19462 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 68 / Wednesday, April 9, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Commodity Credit Corporation 

7 CFR Part 1463 

RIN 0560–AH30 

Tobacco Transition Program 

Assessments; Final Appeals and 

Revisions Procedures 

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule, technical 

amendment. 

SUMMARY: The Commodity Credit 

Corporation (CCC) is amending the 

regulations for the Tobacco Transition 

Program (TTP) to clarify the final 

administrative actions required for the 

orderly close-out of the program. 

Through the Tobacco Transition 

Payment Program (TTPP), which is part 

of the TTP, eligible former tobacco 

quota holders and producers of quota 

tobacco receive payments from funds 

that CCC collects through quarterly 

assessments on domestic manufacturers 

and importers of tobacco products as 

required by the Fair and Equitable 

Tobacco Reform Act of 2004 (FETRA). 

This rule clarifies final dates and 

deadlines for the assessments and 

related program actions, including when 

CCC will make any final revisions to the 

quarterly assessments, when 

documentation is required for 

administrative appeals filed after FY 

2014, when final appeals may be filed, 

and when CCC decisions on final 

appeals will take place. 

DATES: Effective date: April 9, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Darlene Soto; telephone: (202) 720– 

0542. Persons with disabilities who 

require alternative means for 

communications (Braille, large print, 

audio tape, etc.) should contact the 

USDA Target Center at (202) 720–2600 

(voice and TDD). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The TTP regulations are specified in 

7 CFR part 1463. TTP was authorized by 

Title VI of the American Jobs Creation 

Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108–357). Title VI 

is also known as FETRA (7 U.S.C. 518– 

519a). FETRA repeals the tobacco 

marketing quota and related price 

support programs authorized by Title III 

of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 

1938 and by the Agricultural Act of 

1949, and provides for payments to 

persons who were owners of farms with 

tobacco quotas (referred to as tobacco 

quota holders), or who were producers 

of quota tobacco. The payments end in 

calendar year 2014. As specified in 

FETRA, TTPP uses funds from 

assessments collected quarterly on 

domestic tobacco manufacturers and 

importers (also referred to here as 

‘‘entities’’) to make the payments 

referred to above. 

Administrative support for the 

assessment portion of TTP will end in 

March 2016. Therefore, CCC needs to 

clarify a few final procedures and dates 

for the orderly close-out of the program. 

This rule clarifies administrative issues 

about how assessments and appeals will 

be handled after FY 2014. Specifically: 

• Procedures and dates for issuance 

of final revised, or ‘‘trued,’’ quarterly 

assessment revisions; 

• When supporting documents are 

required for administrative appeals filed 

after FY 2014; 

• Final dates for filing appeals; and 

• When final CCC decisions on 

appeals will take place. 

All the changes in this rule are 

administrative in nature; the basic 

procedures for assessments and appeals 

are not changing with this rule. This 

rule simply amends the regulations to 

specify the final dates for appeals and 

submission of supporting documents for 

appeals, and the final appeals 

procedures, including clarifying the 

address to which appeals and 

supporting documents must be sent. 

Those final dates and procedures will be 

added to 7 CFR 1463.11, ‘‘Appeals and 

Judicial Review.’’ The dates and 

procedures for final revisions to the 

assessments are clarified in this 

document, but do not require any 

change to the regulations. 

Additional clarifying information 

about final assessment procedures and 

other actions for the close-out of TTPP 

was provided in a notice published in 

the Federal Register on August 2, 2013 

[78 FR 46905]. 

Issuance of Final Revised, or ‘‘Trued,’’ 

Quarterly Assessment Revisions 

After the end of each fiscal year, CCC 

requests tobacco import and tax data 

from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s 

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade 

Bureau, and the U.S. Department of 

Homeland Security’s Customs and 

Border Protection. CCC uses this data to 

determine any errors or omissions in the 

data it used to calculate the TTP 

assessments, identify and assess nonreporting entities, finalize the payments 

to tobacco quota holders or persons who 

were producers of quota tobacco, and 

compute the borrowed daily net interest 

amount. CCC then determines any 

necessary changes to entities’ market 

shares for all four quarters of the fiscal 

year and issues final revised, or ‘‘trued,’’ 

assessments. The revisions are typically 

issued on June 1 after a given fiscal year. 

