75196 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Class of

substance Substance Purpose Products Amount

*******

Antimicrobial agents for

use as secondary additives.

Trisodium phosphate ........ To reduce microbial levels

during reprocessing.

Raw, chilled or pre-chilled

poultry carcasses.

8 to 12%; in conjunction

with a water spray containing 20 ppm chlorine;

solution to be maintained between 45–55°F

after chilling and applied

by spraying chilled or

pre-chilled carcasses for

up to 15 seconds in accordance with 21 CFR

182.1778.

*******

* * * * *

Done at Washington, DC, on: November 22,

2000.

Thomas J. Billy,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–30497 Filed 11–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy

10 CFR Part 430

[Docket Number EE–RM/STD–00–550]

RIN 1904–AB08

Energy Conservation Standards for

Distribution Transformers

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy, Department of

Energy.

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of

extension of comment period.

SUMMARY: On October 6, 2000, the

Department of Energy (DOE or

Department) published a Notice of

public workshop and availability of the

Framework Document for Distribution

Transformer Efficiency Standards. 65 FR

59761. The document announced that

December 1, 2000, would be the closing

date for receiving public comments and

information on the matters addressed in

the Framework Document and on other

matters relevant to consideration of

energy conservation standards for

distribution transformers. On November

1, 2000, during the public workshop on

the energy efficiency rulemaking

process for distribution transformers,

several stakeholders requested that the

comment period be extended. The

Department agrees to extend the

comment period closing date until

January 16, 2001.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before January 16, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Written comments are

welcome. Please submit written

comments to: Ms. Geraldine Paige, U.S.

Department of Energy, Office of Energy

Efficiency and Renewable Energy,

‘‘Energy Conservation Program for

Consumer Products: Energy

Conservation Standards for Distribution

Transformers, Docket No. EE–RM/STD–

00–550’’, EE–41, 1000 Independence

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585–

0121. Telephone: (202) 586–9130;

Telefax: (202) 586–4617. You should

label comments both on the envelope

and on the documents, and submit them

for DOE receipt by January 16, 2001.

Please submit one signed copy and a

computer diskette (WordPerfect 8) or 10

copies (no telefacsimiles). The

Department will also accept

electronically-mailed comments, by email to Geraldine.Paige@ee.doe.gov, but

you must supplement such comments

with a signed hard copy.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl

Adams, U.S. Department of Energy,

Office of Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy, EE–41, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20585–0121, (202) 586–

9142, e-mail: carl.adams@ee.doe.gov, or

Edward Levy, Esq., U.S. Department of

Energy, Office of General Counsel, GC–

72, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586–9507,

e-mail: Edward.Levy@hq.doe.gov.

Issued in Washington, DC, on November

27, 2000.

Dan W. Reicher,

Assistant Secretary Energy Efficiency and

Renewable Energy.

[FR Doc 00–30641 Filed 11–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency

12 CFR Part 8

[Docket No. 00–29]

RIN 1557–AB90

Assessment of Fees; National Banks;

District of Columbia Banks

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

SUMMARY: The Office of the Comptroller

of the Currency (OCC) proposes to

amend its assessment regulation to

clarify that the OCC has authority to

charge a national bank when the OCC

conducts a special examination of a

third party that provides services to the

bank. The proposal applies in the same

way to a District of Columbia bank and

to a Federal branch or agency.

DATES: Comments must be received by

January 2, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please direct your

comments to: Communications

Division, Office of the Comptroller of

the Currency, 250 E Street, SW., Third

Floor, Washington, DC 20219,

Attention: Docket No. 00–29; Fax

number (202) 874–5274 or Internet

address: regs.comments@occ.treas.gov.

Comments may be inspected and

photocopied at the OCC’s Public

Reference Room, 250 E Street, SW.,

Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5

p.m. on business days. You can make an

appointment to inspect comments by

calling (202) 874–5043.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mitchell E. Plave, Senior Attorney,

Legislative and Regulatory Activities

Division, (202) 874–5090.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / Proposed Rules 75197

1A ‘‘lead bank’’ is the largest national bank

controlled by a company, based on a comparison of

the total assets held by each national bank

controlled by that company as reported in each

bank’s Call Report. 12 CFR 8.2(a)(6)(ii)(A).

