Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 244 / Wednesday, December 19, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 75011 

well as any pests other than B. dorsalis 

that have been caught, and make this 

information available to APHIS upon 

request. 

(3)(i) The place of production or 

packinghouse must notify the NPPO of 

China, and the NPPO of China must 

notify APHIS, regarding the detection of 

a single B. dorsalis in a place of 

production, packinghouse, or 

surrounding area within 48 hours of the 

detection. 

(ii) If a single B. dorsalis is detected 

in a registered place of production, 

APHIS will prohibit the importation 

into the United States of sand pears 

from the place of production until any 

mitigation measures determined by 

APHIS to be necessary to prevent future 

infestations are taken. 

(iii) If a single B. dorsalis is detected 

in a registered packinghouse, the 

packinghouse may not be used to pack 

sand pears for export to the United 

States until any mitigation measures 

determined by APHIS to be necessary to 

prevent future infestations are taken. 

(4) The pears must be treated in 

accordance with 7 CFR part 305 and the 

operational workplan. 

(Approved by the Office of Management and 

Budget under control number 0579–0390.) 

Done in Washington, DC, this 13th day of 

December 2012. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–30532 Filed 12–18–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

15 CFR Part 748 

[Docket No. 110331231–2684–01] 

RIN 0694–AF19 

Revisions to Authorization Validated 

End-User Provisions: Requirement for 

Notice of Export, Reexport or Transfer 

(In-Country) and Clarification 

Regarding Termination of Conditions 

on VEU Authorizations 

AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this rule, the Bureau of 

Industry and Security (BIS) amends the 

Export Administration Regulations 

(EAR) by adding a requirement for 

persons shipping under Authorization 

Validated End-User (VEU) to send 

written notice of such shipments to the 

recipient VEU. BIS further amends the 

EAR to clarify that when items subject 

to item-specific conditions under 

Authorization VEU no longer require a 

license for export or reexport or become 

eligible for shipment under a license 

exception, as set forth in the EAR, VEUs 

are no longer bound by the conditions 

associated with the original receipt of 

such items. On April 17, 2012, BIS 

published a proposed rule and 

requested public comments on these 

topics (77 FR 22689). The comment 

period closed June 18, 2012. BIS has 

addressed the public comments 

received in response to the proposed 

rule in this final rule. 

DATES: This rule is effective January 18, 

2013. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karen H. Nies-Vogel, Chair, End-User 

Review Committee, Bureau of Industry 

and Security, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 14th St. and Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230; by 

telephone: (202) 482–5991, fax: (202) 

482–3911, or email: ERC@bis.doc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Authorization Validated End-User 

(VEU) 

Validated end-users (VEUs) are those 

entities located in eligible destinations 

to which eligible items may be exported, 

reexported, or transferred (in-country) 

under a general authorization instead of 

a license. VEUs and their respective 

eligible destinations and eligible items 

are identified in Supplement No. 7 to 

Part 748 of the EAR. VEUs may obtain 

eligible items without having to wait for 

their suppliers to obtain export licenses 

from BIS. 

VEUs are reviewed and approved by 

the U.S. Government in accordance with 

the provisions of Section 748.15 and 

Supplement Nos. 8 and 9 to Part 748 of 

the EAR. The End-User Review 

Committee (ERC), composed of 

representatives from the Departments of 

State, Defense, Energy and Commerce, 

and other agencies, as appropriate, is 

responsible for administering the VEU 

program. 

On April 17, 2012, BIS published a 

rule soliciting public comments on two 

proposed amendments to Section 748.15 

of the EAR (Authorization Validated 

End-User (VEU)) (77 FR 22689). BIS 

proposed requiring persons exporting, 

reexporting, or transferring (in-country) 

under Authorization VEU to send 

written notification to the recipient VEU 

with details about their shipment within 

seven days of the shipment. In addition, 

BIS proposed explicitly clarifying in the 

EAR that VEUs that are subject to itemspecific conditions and have received 

items subject to such conditions under 

Authorization VEU would no longer be 

bound by the conditions associated with 

the items if the items no longer require 

a license for export or reexport to the 

VEU’s location or become eligible for 

shipment under a license exception to 

the destination. BIS received comments 

from two entities, which are 

summarized and responded to below. 