For example, FY 2014’s final revised, or 

‘‘trued,’’ assessments will be issued on 

June 1, 2015. 

Occasionally, a second assessment 

revision, i.e., a revision of what has 

been referred to here as the ‘‘final 

revised’’ assessment, is needed, due to 

data updates or reporting errors. For FY 

2005–2010, second assessment 

revisions, or ‘‘second trued’’ 

assessments, have already been 

calculated and issued to all entities, 

taking into account reporting errors 

which required correction. Assessments 

for FY2011–FY2014 may require a 

‘‘second trued’’ assessment. If necessary, 

CCC will make any necessary revisions 

for all ten fiscal years and issue revised 

assessments on or before December 1, 

2015. After that date, there will be no 

revised assessments for any fiscal years 

issued. 

Final Appeals Documentation Required 

Within 30 Days 

As specified in 7 CFR 1463.11, 

entities have 30 business days after 

receiving notice of an assessment or 

other decision, to submit a written 

statement appealing that determination, 

including any dispute about the amount 

of the determination. That is not 

changing with this rule. However, the 

previous version of the regulation did 

not specify a timeframe within which 

entities are required to provide 

supporting documentation to CCC to 

support an appeal. Accordingly, this 

rule amends 7 CFR 1463.11 to clarify 

that for appeals filed after October 1, 

2014, appellants have 30 calendar days 

after submission of the written 

statement of appeal to CCC to provide 

any supporting documentation to CCC. 

Any documents received after that time 

will not be considered by the hearing 

officer. This clarification is necessary 

for an orderly end to the program. 

This 30 calendar day window to 

provide supporting documentation only 

applies to appeals made after October 1, 

2014, regardless of the date of the 

relevant assessment. For example, if 

CCC issues an entity its March 2014 

final revised, or ‘‘trued’’ assessment, on 

June 1, 2015, and that entity files an 

appeal of that trued assessment with 

CCC on July 10, 2015, then that entity 

will have 30 calendar days thereafter— 

or until August 9, 2015—to provide any 

supporting documentation, either as 

requested by CCC or as the company 

deems relevant. In all cases, CCC will 

render an administrative determination 

within 30 calendar days after receiving 

the supporting documentation. In the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 68 / Wednesday, April 9, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 19463 

event CCC has not rendered a decision 

in such time, all administrative 

remedies available to the appellant will 

be deemed to be exhausted. In this 

example, CCC would make a ruling on 

the appeal by September 8, 2015. 

Appeals must be submitted to the 

address specified in 7 CFR 1463.11(a), 

which is clarified in this rule to provide 

the current room number of the TTPP 

staff. 

Final Dates for All Appeals 

This rule amends 7 CFR 1463.11 to 

specify the final dates for appeals and 

other actions. It specifies that the final 

date that entities may file an 

administrative appeal is January 14, 

2016; that is 30 business days after CCC 

will issue any last revised assessments. 

Notice and Comment 

These regulations are exempt from the 

notice and comment requirements of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 

553), as specified in section 642(b) of 

FETRA (Pub. L. 108–357), which 

requires that the regulations are to be 

promulgated without regard to the 

notice and comment provisions of 5 

U.S.C. 553 or the Statement of Policy of 

the Secretary of Agriculture effective 

July 24, 1971, (36 FR 13804) relating to 

notice and comment rulemaking and 

public participation in rulemaking. 

These regulations are therefore issued as 

final. 

Executive Order 12866 and 13563 

Executive Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory 

Planning and Review,’’ and Executive 

Order 13563, ‘‘Improving Regulation 

and Regulatory Review,’’ 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 

emphasized the importance of 

quantifying both costs and benefits, 

reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and 

promoting flexibility. This rule is a 

technical amendment, which is 

administrative in nature and is not 

expected to have costs or benefits. This 

technical amendment did not require 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) designation under Executive 

Order 12866, ‘‘Regulatory Planning and 

Review,’’ and therefore OMB has not 

reviewed this rule. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601–612), as amended by the 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA), 

generally requires an agency to prepare 

a regulatory flexibility analysis of any 

rule subject to the notice and comment 

rulemaking requirements under the 

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 

553) or any other statute, unless the 

agency certifies that the rule will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

This rule is not subject to the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act because CCC is not 

required by any law to publish a 

proposed rule for public comments on 

this rule. 

