9968 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 43 / Wednesday, March 5, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

specifically designated person, agency,

or instrumentality.

(7) Address. License applications,

reports, and inquiries should be

addressed to the appropriate section or

individual within the Office of Foreign

Assets Control, or to its Director, at the

following address: Office of Foreign

Assets Control, U.S. Department of the

Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue,

NW—Annex, Washington, DC 20220.

§ 536.802 Decisions.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control

will advise each applicant of the

decision respecting filed applications.

The decision of the Office of Foreign

Assets Control acting on behalf of the

Secretary of the Treasury with respect to

an application shall constitute final

agency action.

§ 536.803 Amendment, modification, or

revocation.

The provisions of this part and any

rulings, licenses, whether general or

specific, authorizations, instructions,

orders, or forms issued hereunder may

be amended, modified, or revoked at

any time.

§ 536.804 Rulemaking.

(a) All rules and other public

documents are issued by the Secretary

of the Treasury upon recommendation

of the Director of the Office of Foreign

Assets Control. In general, rulemaking

by the Office of Foreign Assets Control

involves foreign affairs functions of the

United States, and for that reason is

exempt from the requirements under the

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.

553) for notice of proposed rulemaking,

opportunity for public comment, and

delay in effective date. Wherever

possible, however, it is the practice of

the Office of Foreign Assets Control to

receive written submissions or hold

informal consultations with interested

parties before the issuance of any rule

or other public document.

(b) Any interested person may

petition the Director of the Office of

Foreign Assets Control in writing for the

issuance, amendment, or repeal of any

rule.

§ 536.805 Delegation by the Secretary of

the Treasury.

Any action which the Secretary of the

Treasury is authorized to take pursuant

to Executive Order 12978 or any further

executive orders relating to the national

emergency declared in Executive Order

12978 may be taken by the Director of

the Office of Foreign Assets Control, or

by any other person to whom the

Secretary of the Treasury has delegated

authority so to act.

§ 536.806 Rules governing availability of

information.

(a) The records of the Office of

Foreign Assets Control required by the

Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C.

552) to be made available to the public

shall be made available in accordance

with the definitions, procedures,

requirements for payment of fees, and

other provisions of the regulations on

the Disclosure of Records of the

Departmental Offices and of other

bureaus and offices of the Department of

the Treasury issued under 5 U.S.C. 552

and published at 31 CFR part 1.

(b) The records of the Office of

Foreign Assets Control required by the

Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) to be made

available to an individual shall be made

available in accordance with the

definitions, procedures, requirements

for payment of fees, and other

provisions of the regulations on the

Disclosure of Records of the

Departmental Offices and of other

bureaus and offices of the Department of

the Treasury issued under 5 U.S.C. 552a

and published at 31 CFR part 1.

(c) Any form issued for use in

connection with the Narcotics

Trafficking Sanctions Regulations may

be obtained in person or by writing to

the Office of Foreign Assets Control,

U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW—Annex,

Washington, D.C. 20220, or by calling

202/622–2520.

Subpart I—Paperwork Reduction Act

§ 536.901 Paperwork Reduction Act notice.

The information collection

requirements in §§ 536.503, 536.504,

subpart F, and § 536.801 have been

approved by the Office of Management

and Budget under the Paperwork

Reduction Act and assigned control

number 1505–0163.

Dated: February 7, 1997.

R. Richard Newcomb,

Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Approved: February 18, 1997.

James E. Johnson,

Assistant Secretary (Enforcement).

[FR Doc. 97–5299 Filed 2–28–97; 12:34 pm]

BILLING CODE 4810–25–F

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Corps of Engineers; Department of the

Army

33 CFR Part 334

Danger Zones and Restricted Areas,

National Guard Training Center, Sea

Girt, NJ

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,

DoD.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Corps is revoking the

regulations which establish a danger

zone in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean

at the New Jersey National guard

Training Vente, Sea Girt, New Jersey.

According to the State of New Jersey,

the danger zone is no longer needed due

to the improvements made at the small

arms firing range located at Sea Girt.

The danger zone was established to

protect the public from the hazards

associated with the possibility of an

errant round or ricochet from the range

impacting into the waters offshore. The

revocation of the danger zone is

essential to allow a beach nourishment

project to proceed and formalize full

public use of the water areas offshore of

the National Guard Training Center. The

revocation of the danger zone

regulations will not affect any other

Federal, State, or local regulations in

that area.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 20, 1997.

ADDRESSES: HQUSACE, CECW–OR,

Washington, D.C. 20314–1000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Ralph Eppard, Regulatory Branch,

CECW–OR at (202) 761–1783, or Mr.

Richard Tomer of the New York District

at (212) 264–9053.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant

to its authorities in Section 7 of the

Rivers and Harbors Act of 1917 (40 Stat.

