Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 46 / Friday, March 8, 2013 / Rules and Regulations 14913 

and safety oversight functions, (4) 

technical personnel qualification and 

training, (5) technical guidance, (6) 

certification personnel and procedures, 

(7) surveillance obligations, and (8) 

resolution of safety issues. To achieve 

Category 1, the country must 

demonstrate that it meets the ICAO 

Standards for each of the eight elements. 

Category 2 means that the CAA was 

noncompliant in at least one critical 

element. The IASA assessment typically 

is conducted over the course of one 

week by a team consisting of a team 

leader and at least one expert in 

operations, maintenance, and aviation 

law. Each FAA expert works through 

the checklist with host country officials 

for each of the critical elements. The 

team looks at a representative sampling 

of records and processes, and it follows 

up with host country aviation officials 

if deficiencies appear. 

The FAA assessment focuses on the 

ability of the host country’s aeronautical 

authorities to oversee the operational 

safety of its airlines. It does not assess 

the safety compliance of any particular 

air carrier (nor does it address aviation 

security, airports, or air traffic 

management). Although the FAA 

assessment team typically visits one or 

more air carriers during its mission, it 

does so only to verify the relationship 

between the carrier and the country’s 

aviation safety officials, not to assess the 

carrier itself. 

Finally, the IASA category rating 

applies only to services to and from the 

United States and to codeshare 

operations when the code of a U.S. air 

carrier is placed on a foreign carrier 

flight. The category ratings do not apply 

to a foreign carrier’s domestic flights or 

to flights by that carrier between its 

homeland and a third country. The 

assessment team looks at those flights 

only to the extent that they reflect on 

the country’s oversight of operations to 

and from the United States and to 

codeshare operations where a U.S. air 

carrier code is placed on a flight 

conducted by a foreign operator. 

In short, a category 1 rating means 

that, as to the operations by a category 

1 country’s carriers between that 

country and the United States, and 

when the code of a U.S. air carrier is 

placed on a foreign carrier flight, the 

FAA has found that the country’s civil 

aviation authorities exercise safety 

oversight over those carriers consistent 

with international safety standards. A 

Category 2 rating, on the other hand, 

means the FAA has found that, in at 

least one critical area, the safety 

measures applied by the country’s civil 

aviation authorities do not meet 

international standards. 

Current IASA category determinations 

for countries included in the IASA 

categorization system are available on 

the FAA Web site at: http:// 

www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/iasa. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 25, 

2013. 

Margaret Gilligan, 

Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety. 

[FR Doc. 2013–05452 Filed 3–7–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Office of the Secretary 

14 CFR Part 254 

RIN 2105–AE21 

[Docket DOT–OST–2013–0044] 

Domestic Baggage Liability 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OST), 

Department of Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with existing 

regulations, this final rule raises the 

minimum limit on domestic baggage 

liability applicable to air carriers to 

reflect inflation since July 2008, the 

basis month of the most recent previous 

revision to the liability limit. DOT 

regulations require that the Department 

of Transportation periodically revise the 

limit to reflect changes in the Consumer 

Price Index for All Urban Consumers 

(CPI–U). This revision adjusts the 

minimum limit of liability from the 

current amount of $3,300, set by the 

Department in November 2008, to 

$3,400, to take into account the changes 

in consumer prices since the prior 

revision. 

DATES: This rule is effective on June 6, 

2013. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nicholas Lowry, Senior Attorney, Office 

of the General Counsel, Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. 

SE., Washington, DC 20590; 202–366– 

9351, nick.lowry@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Revision of Liability Limit 

Part 254 of the Department’s rules (14 

CFR part 254) establishes minimum 

baggage liability limits applicable to 

domestic air service. Section 254.6 of 

this rule requires the Department to 

review every 2 years the minimum limit 

of liability prescribed in Part 254 in 

light of changes in the CPI–U and to 

revise the limit of liability to reflect 

changes in that index as of July of each 

review year. Section 254.6 prescribes 

the use of a specific formula to calculate 

the revised minimum liability amount 

when making these periodic 

adjustments. The formula is below. 

