptions for bona fide hedging 

positions. To provide interested persons 

with a sufficient period of time to 

respond to questions raised and points 

made at the Agricultural Advisory 

Committee meeting, the Commission is 

reopening both the Position Limit 

Proposal and the Aggregation Proposal 

for an additional 45-day comment 

period. Comments should be limited to 

the following issues as they pertain to 

agricultural commodities: Hedges of a 

physical commodity by a commercial 

enterprise; and the process for 

estimating deliverable supplies used in 

the setting of spot month limits, as each 

pertains to agricultural commodities. 

Both comment periods will reopen on 

December 9, 2014, and close on January 

22, 2015. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on December 1, 

2014, by the Commission. 

Christopher J. Kirkpatrick, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

Note: The following appendices will not 

appear in the Code of Federal Regulations. 

Appendices to Position Limits for 

Derivatives and Aggregation of 

Positions Reopening of Comment 

Periods—Commission Voting Summary 

and Commissioner’s Statement 

Appendix 1—Commission Voting 

Summary 

On this matter, Chairman Massad and 

Commissioners Wetjen, Bowen, and 

Giancarlo voted in the affirmative. No 

Commissioner voted in the negative. 

Appendix 2—Statement of 

Commissioner Sharon Y. Bowen 

I support this reopening of the comment 

period for our position limits rule. As I’ve 

previously said, this is a key rule and we are 

well-served by giving stakeholders another 

chance to comment. 

However, we cannot allow this rule to 

linger indefinitely on our docket. It has been 

over a year since we re-proposed this rule 

and nearly four years since it was first 

proposed. We need to finish this rule next 

year, and I believe we can release a final rule 

by spring 2015. 

As we continue to finalize and fine-tune 

our Dodd-Frank rulemakings, we have to 

avoid the temptation to simply ratchet back 

or weaken prior versions of those rules. In 

fact, I think the best way of viewing changes 

to our rules is not that we are tweaking them, 

but rather that we are enhancing them. 

Sometimes that may mean making the rules 

more cost-effective and leaner, but at other 

times that will mean making them stronger 

than before. Enhancing a rule can mean 

reducing burdens to business while 

strengthening protections for the public. I 

believe our position limits proposal is exactly 

the sort of rule that needs to be enhanced, 

and I look forward to working with my fellow 

Commissioners to finish and release this rule 

in a timely fashion. 

[FR Doc. 2014–28482 Filed 12–3–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6351–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Parts 1, 4, 9, 22, and 52 

[FAR Case: 2013–020; Docket No. 2013– 

0020; Sequence No. 1] 

RIN 9000–AM74 

Federal Acquisition Regulation: 

Information on Corporate Contractor 

Performance and Integrity 

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: DoD, GSA, and NASA are 

proposing to amend the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to 

implement a section of the National 

Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 to include in the 

Federal Awardee Performance and 

Integrity Information System (FAPIIS), 

to the extent practicable, identification 

of any immediate owner or subsidiary, 

and all predecessors of an offeror that 

held a Federal contract or grant within 

the last three years. The objective is to 

provide a more comprehensive 

understanding of the performance and 

integrity of the corporation before 

awarding a Federal contract. 

DATES: Interested parties should submit 

written comments to the Regulatory 

Secretariat at one of the addresses 

shown below on or before February 2, 

2015 to be considered in the formation 

of the final rule. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments in 

response to FAR Case 2013–020 by any 

of the following methods: 

• Regulations.gov: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Submit comments 

via the Federal eRulemaking portal by 

searching for ‘‘FAR Case 2013–020’’. 

Select the link ‘‘Comment Now’’ that 

corresponds with ‘‘FAR Case 2013– 

020.’’ Follow the instructions provided 

at the ‘‘Comment Now’’ screen. Please 

include your name, company name (if 

any), and ‘‘FAR Case 2013–020’’ on your 

attached document. 

• Fax: 202–501–4067. 

• Mail: General Services 

Administration, Regulatory Secretariat 

(MVCB), ATTN: Ms. Hada Flowers, 

1800 F Street NW., 2nd floor, 

Washington, DC 20405. 

Instructions: Please submit comments 

only and cite ‘‘FAR Case 2013–020’’ in 

all correspondence related to this case. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal and/or business confidential 

information provided. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Cecelia L. Davis, Procurement Analyst, 

at 202–219–0202 for clarification of 

content. For information pertaining to 

status or publication schedules, contact 

the Regulatory Secretariat Division at 

202–501–4755. Please cite FAR Case 

2013–020. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing 

to revise the FAR to implement section 

852 of the National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 

(Pub. L. 112–239) with regard to Federal 

contracts. Section 852 requires that the 

FAPIIS include, to the extent 

practicable, information on any parent, 

subsidiary, or successor entities to a 

corporation in a manner designed to 

give the acquisition officials using the 

database a comprehensive 

understanding of the performance and 

integrity of the corporation in carrying 

out Federal contracts and grants. This 

proposed rule addresses the collection 

of information with regard to offerors 

that are responding to a solicitation for 

a Federal contract. The data on 

immediate owner and direct 

subsidiaries of an entity will be 

available through FAPIIS, based on the 

data obtained from offerors in response 

to the FAR provision 52.204–17, 

Ownership or Control of Offeror, which 

was published in the Federal Register at 

79 FR 31187, on May 30, 2014, as a final 

rule under FAR Case 2012–024. 

II. Discussion and Analysis 

A. Information Required 

1. Owner/Subsidiary (Proposed FAR 

9.104–6(a)(2)(i)) 

After reviewing section 852, the 

Defense Acquisition Regulation Council 

and the Civilian Agency Acquisition 

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