Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules 28519 

1For editorial reasons, upon codification in the 

U.S. Code, Part B was re-designated Part A. 

submitter provide, in as much detail as 

possible, an explanation why a 

regulation or reporting requirement 

should be modified, streamlined, 

expanded, or repealed, as well as 

specific suggestions of ways the 

Department can better achieve its 

regulatory objectives. 

(1) How can the Department best 

promote meaningful periodic reviews of 

its existing rules and how can it best 

identify those rules that might be 

modified, streamlined, expanded, or 

repealed? 

(2) What factors should the agency 

consider in selecting and prioritizing 

rules and reporting requirements for 

review? 

(3) Are there regulations that are or 

have become unnecessary, ineffective, 

or ill advised and, if so, what are they? 

Are there rules that can simply be 

repealed without impairing the 

Department’s regulatory programs and, 

if so, what are they? 

(4) Are there rules or reporting 

requirements that have become outdated 

and, if so, how can they be modernized 

to accomplish their regulatory objectives 

better? 

(5) Are there rules that are still 

necessary, but have not operated as well 

as expected such that a modified, 

stronger, or slightly different approach 

is justified? 

(6) Does the Department currently 

collect information that it does not need 

or use effectively to achieve regulatory 

objectives? 

(7) Are there regulations, reporting 

requirements, or regulatory processes 

that are unnecessarily complicated or 

could be streamlined to achieve 

regulatory objectives in more efficient 

ways? 

(8) Are there rules or reporting 

requirements that have been overtaken 

by technological developments? Can 

new technologies be leveraged to 

modify, streamline, or do away with 

existing regulatory or reporting 

requirements? 

(9) How can the Department best 

obtain and consider accurate, objective 

information and data about the costs, 

burdens, and benefits of existing 

regulations? Are there existing sources 

of data the Department can use to 

evaluate the post-promulgation effects 

of regulations over time? We invite 

interested parties to provide data that 

may be in their possession that 

documents the costs, burdens, and 

benefits of existing requirements. 

(10) Are there regulations that are 

working well that can be expanded or 

used as a model to fill gaps in other 

DOE regulatory programs? 

The Department notes that this RFI is 

issued solely for information and 

program-planning purposes. Responses 

to this RFI do not bind DOE to any 

further actions related to the response. 

All submissions will be made publically 

available on. http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 4, 2012. 

Gregory H. Woods, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2012–11450 Filed 5–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Parts 429 and 430 

[Docket No. EERE–2012–BT–TP–0017] 

Test Procedure Guidance for Room Air 

Conditioners, Residential 

Dishwashers, and Residential Clothes 

Washers: Public Meeting 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is holding a public 

meeting to provide a forum for 

manufacturers and test laboratories to 

discuss their respective interpretations 

of existing DOE test procedures, where 

they believe that the test procedures 

lack clarity, and to provide information 

for DOE to consider prior to publishing 

any proposed guidance to clarify the 

current test procedures for room air 

conditioners, residential dishwashers, 

and residential clothes washers. 

DATES: DOE will hold a public meeting 

on June 1, 2012, beginning at 9:00 a.m. 

in Washington, DC. 

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be 

held at the U.S. Department of Energy, 

Forrestal Building, Room 8E–089, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. To attend, 

please notify Ms. Brenda Edwards at 

(202) 586–2945. Please note that foreign 

nationals visiting DOE Headquarters are 

subject to advance security screening 

procedures. Any foreign national 

wishing to participate in the public 

meeting should advise DOE as soon as 

possible by contacting Ms. Brenda 

Edwards at (202) 586–2945 to initiate 

the necessary procedures. 

Additionally, DOE plans to conduct 

the public meeting via webinar. To 

participate via webinar, participants 

must sign up by following the 

instructions at https://www1.goto

meeting.com/register/350255376. 

Participants are responsible for ensuring 

that their systems are compatible with 

the webinar software. 

Docket: The docket is available for 

review at www.regulations.gov. All 

documents in the docket are listed in 

the www.regulations.gov index. 