2 12 CFR 8.6(a) also permits the OCC to assess a

fee for fiduciary examinations and examinations

made pursuant to 12 CFR part 5.

3 12 U.S.C. 1867(c).

4The OCC has recently noted the risks that may

be associated with using service providers in a

recent Advisory Letter and urged national banks to

focus on conducting proper due diligence before

entering into third party arrangements and on

maintaining effective oversight and controls during

the third party relationship. See OCC Advisory

Letter No. 2000–9, ‘‘Third Party Risk,’’ August 29,

2000.

5 In light of this proposal, national banks using

third party service providers should consider

including provisions in their contractual

arrangements with such service providers obligating

the providers to indemnify or reimburse the bank

for any assessments levied on the bank in

connection with an examination of the provider.

6The special investigations covered by § 8.6

includes investigations brought under 12 CFR part

19.

7See 12 CFR 8.8.

8 12 U.S.C. 3102(b).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background and Discussion of

Proposal

The OCC charters, regulates, and

supervises more than 2,300 national

banks and 58 Federal branches and

agencies of foreign banks in the United

States, accounting for nearly 60 percent

of the nation’s banking assets. Its

mission is to ensure a safe, sound, and

competitive national banking system

that supports the citizens, communities,

and economy of the United States.

The OCC funds the activities it

undertakes to carry out this mission

through assessments and fees charged to

the banks it supervises. The National

Bank Act authorizes the OCC to collect

‘‘assessments, fees, or other charges as

necessary or appropriate to carry out the

responsibilities of the office of the

Comptroller.’’ 12 U.S.C. 482 (Supp.

1999). The statute requires that our

charges ‘‘be set to meet the

Comptroller’s expenses in carrying out

authorized activities.’’ Id. Under part 8,

the OCC currently assesses national

banks, District of Columbia banks, and

Federal branches and agencies

according to a formula based on factors

that include a bank’s size, condition,

and whether it is the ‘‘lead’’ bank or

‘‘non-lead’’ bank among national banks

in a holding company.1 The OCC also

has the authority to assess a fee for

special examinations and investigations

of these banks. 12 CFR 8.6(a).

In its current form, section 8.6(a)

