Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 133 / Monday, July 13, 1998 / Notices 37621

1TE was authorized to operate the line by lease

in Tacoma Eastern Railway Co.— Lease and

Operation Exemption—City of Tacoma,

Washington, Finance Docket No. 32591 (ICC served

Nov. 3, 1994).

2A discontinuance of a railroad’s service sought

by a party other than the railroad is called an

‘‘adverse’’ discontinuance.

3Once City receives Board approval, it intends to

replace TE with the Belt Line Division of the City

of Tacoma Department of Public Utilities (Belt

Line). Beltline will file a notice of exemption

pursuant to 49 CFR 1150.31 to enable it to

commence operations without any interruption in

service to shippers on the line.

FMVSS No. 120. Mercedes-Benz

equipped the vehicles with tire

information labels that specify the tire

size, rim size, and cold inflation

pressure on the fuel filler door. The

information is formatted differently than

as required by the FMVSS No. 120. The

size of the letters and numerals are less

than the required minimum of 2.4

millimeters.

Mercedes-Benz supports its

application for inconsequential

noncompliance with the following

statements:

1. With regards to the content of the

label, all the information required by the

FMVSS No. 120 is contained in the label

including, recommended tires size, rim

size, and cold inflation pressure.

2. Although the height of the labeling

is less than the required minimum of 2.4

mm, the letters in the labels are of

sufficient size and color to be easily

read.

3. With regards to the labeling format,

Mercedes-Benz believes that placing the

English units before the metric units is

not a noncompliance that affects vehicle

safety, because consumers in the U.S.

are generally more familiar with English

units of measurement than metric units.

4. Regarding the location of the tire

information label, Mercedes-Benz

believes that consumers interested in

checking their tire pressure labels

would likely perform this check at gas

stations, convenience stores, or auto

repair facilities. In some cases, this

label’s location serves as a reminder to

check the tire pressure.

5. Based on the convenient location of

the tire information label, the reference

information in the owner’s manual, and

the maximum inflation pressure marked

on the tire, Mercedes-Benz believes that

the tire information label on the fuel

filler door is an inconsequential

noncompliance.

Interested persons are invited to

submit written data, views, and

arguments on the application of

Mercedes-Benz described above.

Comments should refer to the docket

number and be submitted to: U.S.

Department of Transportation, Docket

Management, Room PL–401, 400

Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC,

20590. It is requested that two copies be

submitted.

All comments received before the

close of business on the closing date

indicated below will be considered. The

application and supporting materials,

and all comments received after the

closing date, will also be filed and will

be considered to the extent possible.

When the application is granted or

denied, the notice will be published in

the Federal Register pursuant to the

authority indicated below.

Comment closing date: August 12,

1998.

(49 U.S.C. 30118, 30120; delegations of

authority at 49 CFR 1.50 and 501.8)

Issued on: July 7, 1998.

L. Robert Shelton,

Associate Administrator for Safety

Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 98–18537 Filed 7–10–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Docket No. AB–548]

Tacoma Eastern Railway Company—

Adverse Discontinuance of Operations

Application—A Line of City of Tacoma,

in Pierce, Thurston and Lewis

Counties, WA

On June 23, 1998, the City of Tacoma,

WA (City) filed an application under 49

U.S.C. 10903 requesting that the Surface

Transportation Board (Board) find that

the public convenience and necessity

require and permit the discontinuance

of the operations by Tacoma Eastern

Railway Company (TE) 1 on 131.5 miles

of City rail line in Pierce, Thurston, and

Lewis Counties, WA: (1) between

milepost 2192.0, at Tacoma, and

milepost 17.7, at Chehalis; and (2)

between milepost 2192.0, at Tacoma,

and milepost 64.2, at Morton.2 The line

traverses United States Postal Service

ZIP Codes 98235, 98304, 98328, 98330,

98338, 98344, 98355, 98356, 98371,

98373–98375, 98387, 98401–98405,

98408, 98421, 98424, 98443–98446,

98501, 98531, 98532 and 98576.

City states that it has terminated the

contract pursuant to which TE has been

operating on the line because TE has not

satisfactorily performed its obligations

under the contract.3

The line does not contain federally

granted rights-of-way. Any

documentation in City’s possession will

be made available promptly to those

requesting it. City’s entire case for

discontinuance of service was filed with

the application.