Environmental Review 

The environmental impacts of this 

final rule have been considered in a 

manner consistent with the provisions 

of the National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321–4347), the 

regulations of the Council on 

Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 

1500–1508), and the FSA regulations for 

compliance with NEPA (7 CFR part 

799). FSA has determined that the 

provisions identified in this final rule 

are administrative in nature, intended to 

ensure the orderly close-out of the 

program, and do not constitute a major 

Federal action that would significantly 

affect the quality of the human 

environment, individually or 

cumulatively. Therefore, FSA will not 

prepare an environmental assessment or 

environmental impact statement. 

Executive Order 12372 

Executive Order 12372, 

‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs,’’ requires consultation with 

State and local officials. The objectives 

of the Executive Order are to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened Federalism, by relying on 

State and local processes for State and 

local government coordination and 

review of proposed Federal Financial 

assistance and direct Federal 

development. For reasons specified in 

the Notice to 7 CFR part 3015, subpart 

V (48 FR 29115, June 24, 1983), the 

programs and activities within this rule 

are excluded from the scope of 

Executive Order 12372 which requires 

intergovernmental consultation with 

State and local officials. 

Executive Order 12988 

This rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 12988, ‘‘Civil Justice 

Reform.’’ This rule will not preempt 

State or local laws, regulations, or 

policies unless they represent an 

irreconcilable conflict with this rule. 

The rule will not have retroactive effect. 

Executive Order 13132 

This rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 13132, ‘‘Federalism.’’ 

The policies contained in this rule do 

not have any substantial direct effect on 

States, on the relationship between the 

Federal government and the States, or 

on the distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government, except as required 

by law. Nor does this rule impose 

substantial direct compliance costs on 

State and local governments. Therefore, 

consultation with the States is not 

required. 

Executive Order 13175 

This rule has been reviewed for 

compliance with Executive Order 

13175, ‘‘Consultation and Coordination 

With Indian Tribal Governments.’’ This 

Executive Order imposes requirements 

on the development of regulatory 

policies that have Tribal implications or 

preempt Tribal laws. The policies 

contained in this rule do not preempt 

Tribal law. 

The policies contained in this rule do 

not, to our knowledge, impose 

substantial unreimbursed direct 

compliance costs on Indian Tribal 

governments, have Tribal implications, 

or preempt Tribal law. USDA continues 

to consult with Tribal officials to have 

a meaningful consultation and 

collaboration on the development and 

strengthening of USDA regulations. 

USDA will respond in a timely and 

meaningful manner to all Tribal 

government requests for consultation 

concerning this rule and will provide 

additional venues, such as Webinars 

and teleconferences, to periodically host 

collaborative conversations with Tribal 

leaders and their representatives 

concerning ways to improve this rule in 

Indian country. 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 

1995 

Title II of the Unfunded Mandates 

Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA, Pub. L. 

104–4) requires Federal agencies to 

assess the effects of their regulatory 

actions on State, local, and Tribal 

governments or the private sector. 

Agencies generally must prepare a 

written statement, including a cost 

benefit analysis, for proposed and final 

rules with Federal mandates that may 

result in expenditures of $100 million or 

more in any 1 year for State, local, or 

Tribal governments, in the aggregate, or 

to the private sector. UMRA generally 

requires agencies to consider 

alternatives and adopt the more cost 

effective or least burdensome alternative 

that achieves the objectives of the rule. 

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19464 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 68 / Wednesday, April 9, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

This rule contains no Federal mandates, 

as defined in Title II of UMRA, for State, 

local, and Tribal governments or the 

private sector. Therefore, this rule is not 

subject to the requirements of sections 

202 and 205 of UMRA. 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA) 

This rule is not a major rule under the 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996, (Pub. L. 104–121, 

SBREFA). Therefore, CCC is not 

required to delay the effective date for 

60 days from the date of publication to 

allow for Congressional review. 

Accordingly, this rule is effective on the 

date of publication in the Federal 

Register. 

Federal Assistance Programs 

The title and number of the Federal 

Domestic Assistance Program found in 

the Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance to which this rule applies is 

Tobacco Transition Payment Program 

—10.085. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

These regulations are exempt from the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), as 

specified in section 642 of Public Law 

108–357 (7 U.S.C. 519a), which 

provides that these regulations, which 

are necessary to implement TTPP, be 

promulgated and administered without 

regard to the Paperwork Reduction Act. 