However, not all documents in the 

index may be publicly available, such as 

information that is exempt from public 

disclosure. A link to the docket web 

page can be found at 

www.regulations.gov. The 

www.regulations.gov web page contains 

a link to the docket for this notice, along 

with simple instructions on how to 

access all documents, including public 

comments, in the docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ashley Armstrong, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Building 

Technologies, EE–2J, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121. Phone: 

(202) 586–6590. Email: 

Ashley.Armstrong@ee.doe.gov or Abigail 

Chingos, U.S. Department of Energy, 

Office of General Counsel, GC–32, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585–0121. Phone: (202) 586–5060. 

Email: Abigail.Chingos@hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III, 

Part B of the Energy Policy and 

Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA or the 

Act), Public Law 94–163 (42 U.S.C. 

6291¥6309, as codified), established 

the Energy Conservation Program for 

Consumer Products Other Than 

Automobiles, a program covering most 

major household appliances, including 

the residential room air conditioners, 

residential dishwashers, and residential 

clothes washers that are the focus of this 

notice.1 (42 U.S.C. 6292(2), (6) and (8)) 

Under EPCA, the program consists of 

four activities: (1) Testing; (2) labeling; 

(3) Federal energy conservation 

standards, and (4) certification, 

compliance, and enforcement. The 

testing requirements consist of test 

procedures that manufacturers of 

covered products must use as the basis 

for certifying to DOE that their products 

comply with applicable energy 

conservation standards adopted 

pursuant to EPCA and for representing 

the efficiency of those products. (42 

U.S.C. 6293(c); 42 U.S.C. 6295(s)) 

Similarly, DOE must use these test 

procedures in any enforcement action to 

determine whether covered products 

comply with these energy conservation 

standards. (42 U.S.C. 6295(s)) 

DOE’s existing test procedures for 

residential room air conditioners, 

residential dishwashers, and residential 

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28520 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 94 / Tuesday, May 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

clothes washers adopted pursuant to 

these provisions appear under Title 10 

of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 

part 430, subpart B, appendices F 

(‘‘Uniform Test Method for Measuring 

the Energy Consumption of Room Air 

Conditioners’’), C (‘‘Uniform Test 

Method for Measuring the Energy 

Consumption of Dishwashers’’), and J1 

(‘‘Uniform Test Method for Measuring 

the Energy Consumption of Automatic 

and Semi-Automatic Clothes Washers’’). 

DOE also recently published a new test 

procedure for residential clothes 

washers (Appendix J2—‘‘Uniform Test 

Method for Measuring the Energy 

Consumption of Automatic and SemiAutomatic Clothes Washers’’), the use of 

which is not required until compliance 

with any amended standards is 

required. These procedures establish the 

currently permitted means for 

determining energy efficiency and 

annual energy consumption of these 

products. 

DOE has received inquiries regarding 

the appropriate interpretation of various 

provisions of the current DOE test 

procedures. DOE has issued guidance 

documents on certain aspects of testing 

room air conditioners, residential 

dishwashers, and residential clothes 

washers. See http:// 

www1.eere.energy.gov/guidance/ 

default.aspx?pid=2&spid=1 for 

additional information. 

The Department is holding this public 

meeting and webinar to gather 

information regarding the current 

practices of manufacturer-run and 

private testing facilities. The 

Department seeks to understand how 

interested parties have interpreted test 

procedures provisions that they believe 

to be ambiguous absent DOE guidance. 

DOE plans to issue guidance, as needed 

and appropriate, to provide better 

consistency in the application of the test 

procedures and better clarity regarding 

how DOE conducts testing. 

Discussion at the public meeting 

should focus on current test procedures 

(Appendices C, F, J1 and J2). 

Furthermore, while DOE seeks the 

views of all interested parties, this 

public meeting is not an appropriate 

forum for consensus building. The 

Department will take the information 

provided in the course of the public 

meeting into consideration when 

drafting DOE interpretive guidance. 