In addition, City has petitioned the

Board to waive certain provisions of 49

CFR 1152.22 on the grounds that the

information required by these

provisions is not relevant to the merits

of the application or is not available to

the City because of the circumstances of

the application. Requests for waivers are

typically filed before the application

drawn in reliance on those waivers is

filed. By filing its application

contemporaneously with the waivers,

City has run the risk that the waivers

will be denied in whole or part and City

will have wasted time and effort in

filing an application based on them.

But, as City is no doubt aware, grants of

waiver petitions in applications filed by

third parties are customary. The waiver

request as to information to be

contained in the application will be

granted in a separate decision to be

served concurrently with this notice.

In an application by a third party for

a determination that the public

convenience and necessity permits a

line to be discontinued or abandoned,

the issue before the Board is whether

the public interest requires that the line

in question be retained as part of the

national rail system. By granting a third

party application, the Board withdraws

its primary jurisdiction over the line.

Questions of the disposition of the line,

including the adjudication of various

claims of ownership or other rights and

obligations, are then left to state or local

authorities; Kansas City Pub. Ser. Frgt.

Operation-Exempt.—Aban., 7 I.C.C.2d

216 (1990).

The interest of railroad employees

will be protected by the conditions in

Oregon Short Line R. Co.—

Abandonment—Goshen, 360 I.C.C. 91

(1979).

Any interested person may file with

the Board written comments concerning

the proposed adverse discontinuance or

protests (including the protestant’s

entire opposition case), by August 7,

1998. Because this discontinuance of

service is the functional equivalent of a

discontinuance of trackage rights rather

than an abandonment, trail use/rail

banking and public use requests are not

appropriate. Likewise, no

environmental or historical documents

are required here under 49 CFR

1105.6(c)(6) and 1105.8(b)(3).

Persons opposing the proposed

adverse discontinuance who wish to

participate actively and fully in the

process should file a protest by August

7, 1998. Persons who may oppose the

discontinuance but who do not wish to

participate fully in the process by

submitting verified statements of
37622 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 133 / Monday, July 13, 1998 / Notices

witnesses containing detailed evidence

should file comments by August 7,

1998. Parties seeking information

concerning the filing of protests should

refer to section 1152.25. The due date

for City’s reply is August 24, 1998.

Written comments and protests must

indicate the proceeding designation STB

Docket No. AB–548 and must be filed

with the Surface Transportation Board,

Office of the Secretary, Case Control

Unit, 1925 K Street, NW, Washington,

DC 20423–0001. A copy of each written

comment or protest must be served

upon the City’s representative Peter A.

Greene, Esq., Thompson Hine & Flory

LLP, 1920 N Street, NW, Suite 800,

Washington, DC 20036 [Telephone (202)

331–8800]. The original and 10 copies

of all comments or protests shall be filed

with the Board with a certificate of

service. Except as otherwise set forth in

part 1152, every document filed with

the Board must be served on all parties

to the adverse discontinuance

proceeding. 49 CFR 1104.12(a).

Persons seeking further information

concerning the abandonment/

discontinuance procedures may contact

the Board’s Office of Public Services at

(202) 565–1592 or refer to the full

abandonment or discontinuance

regulations at 49 CFR part 1152.

Board decisions and notices are

available on our website at

‘‘WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.’’

Decided: July 7, 1998.

By the Board, Joseph H. Dettmar, Acting

Director, Office of Proceedings.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–18567 Filed 7–10–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Departmental Offices; Proposed

Collection; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: .

DATES: The Department of the Treasury,

as part of its continuing effort to reduce

paperwork and respondent burden,

invites the general public and other

Federal agencies to comment on

continuing information collections, as

required by the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 (44

U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the

Office of International Financial

Analysis within the Department of the

Treasury is soliciting comments

concerning Revisions to Foreign

Currency Forms FC–1 (OMB No. 1505–

0012) Weekly Consolidated Foreign

Currency Report of Major Market

Participants, FC–2 (OMB No. 1505–

0010) Monthly Consolidated Foreign

Currency Report of Major Market

Participants, and FC–3 (OMB No. 1505–

0014) Quarterly Consolidated Foreign

Currency Report. The reports are

mandatory.

DATES: Written comments should be

received on or before September 11,

1998 to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to T. Ashby McCown, Director, Office of

International Financial Analysis,

Department of the Treasury 1500

Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room

5453, Washington, D.C. 20220,

Telephone (202) 622–2250.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

copies of the forms and instructions

should be directed to T. Ashby

McCown, director, Office of

International Financial Analysis,

Department of the Treasury,

Washington, D.C. 20220. Telephone

(202) 622–2250, FAX (202) 622–0607.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Weekly Consolidated Foreign

Currency Report of major market

Participants, Foreign Currency Form

FC–1.

OMB Number: 1505–0012.

Title: Monthly Consolidated Foreign

Currency Report of Major Market

Participants, Foreign Currency Form

FC–2.

OMB Number: 1505–0010.

Title: Quarterly Consolidated Foreign

Currency Report, Foreign Currency

Form FC–3.

OMB Number: 1505–0014.

Abstract: Foreign Currency Forms

FC–1, FC–2, and FC–3 are required by

Public Law 93–110 (31 U.S.C. 5313 and

5321 (a)(3)), which directs the Secretary

of the Treasury to prescribe regulations

reports on foreign currency transactions

conducted by a United States person or

foreign person controlled by a United

States person. The regulations governing

forms FC–1, FC–2, and FC–3 are

contained in Title 31 part 128 of the

Code of Federal Regulations (31 CFR

128) which were published in the

Federal Register on November 2, 1993

(58 FR 58494–58497).

Current Actions: The proposed

revisions in the forms and instructions

are prompted by the introduction of the

new European currency, the Euro, on

January 1, 1999, and by the anticipated

discontinuation of the Federal Financial

Institutions Examination Council

(FFIEC) report 035, ‘’Monthly

Consolidated Foreign Currency Report

of Banks in the United States,’’ currently

filed by banks and banking institutions

in lieu of forms FC–2 and FC–3. Several

modest changes and clarifications in the

forms and instructions for reports FC–1,

FC–2, and FC–3 are proposed as part of

these revision requests.

1. An increase in the exemption level

of the FC–3, from $1 billion to $5 billion

equivalent in foreign exchange contracts

on the last business day of any quarter

of the previous year, is being proposed.

It is estimated that the overall number

of respondents filing FC–2, FC–3 or

FFIEC 035 reports will decline by over

40%.

2. Columns for the U.S. dollar and

Euro currencies have been added to the

face of each form FC–1, FC–2, and FC–

3; and to the Options Addenda on forms

FC–2 and FC–3. Special instructions for

reporting the Euro currency have been

included in Section E. Definitions,

Specified Currencies of FC–1, FC–2, and

FC–3. We anticipate that the current

high level of German mark contracts

reported will be replaced by reported

Euro contracts. The proposal to

maintain a column on the forms for

mark contracts gives respondents the

option to report such contracts either as

German marks or as Euros.

3. Columns for ‘‘All Other combined

[currencies] (excludes US$ and

currencies in columns 1–5) in US$

equivalent’ have been removed from

forms FC–2 and FC–3 and their Options

Addenda.

4. The requirement to report the

‘‘Memorandum-Cross Currency Interest

Rate Swaps’’ has been removed from

forms FC–2 and FC–3.

5. The exemption level for reporting

on the Options Addendum has been

raised from $100 million to $500

million on forms FC–2 and FC–3. In

addition, the exemption level for

reporting ‘‘Net Options Position, Delta

Equivalent Value Long or (Short)’’ has

been raised from $100 million to $500

million on form FC–1.

6. The requirement to report the

‘‘Currency Code’’ and ‘‘Net Delta

Equivalent Value’’ of the two largest

currencies on the form FC–2 Options

Addendum has been removed.

7. A requirement to report all foreign

currency denominated assets and all

foreign currency denominated liabilities

has been added to forms FC–2 and FC–

3. This replaces a requirement to report

foreign currency denominated noncapital assets and non-capital liabilities

on forms FC–2 and FC–3; and a

requirement to report the foreign

currency denominated ‘‘Net Capital

Asset (Liability) Position’’ on form FC–

2.

Type of Review: Revision.