refers only to fees for a special

examination of a national bank, a

District of Columbia bank, or an affiliate

of either.2 It does not reflect the OCC’s

authority to assess a national bank in

connection with special examinations of

any of the bank’s service providers. The

Bank Service Company Act provides

that entities that perform services for

national banks (or for other entities

supervised by the OCC, including

subsidiaries subject to examination by

the OCC) ‘‘shall be subject to regulation

and examination by [the OCC] to the

same extent as if such services were

being performed by the bank itself on its

own premises.’’ 3

While banks historically have used

third parties to perform certain

activities—payment processing, for

example—some banks are entering new

lines of business or introducing novel

and potentially high-risk new products,

relying substantially on third party

service providers to enable the bank to

participate in or to conduct those

activities. These include, for instance,

certain types of credit card programs,

sub-prime lending, check cashing, and

other specialized types of lending. In

many instances, the interest of the

service provider in transactions it

originates is significantly greater than

that of the bank. This increased reliance

on service providers will result in an

increased need for the OCC to examine

or investigate third party service

providers in order to evaluate the effect

that third-party activities and

relationships have on the safety and

soundness of the bank.4

The OCC would charge a special

examination or investigation fee when

examination or investigation of the

activities of a third party service

provider is warranted by the high risk

or unusual or novel nature of the

activities conducted by the service

provider for the bank, or when the OCC

believes that the bank has insufficient

systems, controls, or personnel to

adequately monitor, measure, and

control the risks associated with the

activity. Thus, for example, the OCC

would not impose the fee in the case of

examinations of service providers that

provide servicing and processing for a

bank’s ongoing transactions with its

customers. The OCC also would plan to

inform the bank, when commencing a

special examination or investigation or

expanding another examination, when

we expect to charge a special

examination or investigation fee. 5

Accordingly, we propose to amend

our regulation to make explicit our

authority to assess a national bank (or

other entity supervised by the OCC) for

an examination or investigation of any

of its service providers.6 The assessment

authority extends to District of

Columbia banks and to Federal branches

and agencies as well as to national

banks. In addition, the proposal permits

the OCC to impose the assessment if we

examine or investigate third party

providers of services to subsidiaries

subject to examination by the OCC. The

proposal amends section 8.6(a) to state

that the OCC may assess a national

bank, a District of Columbia bank, or a

Federal branch or agency, a fee for the

examination or investigation of an entity

that performs services for the institution

or its subsidiary that is subject to OCC

examination and regulation pursuant to

the Bank Service Company Act (12

U.S.C. 1867(c)). The fees for special

exams and investigations would be

based on an hourly rate, with the hourly

rate provided each year by the OCC in

its Notice of Comptroller of the

Currency Fees (Notice of Fees). 7

We also propose to amend section

8.6(a) to clarify that fees may be charged

for conducting special examinations and

investigations of Federal branches and

agencies of foreign banks or their

affiliates. Federal branches and agencies

are subject to the same ‘‘duties,

restrictions, penalties, liabilities,

conditions, and limitations’’ that apply

to national banks, except as otherwise

specifically provided by statute. 8

Current section 8.6 does not address the

assessment of a fee for the special

examination or investigation of Federal

branches and agencies or their affiliates.

Proposed section 8.6 makes our

authority to assess such a fee explicit.

The amount of these fees would be

provided in the Notice of Fees.

Finally, the title of part 8 would be

amended to more accurately reflect the

scope of the regulation. While part 8

includes Federal branches and agencies

within the scope of the rule, only

national banks and District of Columbia

banks are listed in the title. The

proposal removes from the title

references to the types of regulated

entities covered by the regulation.

II. Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)

requires federal agencies either to certify

that a proposed rule would not, if

adopted in final form, have a significant

impact on a substantial number of small

entities or to prepare an initial

regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA) of

the proposal and publish the analysis

for comment. See 5 U.S.C. 603, 605. On

the basis of the information currently

available, the OCC is of the opinion that

this proposal, if it is adopted in final

form, is unlikely to have a significant

impact on a substantial number of small

entities, within the meaning of those

75198 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 232 / Friday, December 1, 2000 / Proposed Rules

terms as used in the RFA. As previously

noted, a national bank would be

assessed a fee for the examination or

investigation of its service provider only

when the examination or investigation

is warranted by the high risk or unusual

or novel nature of the activities

conducted by the service provider for

the bank or when the OCC believes that

the bank has insufficient systems,

controls, or personnel to adequately

monitor, measure, and control the risks

associated with the activity. As a result,

the OCC believes that the fees will not

be imposed on a substantial number of

small entities. Commenters are invited

to provide the OCC with any

information they may have about the

likely quantitative effects of the

proposal.

III. Executive Order 12866

The OCC has determined that this

proposal is not a significant regulatory

action under Executive Order 12866.

IV. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of

1995

Section 202 of the Unfunded

Mandates Reform Act of 1995, Pub. L.

104–4 (2 U.S.C. 1532) (Unfunded

Mandates Act), requires that an agency

prepare a budgetary impact statement

before promulgating any rule likely to

result in a Federal mandate that may

result in the expenditure by State, local,

and tribal governments, in the aggregate,

or by the private sector of $100 million

or more in any one year. If a budgetary

impact statement is required, section

205 of the Unfunded Mandates Act also

requires an agency to identify and

consider a reasonable number of

regulatory alternatives before

promulgating a rule. The OCC has

determined that the proposed rule will

not result in expenditures by State,

local, and tribal governments, or by the

private sector, of $100 million or more

in any one year. Accordingly, this

rulemaking is not subject to section 202

of the Unfunded Mandates Act.

List of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 8

National banks.