266; 33 U.S.C. 1) and Chapter XIX of the

Army Appropriations Act of 1919 (40

Stat. 892; 33 U.S.C. 3), the Corps is

amending the regulations in 33 CFR Part

334.90. The National Guard Training

Center is located adjacent to the

federally authorized share protection

project identified as ‘‘Ashbury Park to

Manasquan South Reach’’. One entire

borrow area and a portion of another

borrow are that are designated to be

used as a source of sand for part of the

beach restoration and storm damage

protection that will be provided to this

area located within the limits of the

danger zone. The danger zone

regulations in 33 CFR 334.90 prohibits

entry by vessels into the danger zone

during operation of the range. The State
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 43 / Wednesday, March 5, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 9969

of New Jersey Department of Military

and Veterans Affairs and the State of

New Jersey Department of

Environmental Protection have

requested that the danger zone at the

National Guard Training Center at Sea

Girt, New Jersey, established by the

Corps on January 10, 1969, be

disestablished. According to the State,

the danger zone is no longer needed to

protect the public using the waters

offshore of the National Guard Training

Center, because of improvements

previously made at the small arms firing

range. Accordingly, we are hereby

removing the regulations which

establish the danger zone. We have

determined that notice of proposed

rulemaking and public procedures

thereto are unnecessary since the

revocation of the danger zones removes

a restriction on public use of the

offshore.

Procedural Requirements

A. Review Under Executive Order 12866

This rule is issued with respect to a

military function of the Defense

Department and the provisions of

Executive Order 12866 do not apply.

B. Review Under the Regulatory

Flexibility Act

These rules have been reviewed under

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L.

96–354), which requires the preparation

of a regulatory flexibility analysis for

any regulation that will have a

significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities

(i.e., small businesses and small

Governments). The Corps expects that

the economic impact of the removal of

the danger zone at the National Guard

Training Center at Sea Girt, New Jersey

would have no impact on the public, no

anticipated navigational hazard or

interference with existing waterway

traffic and accordingly, certifies that this

rule will have no significant economic

impact on small entities.

C. Review Under the National

Environmental Policy Act

We have concluded that this

amendment to the danger zone

regulations which removes a restriction

on the public’s use of a water area will

not have a significant impact to the

human environment, and preparation of

an environmental impact statement is

not required.

D. Unfunded Mandates Act

This rule does not impose an

enforceable duty among the private

sector and, therefore, is not a Federal

private sector mandate and is not

subject to the requirements of Section

202 of 205 of the Unfunded Mandates

Act. We have also found under Section

203 of the Act, that small Governments

will not be significantly and uniquely

affected by this rulemaking.

E. Submission to Congress and the GAO

Pursuant to Section 801(a)(1)(A) of the

Administrative Procedure Act as

amended by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of

1996, the Army has submitted a report

containing this rule to the U.S. Senate,

House of Representatives, and the

Comptroller General of the General

Accounting Office. This rule is not a

major rule within the meaning of

Section 804(2) of the Administrative

Procedure Act, as amended.

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334

Navigation (water), Transportation,

Danger zones.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, we are amending 33 CFR Part

334, as follows:

PART 334—DANGER ZONE AND

RESTRICTED AREA REGULATIONS

1. The authority citation for Part 334

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 40 Stat. 266; (33 U.S.C. 1) and

40 Stat. 892; (33 U.S.C. 3).

§ 334.90 [Removed]

2. Section 334.90 is removed.

Dated: February 23, 1997.

Russell L. Fuhrman,

Major General, United States Army, Director

of Civil Works.

[FR Doc. 97–5049 Filed 3–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3710–92–M

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS

AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 1

RIN 2900–AI33

Rulemaking Procedures; Public

Participation

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This document amends the

‘‘General Provisions’’ regulations of the

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by

eliminating a policy statement

concerning prior notice-and-comment

for rulemaking. We believe that there is

no need to retain this policy statement.

Furthermore, this action is warranted to

prevent confusion concerning VA

policy.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 4, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas O. Gessel, Director, Office of

Regulations Management (02D), Office

of General Counsel, Department of

Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue,

NW, Washington, DC 20420, (202) 273–

8605.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a

document published in the Federal

Register on March 20, 1996 (61 FR

11309), we amended the ‘‘General

Provisions’’ regulations in 38 CFR Part

1 by removing § 1.12 captioned ‘‘Public

participation in regulatory

development.’’ Subsequently, judicial

review was sought on the basis that the

removal did not comply with noticeand-comment provisions. Accordingly,

to avoid unnecessary litigation, we

reestablished § 1.12 in a document

published in the Federal Register on

July 1, 1996 (61 FR 33850). In addition,

in a companion document also

published in the Federal Register on

July 1, 1996 (61 FR 33878), we proposed

to remove § 1.12 and requested

comments on the proposal. Accordingly,

this document relates to the proposal to

remove § 1.12.

The comment period ended August

30, 1996. We received four comments.

Three were submitted by veterans’’

service organizations and one was

submitted by a law school professor.

The commenters argued in favor of

retaining § 1.12.

The provisions of the Administrative

Procedure Act (APA) at 5 U.S.C. 553 set

forth notice-and-comment requirements

for rulemaking and include exemptions

from the notice-and-comment

requirements for rulemaking concerning

public property, loans, grants, benefits,

or contracts.

The regulatory history of § 1.12

indicates that this section was

established for the purpose of adopting

a recommendation of the 1969

Administrative Conference of the

United States, i.e., that agencies adopt a

policy stating that they would not

exempt rulemaking from notice-andcomment provisions solely because the

rulemaking concerned public property,

loans, grants, benefits, or contracts (see

37 FR 3552, February 17, 1972; 37 FR

7157, April 11, 1972).

Subsequent to the initial

promulgation of § 1.12, statutory

provisions were established that

specifically apply the notice-andcomment provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553 to

VA rulemaking concerning loans,

grants, or benefits (see 38 U.S.C. 501(d)).

Also, subsequent to the initial

promulgation of § 1.12, statutory

provisions were established that

specifically apply notice-and-comment