Comments and Responses 

Comment 1: Both commenters 

indicated their overall support for the 

proposed changes and the VEU 

authorization as a whole. One 

commenter specifically noted that 

Authorization VEU had benefited a VEU 

and its supplier by allowing the 

purchase and supply of equipment to 

proceed without the additional leadtime issues often caused by potentially 

lengthy government approvals. 

Response: BIS appreciates this input 

regarding the VEU program, particularly 

in light of BIS’s efforts to improve the 

program and make it more effective for 

U.S. exporters. 

Comment 2: Both commenters 

explained that individual shipments 

may include items shipped under 

‘‘multiple authorizations’’ including 

Authorization VEU. They asked BIS to 

clarify that proposed paragraph (g) of 

Section 748.15 would only require that 

shippers notify VEUs of items shipped 

under Authorization VEU and not of 

items shipped under other 

authorizations in the same shipment as 

VEU items. Specifically, one commenter 

recommended that notification be 

required to include ‘‘a list of the VEU 

authorized contents and a list of their 

respective ECCNs.’’ 

Response: BIS recognizes that 

individual shipments may include items 

authorized for shipment or transfer 

under Authorization VEU as well as 

items being shipped under other EAR 

authorizations, such as licenses or 

license exceptions. BIS intends that the 

notification be required only for items 

shipped under Authorization VEU and 

not for any other items shipped with the 

VEU-authorized items. BIS has amended 

the text of Section 748.15(g) to specify 

that the notification requirement applies 

only to the ‘‘VEU-authorized’’ items in 

a shipment and to specify that the list 

suggested by the commenter be 

included as part of the notification. 

Comment 3: Both commenters asked 

BIS to review its approach to the timing 

and frequency of notifications under 

Section 748.15(g). Both commenters 

recommended that BIS permit 

consolidated notifications under 

Authorization VEU, rather than require 


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75012 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 244 / Wednesday, December 19, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

separate notifications for each shipment 

under Authorization VEU. Specifically, 

one commenter provided a 

semiconductor industry-specific 

example of the multiple transfers of an 

integrated circuit’s layout or design that 

may be necessary between a 

semiconductor foundry and its customer 

to correct design flaws prior to 

production. The commenter suggested 

that the exporter should be required to 

provide only a single notification for 

such shipments. In addition, both 

commenters asked that BIS clarify that 

notification may be made before 

shipment occurs. One of the 

commenters specifically suggested that 

the timing be modified to ‘‘no later than 

seven days after shipment or as 

mutually agreed in writing by both 

parties.’’ This commenter further 

suggested that BIS could require that the 

terms of VEU notification be included in 

Section 748.15(e), which requires that 

exporters and reexporters obtain from 

VEUs certifications regarding end use 

and compliance with VEU 

requirements. The commenter expressed 

that this approach would maximize 

benefits and minimize burdens 

associated with notification, and would 

ensure transparency and help to verify 

compliance. 

Response: BIS has reviewed the 

timing and frequency of notifications 

and agrees that exporters, reexporters 

and transferors (in-country) should have 

the option to consolidate notifications to 

VEUs when multiple shipments are 

made under Authorization VEU. BIS 

therefore has included this as an option 

in Section 748.15(g). Further, as the 

timeframe for notification that is 

appropriate for one VEU and shipper 

may be inappropriate for others, BIS 

agrees with the commenter who 

suggested that notification be within a 

timeframe that is mutually agreed to in 

writing by both parties. That mutual 

agreement must, however, be reached 

prior to the shipment or transfer. With 

reference to the comment proposing that 

BIS require the notification to be 

included in the certification required 

under Section 748.15(e) of the EAR, BIS 

notes that the 748.15(e) certification is 

required under the EAR only in advance 

of the first shipment by a supplier to a 

VEU under Authorization VEU and at 

no other time thereafter and that while 

provision of the 748.15(e) certification is 

the sole responsibility of the VEU, 

advance agreement on the notification 

schedule is the responsibility of both 

the VEU and the shipper. Although a 

VEU and a shipper may agree to include 

the notification schedule in the 

certification, BIS will not require that 

the schedule be included in the 

certification. BIS has revised Section 

748.15(g) by providing that notifications 

should be made within a timeframe 

agreed to in writing by the VEU and the 

shipper in advance of the initial 

shipment and has removed the reference 

to ‘‘within seven calendar days’’ of the 

shipment. With this modification, BIS 

clarifies its original intent to permit 

notification in advance of shipment. 