$2500 × (a/b) rounded to the nearest 

$100 

Where: 

a = July CPI–U of year of current adjustment 

b = the CPI–U figure in December 1999 when 

the inflation adjustment provision was 

added to part 254. 

The review in 2010 indicated that no 

inflation adjustment was required. In 

2012, the review indicated that an 

inflation adjustment is required. 

Applying the formula to price index 

changes occurring between December 

1999 (the basis month required by the 

formula) and July 2012 (the month for 

each biannual adjustment as specified 

in the formula), the appropriate 

inflation adjustment is $2,500 × 

228.723/168.8 [$2,500 × 1.355], which 

yields $3,387.50. (The base amount of 

$2,500 in the formula was the minimum 

liability limit in Part 254 at the time that 

this biennial indexing provision was 

added to the rule, 228.723 was the CPI– 

U for July 2012, and 168.8 was the CPI– 

U for December 1999. The CPI–U data 

are from the seasonally adjusted series.) 

Section 254.6 requires us to round the 

adjustment to the nearest $100, or to 

$3,400 in this case. 

In its rule ‘‘Enhancing Airline 

Passenger Protections’’ (76 FR 23110, 

Apr. 25, 2011), the Department required 

the amount of compensation due to 

passengers in instances of denied 

boarding (DBC) to be adjusted to reflect 

CPI–U changes. Under 14 CFR 250.5(e), 

the review of denied boarding 

compensation was to take place every 2 

years, with the first such review 

occurring in July 2012, to coincide with 

our review of the baggage liability 

amount. We have reviewed the 

compensation amounts stated in the 

2011 rule according to the formula set 

out in section 250.5(e) and found that 

no change in DBC amounts is warranted 

in 2012. 

II. Regulatory Analyses and Notices 

The Administrative Procedure Act 

(APA) (5 U.S.C. 553) contains a ‘‘good 

cause’’ exemption which allows 

agencies to dispense with notice and 

comment if those procedures are 

impracticable, unnecessary or contrary 

to the public interest. We have 

determined that under 5 U.S.C. 

553(b)(3)(B) good cause exists for 

dispensing with a notice of proposed 

rulemaking and public comment as the 

application of this rule does not involve 

any agency discretion. This rulemaking 

is required by the terms of 14 CFR 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with RULES
14914 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 46 / Friday, March 8, 2013 / Rules and Regulations 

254.6, as most recently amended in (73 

FR 70591, November 21, 2008) and is 

simply a ministerial inflation update 

based on a formula. Accordingly, we 

find that prior notice and comment are 

unnecessary, and we are issuing these 

revisions to Part 254 as a final rule. 

Although this final rule will become 

effective on June 6, 2013, in order to 

avoid imposing an undue burden the 

Department will defer enforcement of 

the notice provision in the rule (section 

254.5) as it pertains to printed notices 

about the new limit for a reasonable 

time period to allow carriers to replace 

or update any current paper ticket stock 

and ticket jackets or inserts. Electronic 

notices about the minimum domestic 

liability limit, including notices that are 

printed ‘‘on demand’’ from an electronic 

source (e.g., Web sites, email messages, 

and airport kiosks) should be updated 

no later than the effective date of this 

final rule. Carriers are subject to 

enforcement action from the effective 

date of this final rule if they fail to 

provide notice of the new minimum 

liability limit in the manner described 

above, or if they fail to apply the new 

limit. 

Executive Order 12866 

This final rule has been evaluated in 

accordance with existing policies and 

procedures and is considered not 

significant under both Executive Order 

12866 and DOT’s Regulatory Policies 

and Procedures. The rule has not been 

reviewed by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) under Executive 

Order 12866. This revision of 14 CFR 

254.4 provides for an inflation 

adjustment to the amount of the 

minimum limit on baggage liability that 

air carriers may incur in cases of 

mishandled baggage, as required by 

section 254.6. The provisions are 

required by current regulatory language, 

without interpretation. 

