Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 114 / Monday, June 15, 1998 /Rules and Regulations 32611

(c) An alternative method of compliance or

adjustment of the compliance time that

provides an acceptable level of safety may be

used if approved by the Manager,

International Branch, ANM–116, FAA,

Transport Airplane Directorate. Operators

shall submit their requests through an

appropriate FAA Principal Maintenance

Inspector, who may add comments and then

send it to the Manager, International Branch,

ANM–116.

Note 2: Information concerning the

existence of approved alternative methods of

compliance with this AD, if any, may be

obtained from the International Branch,

ANM–116.

(d) Special flight permits may be issued in

accordance with sections 21.197 and 21.199

of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR

21.197 and 21.199) to operate the airplane to

a location where the requirements of this AD

can be accomplished.

(e) The replacement shall be done in

accordance with the following Avions de

Transport Regional service bulletins, which

contain the specified effective pages:

Service bulletin referenced and date Page No. shown

on page

Revision level

shown on page

Date shown on

page

ATR42–25–0108 ................................................................................................................. 1–9 ................... Original ............. Jan. 24, 1997.

ATR42–25–0108, Revision 1, February 28, 1997 .............................................................. 1–3, 5–7 ...........

4, 8, 9 ...............

1 .......................

Original .............

Feb. 28, 1997.

Jan. 24, 1997.

ATR42–25–0108, Revision 2, July 1, 1997 ........................................................................ 1, 2, 4 ...............

3, 5, 6, 7 ...........

8, 9 ...................

2 .......................

1 .......................

Original .............

July 1, 1997.

Feb. 28, 1997.

Jan. 24, 1997.

ATR72–25–1052 ................................................................................................................. 1–7 ................... Original ............. Feb. 11, 1997.

ATR72–25–1052, Revision 1, July 1, 1997 ........................................................................ 1, 3 ...................

2, 4–7 ...............

1 .......................

Original .............

July 1, 1997.

Feb. 11, 1997.

This incorporation by reference was

approved by the Director of the Federal

Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)

and 1 CFR part 51. Copies may be obtained

from Aerospatiale, 316 Route de Bayonne,

31060 Toulouse, Cedex 03, France. Copies

may be inspected at the FAA, Transport

Airplane Directorate, 1601 Lind Avenue,

SW., Renton, Washington; or at the Office of

the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol

Street, NW., suite 700, Washington, DC.

Note 3: The subject of this AD is addressed

in French airworthiness directives 96–289–

069(B)R1 and 96–288–032(B)R1, both dated

December 18, 1996.

(f) This amendment becomes effective on

July 20, 1998.

Issued in Renton, Washington, on June 8,

1998.

John J. Hickey,

Acting Manager, Transport Airplane

Directorate, Aircraft Certification Service.

[FR Doc. 98–15784 Filed 6–12–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

18 CFR Part 37

Notice of Clarification and New Docket

Prefix EY

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission.

ACTION: Clarification of rule.

SUMMARY: The Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission is clarifying

that, as required by section 37.4(a)(2) of

the Commission’s Rules and

Regulations, 18 CFR 37.4(a)(2) (1997),

transmission providers should report

emergency circumstances affecting

system reliability to the Commission

within 24 hours by sending reports by

facsimile to the Secretary of the

Commission. In addition, the

Commission is clarifying the

information that transmission providers

should include in the reports. The

Commission is also establishing a new

docket prefix, EY, to track the reports.

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 15, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Johnathan E. First, Office of the General

Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First Street, N.E.,

Washington, D.C. 20426, (202) 208–

1033.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In

addition to publishing the full text of

this document in the Federal Register,

the Commission also provides all

interested persons an opportunity to

inspect or copy the contents of this

document during normal business hours

in the Public Reference Room at 888

First Street, N.E., Room 2A,

Washington, D.C. 20426.

The Commission Issuance Posting

System (CIPS) provides access to the

texts of formal documents issued by the

Commission. CIPS can be accessed via

Internet through FERC’s Homepage

(http://www.ferc.fed.us) using the CIPS

link or the Energy Information Online

icon. The full text of this document will

be available on CIPS in ASCII and

Wordperfpect 6.1 format. CIPS is also

available through the Commission’s

electronic bulletin board service at no

charge to the user and may be accessed

using a personal computer with a

modem by dialing 202–208–1397, if

dialing locally, or 1–800–856–3920, if

dialing long distance. To acccess CIPS,

set your communications software to

19200, 14400, 12000, 9600, 7200, 4800,

2400, or 1200 bps, full duplex, no

parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. User

assistance is available at 202–208–2474

or by E-mail to

CipsMaster@FERC.fed.us.

This document is also available

through the Commission’s Records and

Information Management System

(RIMS), an electronic storage and

retrieval system of documents submitted

to and issued by the Commission after

November 16, 1981. Documents from

November 1995 to the present can be

viewed and printed. RIMS is available

in the Public Reference Room or

remotely via Internet through FERC’s

Homepage using the RIMS link or the

Energy Information Online icon. User

assistance is available at 202–208–2222,

or by E-mail to

RimsMaster@FERC.fed.us.

Finally, the complete text on diskette

in Wordperfect format may be

purchased from the Commission’s copy

contractor, La Dorn Systems

Corporation. La Dorn Systems

Corporation is located in the Public

Reference Room at 888 First Street, N.E.,

Washington, D.C. 20426.

Notice of Clarification and New Docket

Prefix EY

June 1, 1998.

The Commission clarifies the

procedures that transmission providers

should follow when reporting

emergency circumstances that result in

deviations from the standards of

conduct. See 18 CFR 37.4(a)(2). Further,

the Commission gives notice that it has

established a new docket prefix, EY, for

reports of emergency circumstances that

transmission providers submit.