In 2011, DOE launched a new Web 

site dedicated to DOE guidance: http:// 

www1.eere.energy.gov/guidance/ 

default.aspx?pid=2&spid=1. All test 

procedure guidance is now published 

through a public process. DOE 

publishes guidance in draft form on the 

guidance Web site. DOE accepts public 

comment on the draft guidance. After 

considering comments, DOE may take 

one of three courses: Publishing final 

guidance, publishing revised draft 

guidance, or withdrawing the guidance. 

If the Department publishes revised 

draft guidance, interested parties have 

another opportunity to provide 

comments. 

DOE will conduct the public meeting 

in an informal, conference style. There 

shall be no discussion of proprietary 

information, costs or prices, market 

shares, or other commercial matters 

regulated by U.S. antitrust laws. A court 

reporter will record the meeting, after 

which a transcript will be placed on the 

DOE Web site and made available for 

purchase from the court reporter. 

Anyone who wishes to participate in 

the public meeting, receive meeting 

materials, or be added to the DOE 

mailing list to receive future notices and 

information about room air 

conditioners, residential dishwashers, 

or residential clothes washers should 

contact Ms. Brenda Edwards at (202) 

586–2945. 

Dated: Issued in Washington, DC, on May 

9, 2012. 

Kathleen B. Hogan, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2012–11732 Filed 5–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 121 

RIN 3245–AG46 

Small Business Size Regulations, 

Small Business Innovation Research 

(SBIR) Program and Small Business 

Technology Transfer (STTR) Program 

AGENCY: Small Business Administration. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) proposes to 

amend its regulations governing size 

and eligibility for the Small Business 

Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small 

Business Technology Transfer (STTR) 

Programs. This proposed rule would 

implement provisions of the National 

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 

Year 2012. The proposed rule addresses 

ownership, control and affiliation for 

participants in the SBIR and STTR 

Programs. This includes participants 

that are majority owned by multiple 

venture capital operating companies, 

private equity firms or hedge funds. 

DATES: You must submit your comments 

on or before July 16, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN: 3245–AG46, by any of 

the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail, Hand Delivery/Courier: Carl 

Jordan, Office of Size Standards, or 

Edsel Brown, Assistant Director, Office 

of Technology, U.S. Small Business 

Administration, 409 Third Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20416. 

SBA will post all comments to this 

proposed rule on www.regulations.gov. 

If you wish to submit confidential 

business information (CBI) as defined in 

the User Notice at www.regulations.gov, 

you must submit such information to 

Carl Jordan or Edsel Brown, or send an 

email to sizestandards@sba.gov. 

Highlight the information that you 

consider to be CBI and explain why you 

believe SBA should hold this 

information as confidential. SBA will 

review your information and determine 

whether it will make the information 

public. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl 

Jordan, Office of Size Standards, at (202) 

205–6618, or Edsel Brown, Assistant 

Director, Office of Technology, at (202) 

401–6365. You may also email 

questions to sizestandards@SBA.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On July 22, 1982, Congress enacted 

and the President signed into law the 

Small Business Innovation Development 

Act of 1982, Public Law 97–219 

(codified at 15 U.S.C. 638), which 

established the Small Business 

Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. 

The statutory purpose of the SBIR 

Program is to stimulate technological 

innovation by strengthening the role of 

innovative small business concerns in 

Federally-funded research and research 

and development (R/R&D). 

In 1992, Congress enacted the Small 

Business Technology Transfer Act of 

1992 (STTR Act), Public Law 102–564 

(codified at 15 U.S.C. 638). The STTR 

Act initially established the Small 

Business Technology Transfer (STTR) 

program as a pilot program that requires 

Federal agencies with extramural 

budgets for R/R&D in excess of $1 

billion per fiscal year to enter into 

funding agreements with small business 

concerns that engage in a collaborative 

relationship with a research institution. 

The purpose of the STTR program is to 

stimulate a partnership of ideas and 

technologies between innovative small 

business concerns and research 

institutions. Congress amended the 

Small Business Act (Act) in 2001 and 

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