This rule will pose minor additional 

costs to airlines only in those instances 

in which carriers lose, damage or delay 

baggage and where the amount of the 

passenger’s claim in those instances 

exceeds the prior minimum liability 

limit of $3,300. The maximum potential 

impact in those instances is $100 on 

each such claim. Reports filed each 

month with the Department by airlines 

that each account for at least one 

percent of total domestic scheduledservice passenger revenues show that, in 

2012, approximately 0.3 percent (.003) 

of domestic passengers experience a 

mishandled bag. The total number of 

domestic scheduled passenger 

enplanements in 2012 was 652,178,681. 

This means that approximately 2 

million domestic scheduled passengers 

experience a mishandled bag each year 

(.003 multiplied by 652.2 equals 

1,956,536). However, the vast majority 

of the instances of mishandled baggage 

do not result in a claim in an amount 

that is affected by the liability limit in 

this rule. We contacted a few carriers to 

determine how many of their domestic 

passengers have had claims that exceed 

the prior minimum liability limit of 

$3,300. Based on the information 

provided, we believe a little more than 

one half percent (0.0058) of the 

domestic passengers who experience a 

mishandled bag would benefit from an 

increase in the minimum limit on 

baggage liability, i.e., about 11,300 

passengers. Therefore, we expect that 

there would be a cost to the airline 

industry of $1.1 million each year (the 

number of domestic passengers who 

receive a baggage settlement that 

exceeds the prior minimum liability 

limit of $3,300, which is 11,300 

passengers multiplied by the maximum 

potential impact in those instances 

which is $100). There would also be a 

benefit to passengers in the same 

amount. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 

(5 U.S.C. 601–612) requires an 

assessment of the impact of proposed 

and final rules on small entities unless 

the agency certifies that the proposed 

regulation will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. Since notice 

and comment rulemaking is not 

necessary for this rule, the provisions of 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 

96–354, 5 U.S.C. 601–612) do not apply. 

However, DOT has evaluated the effects 

of this action on small entities and has 

determined that the action would not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

An air carrier is a small business if it 

provides air transportation only with 

small aircraft (i.e., aircraft with up to 60 

seats/18,000 pound payload capacity). 

See 14 CFR 399.73. This revision affects 

only flight segments operated with large 

aircraft and other flight segments 

appearing on the same ticket as a largeaircraft segment. As a result, many 

operations of small entities, such as air 

taxis and many commuter air carriers, 

are not covered by the rule. Moreover, 

any additional costs for small entities 

associated with the rule should be 

minimal and may be covered by 

insurance. Accordingly, we certify that 

this action will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This final rule imposes no new 

reporting or record keeping 

requirements necessitating clearance by 

OMB. 

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 254 

Air carriers, Administrative practice 

and procedure, Consumer protection, 

Department of Transportation. 

Accordingly, the Department of 

Transportation amends 14 CFR part 254 

as follows: 

PART 254—DOMESTIC BAGGAGE 

LIABILITY 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 254 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 40113, 41501, 41504, 

41510, 41702 and 41707. 

§ 254.4 [Amended] 

■ 2. Section 254.4 is amended by 

removing ‘‘$3,300,’’ and adding 

‘‘$3,400’’ in its place. 

§ 254.5 [Amended] 

■ 3. In § 254.5, paragraph (b) is amended 

by removing ‘‘$3,300’’ and adding 

‘‘$3,400’’ in its place. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 4, 

2013, pursuant to authority delegated in 49 

CFR 1.27(n). 

Robert S. Rivkin, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2013–05475 Filed 3–7–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–9X–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

15 CFR Part 744 

[Docket No. 121219726–2726–01] 

RIN 0694–AF85 

Addition of Certain Persons to the 

Entity List 

AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This rule amends the Export 

Administration Regulations (EAR) by 

adding three entries to the Entity List for 

one person who has been determined by 

the U.S. Government to be acting 

contrary to the national security or 

foreign policy interests of the United 

States. This person will be listed on the 

Entity List under Germany, Russia, and 

Taiwan. 

DATES: Effective date: This rule is 

effective March 8, 2013. 


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