E-Government Act Compliance 

CCC is committed to complying with 

the E-Government Act, to promote the 

use of the Internet and other 

information technologies to provide 

increased opportunities for citizen 

access to Government information and 

services, and for other purposes. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 1463 

Agriculture, Agricultural 

commodities, Acreage allotments, 

Marketing quotas, Price support 

programs, Tobacco, Tobacco transition 

payments. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, CCC amends 7 CFR part 1463 

as follows: 

PART 1463—2005–2014 TOBACCO 

TRANSITION PROGRAM 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1463 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 518–519a, 714b, and 

714c. 

Subpart A—Tobacco Transition 

Assessments 

■ 2. Amend § 1463.11 by revising 

paragraphs (a) and (c) to read as follows: 

§ 1463.11 Appeals and judicial review. 

(a) An entity may appeal any adverse 

determination made under this subpart, 

including with respect to the amount of 

the assessment, by submitting a written 

statement that sets forth the basis of the 

dispute to Darlene Soto, Tobacco 

Transition Assessment Program 

Manager, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue 

SW., Room 3722, Mail Stop 0515, 

Washington DC 20250–0514, within 30 

business days of the date of receipt of 

the notification by CCC of its 

determination. 

* * * * * 

(c) For any appeals filed after October 

1, 2014, appellants must submit all 

supporting documentation within 30 

calendar days following the date of the 

initial written appeal to CCC. Any 

documents received after that time will 

not be considered by the hearing officer. 

(1) The final date that entities may file 

an appeal is January 14, 2016. 

(2) If 30 calendar days elapse 

following receipt by CCC of the final 

submission of supporting 

documentation by an appellant with 

respect to any appeal filed under this 

section regarding an assessment 

imposed on a domestic manufacturer or 

importer of tobacco products, without a 

final administrative decision by CCC, 

then all administrative remedies 

available to the appellant will be 

deemed to be exhausted; except, if the 

30th calendar day would fall on a 

weekend day or federal holiday, then 

the 30th calendar day will be deemed 

the next business day following such 

weekend day or federal holiday. 

* * * * * 

Signed on April 3, 2014. 

Juan M. Garcia, 

Administrator, Farm Service Agency, and 

Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit 

Corporation. 

[FR Doc. 2014–07979 Filed 4–8–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P 

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 

16 CFR Part 305 

RIN 3084–AB15 

Energy and Water Use Labeling for 

Consumer Products Under the Energy 

Policy and Conservation Act (‘‘Energy 

Labeling Rule’’) 

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission 

(FTC or Commission). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Commission issues 

conforming amendments to the Energy 

Labeling Rule (‘‘Rule’’) to require a new 

Department of Energy (DOE) test 

procedure for televisions and establish 

data reporting requirements for those 

products. 

DATES: The amendments are effective on 

May 9, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Requests for copies of this 

document should be sent to: Public 

Reference Branch, Room 130, Federal 

Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. 

The complete record of this proceeding 

is also available at that address. 

Relevant portions of the proceeding, 

including this document, are available 

at http://www.ftc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Hampton Newsome, (202) 326–2889, 

Attorney, Division of Enforcement, 

Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal 

Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Commission’s Energy Labeling 

Rule (Rule) (16 CFR part 305), issued 

pursuant to the Energy Policy and 

Conservation Act (EPCA), requires 

energy labeling for major household 

appliances and other consumer 

products to help consumers compare 

competing models. When first 

published in 1979, the Rule applied to 

eight product categories: refrigerators, 

refrigerator-freezers, freezers, 

dishwashers, water heaters, clothes 

washers, room air conditioners, and 

furnaces. The Commission has since 

expanded the Rule’s coverage to include 

central air conditioners, heat pumps, 

plumbing products, lighting products, 

ceiling fans, certain types of water 

heaters, and televisions. 

The Rule requires manufacturers to 

attach yellow EnergyGuide labels on 

many of these products, and prohibits 

retailers from removing the labels or 

rendering them illegible. In addition, 

the Rule directs sellers, including 

retailers, to post label information on 

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