Comment 4: One commenter 

expressed concern regarding BIS’s 

explanation in the proposed rule that, 

‘‘BIS intends to improve the ability of 

VEUs to determine which authorization 

their suppliers utilized. This will enable 

VEUs to better determine which set of 

conditions governs their use of the 

received item(s) more efficiently, 

thereby increasing the VEUs’ 

compliance.’’ The commenter asked that 

BIS modify this explanation to make 

clear that the notification requirement’s 

purpose is not to require that companies 

be able to distinguish between identical 

items sent under a VEU authorization 

and other types of authorization. The 

commenter noted that when identical 

parts and materials shipped or 

transferred under different 

authorizations are commingled within 

inventories, some VEUs ensure 

compliance with U.S. law by meeting 

the requirements of the most restrictive 

conditions associated with a particular 

stock-keeping unit (SKU) and keep track 

of the total quantity of items received 

under a specific authorization through 

first-in-first-out (FIFO) and other 

standard inventory accounting methods. 

Response: The use of Authorization 

VEU requires VEUs to track items 

received under Authorization VEU, but 

does not require VEUs to distinguish 

between identical items sent under 

Authorization VEU and other types of 

shipping authorizations. BIS 

understands that, as a practical matter, 

individual items in inventory may not 

be easily or efficiently tracked, and that 

there are VEUs that fulfill their 

requirements under Authorization VEU 

by meeting the most restrictive 

conditions associated with a particular 

SKU and tracking the total quantity of 

items received under a specific 

authorization through the standard 

inventory accounting methods 

described by the commenter. 

Comment 5: One commenter 

encouraged BIS to consider expanding 

the scope of Authorization VEU by 

implementing the VEU program in 

countries other than China and India. 

Response: BIS is taking this comment 

under advisement and is not responding 

to it here as it is outside the scope of 

BIS’s proposed rule. 

Amendments to Section 748.15 of the 

EAR 

Prior Notification Requirement 

In this rule, BIS adopts the 

amendment to the EAR proposed on 

April 17, 2012 (77 FR 22689) with some 

changes. In the April rule, BIS proposed 

amending Section 748.15 by adding 

paragraph (g) to require persons 

exporting, reexporting, or transferring 

(in-country) under Authorization VEU 

to send written notification to the 

recipient VEU with details about their 

shipment within seven days of the 

shipment. The April proposal also 

specified that the notification must 

include a list of the VEU-authorized 

contents of the shipment and the 

quantity of such items that are being, 

have been, or will be shipped to the 

respective VEUs, as well as a list of the 

applicable Export Control Classification 

Numbers (ECCNs) for VEU-authorized 

items included in the shipment. This 

final rule adopts the notification 

requirement in § 748.15 while making a 

change from the proposed rule by 

providing that notification must be 

made within a timeframe agreed to in 

writing by the VEU and the persons 

exporting, reexporting or transferring 

(in-country), rather than within seven 

days of the shipment as proposed in the 

April rule. This final rule also adds that 

the VEU and the persons exporting, 

reexporting or transferring (in-country) 

must agree to the notification timeframe 

in advance of shipment under 

Authorization VEU. 

As discussed in the proposed rule, the 

purpose of this new requirement is to 

enhance the ability of VEUs to comply 

with the requirements of the VEU 

program. This amendment to the EAR is 

not the result of non-compliance with 

VEU requirements by existing VEUs. 

With this amendment to the EAR, BIS 

intends to improve the ability of VEUs 

to determine which shipments are made 

to them under Authorization VEU. The 

use of Authorization VEU requires VEUs 

to track items received under 

Authorization VEU, but does not require 

VEUs to distinguish between identical 

items sent under Authorization VEU 

and other types of shipping 

authorizations. Accordingly, this 

amendment will enable VEUs to better 

determine which set of conditions 

governs their use of the received item(s) 

more efficiently, thereby better enabling 

the VEUs’ compliance with the EAR. 

