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

13789 

Vol. 80, No. 51 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Office of the Secretary 

2 CFR Subtitle B, Chapter IV 

5 CFR Chapter LXXIII 

7 CFR Subtitle A; Subtitle B, Chapters 

I through XI, XIV through XVIII, XX, XXV 

through XXXVIII, XLI, and XLII 

9 CFR Chapters I through III 

36 CFR Chapter II 

48 CFR Chapter 4 

Identifying and Reducing Regulatory 

Burdens 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA. 

ACTION: Request for Information (RFI). 

SUMMARY: In accordance with Executive 

Order 13563, ‘‘Improving Regulation 

and Regulatory Review,’’ and Executive 

Order 13610, ‘‘Identifying and Reducing 

Regulatory Burdens,’’ the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

continues to review its existing 

regulations and information collections 

to evaluate the continued effectiveness 

in addressing the circumstances for 

which the regulations were 

implemented. USDA’s Final Plan for 

Retrospective Analysis, released August 

18, 2011, focused on actions needed to 

minimize the burdens on individuals, 

businesses, and communities attempting 

to access programs that promote 

economic growth, create jobs, and 

protect the health and safety of the 

American people. The plan identified 

initiatives estimated to realize 

significant savings in terms of money 

and burden-hours. As part of this 

ongoing review to maximize the costeffectiveness of its regulatory programs, 

USDA invites public comment to assist 

in analyzing its existing significant 

regulations to determine whether any 

should be modified, streamlined, 

expanded, or repealed. The focus of this 

review is to identify areas where savings 

can be achieved through increased use 

of advanced information technology to 

transition from paper submissions to 

electronic submissions; streamlining or 

redesigning existing information 

collections to both reduce the reporting 

burden on the public for participation in 

and compliance with USDA programs; 

reducing duplication through increased 

data sharing and harmonization for 

programs with similar regulatory 

requirements; and providing increased 

regulatory flexibility to achieve desired 

program outcomes and maximize costeffectiveness. 

DATES: Comments and information are 

requested on or before May 18, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this notice. All submissions must refer 

to ‘‘Retrospective Review’’ to ensure 

proper delivery. 

• Electronic Submission of 

Comments. Interested persons may 

submit comments electronically through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. USDA strongly 

encourages commenters to submit 

comments electronically. Electronic 

submission of comments allows the 

commenter maximum time to prepare 

and submit a comment, and ensures 

timely receipt by USDA. Commenters 

should follow the instructions provided 

on that site to submit comments 

electronically. 

• Submission of Comments by Mail, 

Hand delivery, or Courier. Paper, disk, 

or CD–ROM submissions should be 

submitted to Michael Poe, Office of 

Budget and Program Analysis, USDA, 

Jamie L. Whitten Building, Room 101– 

A, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., 

Washington, DC 20250. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Poe, Telephone Number: (202) 

720–3257. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: USDA 

remains committed to minimizing the 

burdens on individuals businesses, and 

communities for participation in and 

compliance with USDA programs that 

promote economic growth, create jobs, 

and protect the health and safety of the 

American people. 

USDA programs are diverse and far 

reaching, as are the regulations and 

legislation that implement their 

delivery. The regulations range from 

nutrition standards for the school lunch 

program, natural resources and 

environmental measures governing 

national forest usage and soil 

conservation, emergency producer 

assistance as a result of natural 

disasters, to protection of American 

agriculture from the ravages of plant or 

animal pestilence. USDA regulations 

extend from farm to supermarket to 

ensure the safety, quality, and 

availability of the Nation’s food supply. 

Regulations also specify how USDA 

conducts its business, including access 

to and eligibility for USDA programs. 

Finally, regulations specify the 

responsibilities of businesses, 

individuals, and State and local 

governments that are necessary to 

comply with their provisions. 

I. Executive Orders 13563 and 13610 

Executive Order 13563, ‘‘Improving 

Regulation and Regulatory Review,’’ 

was issued to ensure that Federal 

regulations use the best available tools 

to promote innovation that will reduce 

costs and burden while allowing public 

participation and an open exchange of 

ideas. These principles will enhance 

and strengthen Federal regulations to 

allow them to achieve their regulatory 

objectives, most important among them 

protecting public health, welfare, safety, 

and the environment. In consideration 

of these principles, and as directed by 

the Executive Order, Federal agencies 

and departments need to periodically 

review existing regulations that may be 

outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or 

excessively burdensome and to modify, 

streamline, expand, or repeal them in 

accordance with what has been learned. 

In addition, Executive Order 13610, 

‘‘Identifying and Reducing Regulatory 

Burdens,’’ directed Federal agencies to 

conduct retrospective analyses of 

existing rules to examine whether they 

remain justified and whether they 

should be modified or streamlined in 

light of changed circumstances, 

including the availability of new 

technologies. Executive Order 13610 

directs Federal agencies to give priority, 

consistent with law, to those initiatives 

that will produce significant 

quantifiable monetary savings or 

significant quantifiable reductions in 

paperwork burdens while protecting 

public health, welfare, safety, and the 

environment. For the regulatory 

requirements imposed on small 

businesses, it directs Federal agencies to 

give special consideration to initiatives 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
13790 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 51 / Tuesday, March 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

that would simplify or harmonize the 

regulatory requirements. 