Background

In Order No. 889, the Commission

issued rules governing an Open Access

Same-Time Information System (OASIS)
32612 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 114 / Monday, June 15, 1998 /Rules and Regulations

1Open Access Same-Time Information System

(Formerly Real-Time Information Network) and

Standards of Conduct, 61 FR 21737 (May 10, 1996),

FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles January

1991–June 1996 ¶ 31,035 (April 24, 1996); Order

No. 889–A, order on rehearing, 62 FR 12484 (March

14, 1997), III FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,049 (March

4, 1997); Order No. 889–B, rehearing denied, 62 FR

64715 (December 9, 1997), 81 FERC ¶ 61,253

(November 25, 1997).

and prescribing Standards of Conduct.1

Section 37.4(a)(1) of the Commission’s

regulations, 18 CFR 37.4(a)(1) (1997),

requires employees of transmission

providers engaged in transmission

system operations to function

independently of employees engaged in

wholesale merchant functions. Section

37.4(a)(2) creates an exception and

states that, ‘‘in emergency

circumstances affecting system

reliability, Transmission Providers may

take whatever steps are necessary to

keep the system in operation.’’ The rule

requires transmission providers that

invoke the emergency exception to

‘‘report to the Commission and on the

OASIS each emergency that resulted in

any deviation from the standards of

conduct, within 24 hours of such

deviation’’ but does not provide

guidance on how transmission

providers should submit such reports or

the details that should be included in

the reports.

Reporting Procedures

To promote the uniform reporting of

emergency circumstances as required by

section 37.4(a)(2), the Commission

clarifies that transmission providers

should report emergencies to the

Commission within 24 hours by sending

a report by facsimile to the Secretary at

the following telephone number: (202)

208–2268.

The use of facsimiles for reporting

emergencies is an interim measure until

the Commission develops a

comprehensive information system that

accepts filings and disseminates

information electronically using the

Commission’s Internet site. The

Commission will issue a subsequent

notice when it implements a

comprehensive electronic filing

initiative.

Further, to allow for the uniform

reporting of emergency circumstances as

required by section 37.4(a)(2), the

Commission clarifies that the reports

should, at a minimum:

(a) Identify the name, title and

telephone number of the person who

prepared the report;

(b) State in the ‘‘subject’’ line of the

facsimile that the correspondence

reports an ‘‘emergency deviation’’;

(c) Identify when the emergency

occurred and the duration of the

emergency;

(d) Describe the emergency

circumstances, including the nature of

the emergency, the cause of the

emergency, and the effects on system

reliability; and

(e) Describe the resulting deviation(s)

from the standards of conduct.

If the emergency is ongoing, the report

should provide an estimate of when the

emergency will be concluded.

Transmission providers should provide

updates as necessary until the

emergency is concluded,

Further, section 37.4(a)(2) requires

that transmission providers report

emergency circumstances on the OASIS.

However, the rule does not state a

minimum period for transmission

providers to post the reports on the

OASIS. Accordingly, the Commission

clarifies that reports must remain posted

on the OASIS for 30 days from the date

when the emergency ends. The OASIS

reports must include the same

information as the reports that

transmission providers submit to the

Commission.

New Docket Prefix EY

To properly track reports of

emergency circumstances affecting

system reliability, the Commission has

established a new docket prefix EY. The

new docket prefix will be EYFY–NNN,

where the FY stands for the fiscal year

in which the report is submitted and the

NNN identifies the docket number for

tracking emergency reports. If a

transmission provider submits an

emergency report and subsequently

submits one or more update reports

regarding the same emergency, the

original report and updates will be filed

under the same docket number.

The Commission will assign docket

numbers to emergency reports only for

internal record keeping purposes. The

reports will not be subject to Federal

Register notice or public comment. The

public will have access to the same

information on the OASIS.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–14926 Filed 6–12–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

20 CFR Part 209

RIN 3220–AB21

Railroad Employers’ Reports and

Responsibilities

AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: The Railroad Retirement

Board amends its regulations to expand

the methods by which compensation

and service reports may be filed with

the Board and to require that a social

security account number be furnished

for each employee for whom creditable

railroad service and compensation is

reported to the Board.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 15, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Secretary to the Board,

Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North

Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas W. Sadler, Senior Attorney,

Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North

Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611,

(312) 751–4513, TDD (312) 751–4701.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Employer

reports are used to establish employee

compensation and service records.

These reports are based on payroll

records. Due to changes in technology,

employers now file their reports on

magnetic tape and diskettes and

transmit their reports by facsimile or

computer-to-computer transmission

(electronic filing). The punch card

previously referred to in §§ 209.6, 209.7,

209.11, and 209.14 of the Board’s

regulations is an outdated medium of

reporting. The quarterly report required

by § 209.8 has been eliminated by the

Employer Data Maintenance System.

The Board amends part 209 of its

regulations in order to reflect these

changes. See § 209.4.

The Board also amends § 209.2 to add

a provision that requires each employer

to furnish a social security number

(SSN) for each employee for whom

creditable railroad service and

compensation is reported to the Board.

This amendment simply puts into

regulation a current reporting

requirement. Although not required,

employers are encouraged to validate

the social security numbers of their

employees. In addition, the Board is

revising the present § 209.11 to provide

that the Board shall mail annual

certificates of service and compensation

to employees performing service for

covered employers. Under previous

regulation these certificates could be

provided through the employer.

Finally, the Board has eliminated

references to offices and titles that were

eliminated as the result of a recent

reorganization.

The final rule removes § 209.13,

redesignated § 209.14 in the proposed

rule, since the separate report required

by that section with regard to

miscellaneous compensation under

§ 211.11 of this chapter is no longer