With this rule, BIS is not requiring a 

specific form of communication (e.g., 

fax, email, letter) for the notification, 

but does require that it be in a written 

format. Similarly, the VEU and the 

shipper may determine if notifications 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 244 / Wednesday, December 19, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 75013 

need to be made for each Authorization 

VEU shipment or whether multiple 

shipments may be the subject of a 

consolidated notification. As noted 

above, the notification must be 

conveyed to the VEU within the time 

period agreed to in writing by the VEU 

and the persons exporting, reexporting 

or transferring (in-country) the VEU 

items in advance of the initial shipment. 

VEUs are required to maintain the 

notifications they receive and exporters 

and reexporters are required to maintain 

the notifications they send pursuant to 

their recordkeeping requirements. 

Clarification Regarding Termination of 

Conditions on VEU Authorizations 

In the proposed rule, BIS also 

proposed amending Section 748.15(h) to 

clarify that VEUs that are subject to 

item-specific conditions and have 

received items subject to such 

conditions under Authorization VEU are 

no longer bound by the conditions 

associated with the items if the items no 

longer require a license for export or 

reexport to the VEU’s authorized 

location or become eligible for shipment 

under a license exception to the 

destination. This amendment is the 

same, in effect, as existing Section 

750.7(i) (Terminating license 

conditions), which generally applies to 

exporters and reexporters who have 

shipped under license. No public 

comments were received on this 

proposal, and the proposed regulatory 

text is being adopted with minimal 

changes, described below. 

To supplement the proposed 

regulatory text, BIS is adding phrasing 

in paragraph (h) to clarify that when the 

EAR are amended such that items 

previously exported, reexported or 

transferred (in-country) to a VEU under 

Authorization VEU would be eligible for 

shipment to the VEU under a License 

Exception, the items received under 

Authorization VEU become subject to 

the terms and conditions of the 

applicable License Exception and not 

the original conditions associated with 

export, reexport or transfer under 

Authorization VEU. In addition, when 

the EAR are amended such that items 

previously exported, reexported or 

transferred (in-country) to a VEU under 

Authorization VEU would remain 

subject to the EAR but become eligible 

for export without a license under the 

EAR, the items received under 

Authorization VEU may only be 

exported, reexported, transferred (incountry) or disposed of in accordance 

with the EAR. These two statements are 

not substantive and were added only in 

the interest of clarifying the scope of 

new paragraph (h) on requirements 

under the EAR. These new sentences 

also parallel existing Section 750.7(i) 

(Terminating license conditions). 

Records Review 

In the proposed rule, BIS further 

proposed adding new paragraph (i) is to 

Section 748.15 to remind exporters that 

records requirements for shipments that 

were made under Authorization VEU 

prior to the removal of a license 

requirement or the availability of a 

license exception remain subject to the 

review requirements of paragraph (f)(2) 

of section 748.15 on and after the date 

that the license requirement was 

removed or the license exception 

became applicable. No public comments 

were received on this provision, and BIS 

is adopting paragraph (i) as proposed. 

Since August 21, 2001, the Export 

Administration Act has been in lapse 

and the President, through Executive 

Order 13222 of August 17, 2001 (3 CFR, 

2001 Comp., p. 783 (2002)), as extended 

most recently by the Notice of August 

15, 2012 (77 FR 49699, August 16, 

2012), has continued the EAR in effect 

under the International Emergency 

Economic Powers Act. BIS continues to 

carry out the provisions of the Export 

Administration Act, as appropriate and 

to the extent permitted by law, pursuant 

to Executive Order 13222. 

Rulemaking Requirements 

1. Executive Orders 13563 and 12866 

direct agencies to assess all costs and 

benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives and, if regulation is 

necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety 

effects, distributive impacts, and 

equity). Executive Order 13563 

emphasizes the importance of 

quantifying both costs and benefits, of 

reducing costs, of harmonizing rules, 

and of promoting flexibility. This rule 

has been determined to be not 

significant for purposes of Executive 

Order 12866. 

2. Notwithstanding any other 

provisions of law, no person is required 

to respond to nor be subject to a penalty 

for failure to comply with a collection 

of information, subject to the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501, 

et seq.) (PRA), unless that collection of 

information displays a currently valid 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Control Number. This final rule 

involves information collections 

previously approved by the OMB under 

control number 0694–0088, ‘‘MultiPurpose Application’’, which carries a 

burden hour estimate of 45.8 minutes to 

prepare and submit form BIS–748, 

which involves requirements in 

connection with Authorization VEU. 

BIS revised the burden hour estimate 

shown for the 0694–0088 collection by 

two minutes to include the notification 

requirement proposed in this rule. This 

revision does not represent a significant 

increase in burden hours for submitting 

information under the collection. 

3. This rule does not contain policies 

with Federalism implications as that 

term is defined under Executive Order 

13132. 

4. The Chief Counsel for Regulation of 

the Department of Commerce certified 

to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

Small Business Administration during 

the proposed rule stage that this rule 

would not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. The basis for the certification 

was published in the preamble to the 

proposed rule and is not repeated here. 

BIS received no comments or new 

information regarding the certification. 

Therefore, a final regulatory flexibility 

analysis is not required and none has 

been prepared. 

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 748 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Exports, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Accordingly, part 748 of the Export 

Administration Regulations (15 CFR 

parts 730–774) is amended as follows: 

PART 748—[AMENDED] 

■ 1. The authority citation for 15 CFR 

part 748 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 50 U.S.C. app. 2401 et seq; 50 

U.S.C. 1701 et seq.; E.O. 13026,61 FR 58767,3 

CFR, 1996 Comp., p. 228; E.O. 13222,66 FR 

44025, 3 CFR, 2001 Comp., p. 783; Notice of 

August 15, 2012 (77 FR 49699 (August 16, 

2012)). 

■ 2. Section 748.15 is amended by 

adding paragraphs (g), (h) and (i) to read 

as follows: 

§ 748.15 Authorization Validated End-User 

(VEU). 

* * * * * 

(g) Notification requirement. 

Exporters and reexporters shipping 

under Authorization VEU and persons 

transferring (in-country) under 

Authorization VEU are required to 

provide the VEUs to which they are 

shipping or transferring notice of the 

shipment or transfer. Such notification 

must be conveyed to the VEU in writing 

and must include a list of the VEUauthorized contents of the shipment or 

transfer and a list of the ECCNs under 

which the VEU-authorized items in the 

shipment or transfer are classified, as 


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75014 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 244 / Wednesday, December 19, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

well as a statement that the items are 

being, will be, or were shipped or 

transferred pursuant to Authorization 

VEU. Notification of the export, reexport 

or transfer (in-country) to the VEU must 

be made within a timeframe agreed to in 

writing by the VEU and the person 

exporting, reexporting or transferring 

(in-country). The VEU and the person 

exporting, reexporting or transferring 

(in-country) must agree to the 

notification timeframe prior to the 

initial shipment or transfer under 

Authorization VEU. Depending on the 

agreement between the VEU and the 

person exporting, reeexporting or 

transferring (in-country), a notification 

may be for individual shipments or for 

multiple shipments. Exporters, 

reexporters and VEUs are required to 

maintain the notifications they send or 

receive in accordance with their 

recordkeeping requirements. 

(h) Termination of Conditions on VEU 

Authorizations. VEUs that are subject to 

item-specific conditions and have 

received items subject to such 

conditions under Authorization VEU are 

no longer bound by the conditions 

associated with the items if the items no 

longer require a license for export or 

reexport to the PRC or India, as 

applicable, or become eligible for 

shipment under a license exception to 

the destination. Items that become 

eligible for a License Exception are 

subject to the terms and conditions of 

the applicable License Exception and 

the restrictions in § 740.2 of the EAR. 

Items that become eligible for export 

without a license and that remain 

subject to the EAR may only be 

exported, reexported, transferred (incountry) or disposed of in accordance 

with the requirements of the EAR. 

Termination of VEU conditions does not 

relieve a validated end-user of its 

responsibility for violations that 

occurred prior to the availability of a 

license exception or prior to the removal 

of license requirements. 