As part of this retrospective review of 

regulations, USDA published an RFI on 

April 20, 2011 (76 FR 22058), and 

developed a final plan that focused on 

reducing costs and reporting 

requirements on the public. However, 

the overall intention of Executive Order 

13563 was not to be a single exercise, 

but to create a continuing process of 

scrutiny of regulatory actions. 

Therefore, USDA is once again seeking 

public comment on how best to remove 

unintended regulatory obstacles to 

participation in and compliance with 

USDA programs and ways to improve 

the current regulations to help USDA 

agencies advance the USDA mission. 

II. Request for Information 

All regulatory actions by all USDA 

agencies are open for comment. USDA 

is particularly interested in public 

comments that speak to areas in which 

we can reduce costs and reporting 

burdens on the public, through 

technological advances or other 

modernization efforts, and comments on 

regulatory flexibility. 

USDA’s initial retrospective review 

under Executive Order 13563 identified 

eight regulations, four of which have 

been implemented. An additional 

regulation from the Forest Service on 

revised National Environmental Policy 

Act implementing procedures was also 

identified and implemented. USDA also 

identified paperwork and burden 

reduction initiatives under Executive 

Order 13610. The following table 

highlights USDA’s key 

accomplishments and on-going 

activities pursuant to its efforts to 

reduce regulatory burdens: 

Agency Program or initiative Results 

Food and Nutrition Service.Direct Certification for School Meals ..... In School Year 2013–14, 87 percent of all children in households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were 

directly certified for free school meals without a paper application. 

In addition, more than 14,000 high-poverty schools serving over 6.4 million students now offer free breakfasts and lunches to all of their enrolled students using third-party direct certification information instead of 

paper applications. The new Community Eligibility Provision was 

phased-in over a 3-year period, starting in school year 2011–12 in 

school districts across the country, including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, 

Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Washington, DC, and West Virginia; the provision became available to eligible 

schools and districts nationwide beginning July 1, 2014. 

Will reduce the information collection burden by approximately 113,000 

hours per year. 

Forest Service ................. National Environmental Policy Act Implementing Procedures.Revised implementing procedures and established new categorical exclusions to expedite landscape restoration activities on National Forests, 

Grasslands, and Prairies. 

Final rule published September 12, 2013. 

Food Safety and Inspection Service.Electronic Import Inspection and Certification of Imported Products and Foreign Establishments.Will reduce the information collection burden on importers by approximately 10,000 hours. 

Final rule published September 19, 2014. 

Food Safety and Inspection Service.Electronic Export Application and Certification Fee.Expected to reduce the information collection burden hours. 

Proposed rule published January 23, 2012; Final rulemaking underway. 

Food Safety and Inspection Service.Prior Labeling Approval System: Generic Label Approval.Will reduce the information collection burden on industry by approximately 

34,971 hours. 

Final rule published November 7, 2013. 

Rural Development Rural 

Business Service.

Rural Energy for America Program ....... Streamlined grant application process reduced the information collection 

burden hours by approximately 20 to 50 percent. 

Final rule published December 29, 2014. 

Rural Development Rural 

Business Service.

Business and Industry Loan Guarantee 

Programs.

Will reduce the information collection burden by approximately 2,000 

hours. 

Final rule published September 15, 2014. 

Rural Development Rural 

Housing Service.

Community Facilities Loan and Grants Will save the public approximately $4 million per year. 

Farm Service Agency and 

Risk Management 

Agency.

Acreage Crop Reporting Streamlining 

Initiative.

Coordinating across the two agencies to improve, streamline, and eliminate or minimize duplicate information collection requirements. 

Farm Service Agency ...... Streamlined Farm Loan Programs Direct Loan Making.Eliminated 17,898 responses and 6,271 hours annually for information 

collection burden, saving $162,607 for the respondents and $647,728 in 

Federal costs. 

Agricultural Marketing 

Service.

Export Certificate Forms ....................... Amending regulations to improve oversight and ensure compliance with 

regulations. Changes also include removing the requirement for carriers 

to retain copies of inspection certificates. 

Rulemaking is underway. 

Agricultural Marketing 

Service.

Inspection of Eggs; Import Request for 

Shell Eggs.

The inspection and clearance process will be reduced by approximately 

48 hours. 

Access to the Customs and Border Protection maintained Automated Customs Environment will allow enhanced communication of the status of 

the clearance process involving the Food and Drug Administration, 

Food Safety and Inspection Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service, and Agricultural Marketing Service. 