Authority and Issuance

For reasons set forth in the preamble,

the OCC proposes to amend part 8 of

Chapter I of title 12 of the Code of

Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 8—ASSESSMENT OF FEES

1. The authority citation for part 8 is

revised to read as follows:

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 93a, 481, 482, 1867,

3102, and 3108; 15 U.S.C. 78c and 78l; and

26 D.C. Code 102.

2. The title of part 8 is revised to read

as set forth above.

3. Section 8.6 is amended by revising

the section heading and paragraph (a) to

read as follows:

§ 8.6 Fees for special examinations and

investigations.

(a) Fees. Pursuant to the authority

contained in 12 U.S.C. 481 and 482, the

Office of the Comptroller of the

Currency assesses a fee for:

(1) Examining the fiduciary activities

of national and District of Columbia

banks and related entities;

(2) Conducting special examinations

and investigations of national banks,

District of Columbia banks, and Federal

branches or Federal agencies of foreign

banks;

(3) Conducting special examinations

and investigations of any entity subject

to regulation and examination by the

OCC pursuant to the Bank Service

Company Act (12 U.S.C. 1867(c));

(4) Conducting special examinations

and investigations of affiliates of

national banks, District of Columbia

banks, and Federal branches or Federal

agencies of foreign banks; and

(5) Conducting examinations and

investigations made pursuant to 12 CFR

Part 5, Rules, Policies, and Procedures

for Corporate Activities.

* * * * *

Dated: October 18, 2000.

John D. Hawke, Jr.,

Comptroller of the Currency.

[FR Doc. 00–30600 Filed 11–30–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4810–33–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

14 CFR Part 39

[Docket No. 2000–SW–13–AD]

Airworthiness Directives; Eurocopter

France Model SA.315B, SA.316B,

SA.316C, SE.3160, and SA.319B

Helicopters

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking

(NPRM).

SUMMARY: This NPRM proposes the

supersedure of an existing airworthiness

directive (AD) for Eurocopter France

(ECF) Model SA.315B, SA.316B,

SA.316C, SE.3160, and SA.319B

helicopters. That AD requires initial and

recurring inspections of the main rotor

blade (blade) spar for cracks. This action

would require initial and recurring dye

penetrant or eddy current inspections

for a cracked blade spar at 100-hour

time-in-service (TIS) intervals or 600

cycles, whichever occurs first, rather

than the 25-hour TIS intervals currently

required. This proposal is prompted by

an accident in which a Model SA.315B

helicopter blade failed due to fatigue

cracking. The proposed actions are

intended to prevent separation of a

blade and subsequent loss of control of

the helicopter.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before January 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments in

triplicate to the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), Office of the

Regional Counsel, Southwest Region,

Attention: Rules Docket No. 2000–SW–

13–AD, 2601 Meacham Blvd., Room

663, Fort Worth, Texas 76137. You may

also send comments electronically to

the Rules Docket at the following

address: 9-asw-adcomments@faa.gov.

Comments may be inspected at the

Office of the Regional Counsel between

9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through

Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim

Grigg, Aviation Safety Engineer, FAA,

Rotorcraft Directorate, Regulations

Group, Fort Worth, Texas 76193–0111,

telephone (817) 222–5490, fax (817)

222–5961.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments Invited

Interested persons are invited to

participate in the making of the

proposed rule by submitting such

written data, views, or arguments as

they may desire. Communications

should identify the Rules Docket

number and be submitted in triplicate to

the address specified above. All

communications received on or before

the closing date for comments, specified

above, will be considered before taking

action on the proposed rule. The

proposals contained in this action may

be changed in light of the comments

received.

Comments are specifically invited on

the overall regulatory, economic,

environmental, and energy aspects of

the proposed rule. All comments

submitted will be available, both before

and after the closing date for comments,

in the Rules Docket for examination by

interested persons. A report

summarizing each FAA-public contact

concerned with the substance of this

proposal will be filed in the Rules

Docket.

Commenters wishing the FAA to

acknowledge receipt of their mailed

comments submitted in response to this

action must submit a self-addressed,