(i) Records. Records of items that were 

shipped under Authorization VEU prior 

to the removal of a license requirement 

or the availability of a license exception 

remain subject to the review 

requirements of paragraph (f)(2) of this 

section on and after the date that the 

license requirement was removed or the 

license exception became applicable. 

Dated: December 12, 2012. 

Kevin J. Wolf, 

Assistant Secretary for Export 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2012–30482 Filed 12–18–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

15 CFR Part 950 

[Docket No 121205685–2685–01] 

RIN 0648–BC83 

Schedule of Fees for Access to NOAA 

Environmental Data, Information, and 

Related Products and Services 

AGENCY: National Environmental 

Satellite, Data and Information Service 

(NESDIS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In this final rule, NESDIS 

establishes a new schedule of fees for 

the sale of its data, information, and 

related products and services to users. 

NESDIS is revising the fee schedule that 

has been in effect since 2011 to ensure 

that the fees accurately reflect the costs 

of providing access to the 

environmental data, information, and 

related products and services. NESDIS 

is authorized under 15 U.S.C. 1534 to 

assess fees, up to fair market value, for 

access to environmental data, 

information, and products derived from, 

collected, and/or archived by NOAA. 

Other than depreciation, costs to 

upgrade computer hardware and 

software systems will not be included in 

the fees charged to users. NESDIS is 

updating its schedule of fees for access 

to NOAA Environmental Data, 

Information, and Related Products and 

Services as costs of providing access 

have changed since 2011. 

DATES: Effective Date: January 31, 2013. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sherida Wright, (301) 713–922 . 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

NESDIS operates NOAA’s National 

Data Centers for Climate, Geophysics, 

Oceans, and Coasts. Through these Data 

Centers, NESDIS provides and ensures 

timely access to global environmental 

data from satellites and other sources, 

provides information services, and 

develops science products. 

NESDIS maintains some 1,300 data 

bases containing over 2,400 

environmental variables at three 

National Data Centers and seven World 

Data Centers. These centers respond to 

over 2,000,000 requests for these data 

and products annually from over 70 

countries. This collection of 

environmental data and products is 

growing rapidly, both in size and 

sophistication, and as a result the 

associated costs have increased. 

Users have the ability to access the 

data offline, online and through the 

NESDIS e-Commerce System (NeS) 

online store. Our ability to provide these 

data, information, products and services 

depends on user fees. 

New Fee Schedule 

The new fee schedule lists both the 

current fee charged for each item and 

the new fee to be charged to users that 

will take effect beginning January 31, 

2013. The schedule applies to the listed 

services provided by NESDIS on or after 

this date, except for products and 

services covered by a subscription 

agreement in effect as of this date that 

extends beyond this date. In those cases, 

the increased fees will apply upon 

renewal of the subscription agreement 

or at the earliest amendment date 

provided by the agreement. 

NESDIS will continue to review the 

user fees periodically, and will revise 

such fees as necessary. Any future 

changes in the user fees and their 

effective date will be announced 

through notice in the Federal Register. 

Classification 

This rule has been determined to be 

not significant for purposes of E.O. 

12866. The provisions of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 

553) requiring notice of proposed 

rulemaking and the opportunity for 

public participation are inapplicable 

because this rule falls within the public 

property exception of subparagraph 

(a)(2) of section 553, as it is limited only 

to the assessment of fees, per 15 U.S.C. 

1534, that accurately reflect the costs of 

providing access to publicly available 

environmental data, information, and 

related products. Further, no other law 

requires that a notice of proposed 

rulemaking and an opportunity for 

public comment be given for this rule. 

Because a notice of proposed 

rulemaking and an opportunity for 

public comment are not required to be 

given for this rule under 5 U.S.C. 553 or 

by any other law, the requirements of 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 

601 et seq.) are not applicable. 

Accordingly, no Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis is required and none has been 

prepared. 

List of Subjects in 15 CFR Part 950 

Organization and functions 

(Government agencies). 

Michael H. Abreu, 

Chief, Financial Officer (CFO/CAO). 

For the reasons set forth above, 15 

CFR part 950 is amended as follows: 


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