Rulemaking is underway. 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 51 / Tuesday, March 17, 2015 / Proposed Rules 13791 

Agency Program or initiative Results 

Natural Resources Conservation Service.Conservation Delivery Streamlining Initiative (CDSI).CDSI Client Gateway (CG) is a secure web application that will enable 

NRCS clients to perform many functions online and view their data without having to travel to the USDA local service center. A client will be 

able to request technical assistance, view their conservation plans, 

apply for Farm Bill conservation program financial assistance, view their 

contract payments for certified contract items (practices in Farm Bill 

conservation program contracts) upload and download supporting documentation, and sign their plans, agreements, and contracts. CG will reduce approximately 110,000 hours of travel time for clients going to 

agency offices and reduce the information collection burden by approximately 40,000 hours. 

Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service.

Declaration Forms for Imported Plant 

and Plant Products.

In cooperation with other Federal entities, implemented initiatives to reduce the burden on importers and is developing an electronic entry system and solicited public comments on regulatory options. 

Cost savings to industry estimated at $1.7 million to $5.7 million for the 

electronic entry system and cost savings to industry estimated at $7.2 

million to $24 million for the de minimis exemption approximately and a 

reduction of approximately 120,000 hours in information collection burden. 

Rulemaking is underway. 

Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service.

Participation in the International Trade 

Data System.

Amending regulations to remove any impediments to the full implementation of participation in the International Trade Data System via the Automated Commercial Environment. 

Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service.

Certification, Accreditation, Registration, Permits, and Other Licenses.Creating a new electronic system to consolidate and streamline agency 

certification, accreditation, registration permit, and license processes. 

Expects both savings in cost and information collection burden hours. 

III. Regulatory Flexibility 

In addition to looking back at current 

regulations, USDA is also looking 

forward to how new regulations are 

implemented and how existing 

regulations can be improved. Regulatory 

flexibility includes a variety of 

regulatory techniques that can help 

avoid unnecessary costs on regulated 

entities and avoid negative impacts. 

Regulatory flexibility techniques could 

include: 

• Pilot projects, which can be used 

test regulatory approaches; 

• Safe harbors, which are streamlined 

modes of regulatory compliance and can 

serve to reduce compliance costs; 

• Sunset provisions, which terminate 

a rule after a certain date; 

• Trigger provisions, which specify 

one or more threshold indicators that 

the rule is designed to address; 

• Phase-ins, which allow the rule to 

be phased-in for different groups at 

different times; 

• Streamlined requirements, which 

provide exemptions or other 

streamlined requirements if a particular 

entity (for example, a small business) 

may otherwise experience 

disproportionate burden from a rule; 

• State flexibilities, which provide 

greater flexibility to States or other 

regulatory partners, for example, giving 

them freedom to implement alternative 

regulatory approaches; and 

• Exceptions, which allow exceptions 

to part or all of the rule in cases where 

there is a potential or suspected 

unintended consequence. 

IV. Questions for Commenters 

In providing comments, the public is 

encouraged to respond to the below 

questions: 

• What regulations or reporting 

requirements that have become outdated 

and, if so, how can they be modernized 

to accomplish the regulatory objectives 

better? 

• Do agencies currently collect 

information that they do not need or use 

effectively to achieve regulatory 

objectives? 

• Which regulations, reporting 

requirements, or regulatory submission 

or application processes are 

unnecessarily complicated or could be 

streamlined to achieve regulatory 

objectives in ways that are more 

efficient? 

• Which regulations, submission and 

application processes, or reporting 

requirements have been overtaken by 

technological developments? Can new 

technologies be used to modify, 

streamline, or do away with existing 

regulatory or reporting requirements? 

• Which regulations provide 

examples of how regulatory flexibility 

techniques have worked well? In 

general, who has benefitted from the 

regulatory flexibility? What types of 

regulatory flexibility have worked well? 

• What regulations would be 

improved through the addition of 

regulatory flexibility techniques? How 

would regulatory flexibility lower costs 

and burden? How would regulatory 

flexibility improve benefits? 

This is a non-exhaustive list that is 

meant to assist in the formulation of 

comments and is not intended to limit 

the issues that commenters may choose 

to address. We welcome comments from 

the public on any of USDA’s regulations 

and ways to improve them to help 

USDA agencies advance the mission of 

the Department consistent with the 

Executive Order. USDA notes that this 

RFI is issued solely for information and 

program-planning purposes. While 

responses to this RFI do not bind USDA 

to any further actions related to the 

response, all submissions will be made 

publicly available on http://

www.regulations.gov. 

Thomas J. Vilsack, 

Secretary of Agriculture. 

[FR Doc. 2015–05742 Filed 3–16–15; 08:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 430 

[Docket No. EERE–2011–BT–NOA–0013] 

Energy Conservation Program: Data 

Collection and Comparison With 

Forecasted Unit Sales of Five Lamp 

Types 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of data availability. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is informing the public of 

its collection of shipment data and 

creation of spreadsheet models to 


rljohnson on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS