Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 1605 

appropriate video programming 

distributor. The video programming 

distributor must respond in writing to 

the Commission and the complainant 

within 30 days of the receipt of the 

complaint from the Commission. 

(3) Complaints sent to a video 

programming distributor regarding 

programming by a television broadcast 

station or other programming for which 

the video programming distributor is 

exempt from closed captioning 

responsibility pursuant to paragraph 

(e)(9) of this section, shall be forwarded 

by the video programming distributor 

within seven (7) days of receipt to the 

entity responsible for closed captioning 

of the programming at issue. The video 

programming distributor must also 

notify the complainant and the 

Commission that it has forwarded the 

complaint. Entities receiving forwarded 

complaints must respond in writing to 

the complainant within 30 days of the 

forwarding date of the complaint. 

(4) If a complaint is first filed with the 

video programming distributor, the 

video programming distributor must 

respond in writing to the complainant 

within thirty (30) days after receipt of a 

closed captioning complaint. If a video 

programming distributor fails to 

respond to the complainant within 

thirty (30) days, or the response does 

not satisfy the consumer, the 

complainant may file the complaint 

with the Commission within thirty (30) 

days after the time allotted for the video 

programming distributor to respond. If a 

consumer re-files the complaint with 

the Commission (after filing with the 

distributor), the Commission will 

forward the complaint to the distributor, 

and the distributor shall respond to the 

Commission and the complainant 

within thirty (30) days of receipt of the 

complaint from the Commission. 

(5) In response to a complaint, a video 

programming distributor is obligated to 

provide the Commission with sufficient 

records and documentation to 

demonstrate that it is in compliance 

with the Commission’s rules. 

* * * * * 

(i) Contact information. (1) Video 

programming distributors shall make 

available contact information for the 

receipt and handling of immediate 

closed captioning concerns raised by 

consumers while they are watching a 

program. Programming distributors 

must designate a telephone number, fax 

number, and e-mail address for 

purposes of receiving and responding 

immediately to any closed captioning 

concerns. Video programming 

distributors should ensure that any staff 

reachable through this contact 

information has the capability to 

immediately respond to and address 

consumers’ concerns. To the extent that 

a distributor has personnel available, 

either on site or remotely, to address 

any technical problems that may arise, 

consumers using this dedicated contact 

information must be able to reach 

someone, either directly or indirectly, 

who can address the consumer’s 

captioning concerns. This provision 

does not require that distributors alter 

their hours of operation or the hours 

during which they have staffing 

available; at the same time, however, 

where staff is available to address 

technical issues that may arise during 

the course of transmitting programming, 

they also must be knowledgeable about 

and be able to address closed captioning 

concerns. In situations where a 

distributor is not immediately available, 

any calls or inquiries received, using 

this dedicated contact information, 

should be returned or otherwise 

addressed within 24 hours. In those 

situations where the captioning problem 

does not reside with the distributor, the 

staff person receiving the inquiry should 

refer the matter appropriately for 

resolution. 

(2) Video programming distributors 

shall make contact information available 

for the receipt and handling of written 

closed captioning complaints that do 

not raise the type of immediate issues 

that are addressed in paragraph (i)(1) of 

this section. The contact information 

required for written complaints shall 

include the name of a person with 

primary responsibility for captioning 

issues and who can ensure compliance 

with our rules. In addition, this contact 

information shall include the person’s 

title or office, telephone number, fax 

number, postal mailing address, and email address. Distributors shall include 

this information on their Web sites (if 

they have a Web site), in telephone 

directories, and in billing statements (to 

the extent the distributor issues billing 

statements). Distributors shall keep this 

information current and update it 

within 10 business days for Web sites, 

by the next billing cycle for billing 

statements, and by the next publication 

of directories. 

(3) Video programming distributors 

shall file the contact information 

described in this section with the Chief 

of the Disability Rights Office, 

Consumer and Governmental Affairs 

Bureau, or by sending the information to 

CLOSEDCAPTIONING_POC@fcc.gov. 

After compiling and posting the list on 

the FCC’s Web site, Commission staff 

shall prepare a Public Notice advising 

consumers and other interested parties 

how to obtain access to the contact 

information. This information shall also 

be available by telephone inquiry to the 

Commission’s Consumer Center. 

Distributors shall notify the Commission 

each time there is a change in any of this 

required information within 10 business 

days. 

[FR Doc. E8–31447 Filed 1–12–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

49 CFR Part 213 

[Docket No. FRA–2008–0158] 

Policy on the Safety of Railroad 

Bridges 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Amendment to Final Statement 

of Agency Policy. 

SUMMARY: FRA is amending its 

statement of agency policy on the safety 

of railroad bridges. The policy outlines 

suggested criteria for railroads to use to 

ensure the structural integrity of bridges 

that carry railroad tracks. This 

amendment adds provisions that will 

guide railroads in developing their own 

implementing programs that will ensure 

conformity with the provisions of this 

policy. 

DATES: Effective Date: This amendment 

to the statement of policy is effective 

February 12, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gordon A. Davids, P.E., Bridge 

Engineer, Office of Safety Assurance 

and Compliance, Federal Railroad 

Administration, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Mail Stop 25, Washington, 

DC 20590 (Telephone: 202–493–6320), 

or Sarah Grimmer Yurasko, Trial 

Attorney, Office of Chief Counsel, 

Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., Mail Stop 10, 

Washington, DC 20590 (Telephone 202– 

493–6047). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FRA 

published its ‘‘Statement of Agency 

Policy on the Safety of Railroad 

Bridges’’ (‘‘Policy’’) on August 30, 2000 

(65 FR 52667). The Policy Statement, 

included in the Federal Track Safety 

Standards (Title 49, Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 213) as Appendix C, 

includes non-regulatory guidelines 

based on good practices which were 

prevalent in the railroad industry at the 

time the Policy was issued. This notice 

amends those guidelines by 

1606 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 

incorporating changes proposed by the 

Rail Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) 

on September 10, 2008. 

Railroad Safety Advisory Committee 

(RSAC) Overview 

In March 1996, FRA established 

RSAC, which provides a forum for 

developing consensus recommendations 

to FRA’s Administrator on rulemakings 

and other safety program issues. The 

RSAC includes representation from all 

of the agency’s major customer groups, 

including railroads, labor organizations, 

suppliers and manufacturers, and other 

interested parties. A list of RSAC 

members follows: 

American Association of Private 

Railroad Car Owners (AARPCO); 

American Association of State Highway 

& Transportation Officials (AASHTO); 

American Chemistry Council; 

American Petrochemical Institute; 

American Public Transportation 

Association (APTA); 

American Short Line and Regional 

Railroad Association (ASLRRA); 

American Train Dispatchers Association 

(ATDA); 

Association of American Railroads 

(AAR); 

Association of Railway Museums 

(ARM); 

Association of State Rail Safety 

Managers (ASRSM); 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 

and Trainmen (BLET); 

Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way 

Employees Division (BMWED); 

Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen 

(BRS); 

Chlorine Institute; 

Federal Transit Administration (FTA)*; 

Fertilizer Institute; 

High Speed Ground Transportation 

Association (HSGTA); 

Institute of Makers of Explosives; 

International Association of Machinists 

and Aerospace Workers; 

International Brotherhood of Electrical 

Workers (IBEW); 

Labor Council for Latin American 

Advancement (LCLAA)*; 

League of Railway Industry Women*; 

National Association of Railroad 

Passengers (NARP); 

National Association of Railway 

Business Women*; 

National Conference of Firemen & 

Oilers; 

National Railroad Construction and 

Maintenance Association; 

National Railroad Passenger Corporation 

(Amtrak); 

National Transportation Safety Board 

(NTSB)*; 

Railway Supply Institute (RSI); 

Safe Travel America (STA); 

Secretaria de Comunicaciones y 

Transporte*; 

Sheet Metal Workers International 

Association (SMWIA); 

Tourist Railway Association Inc.; 

Transport Canada*; 

Transport Workers Union of America 

(TWU); 

Transportation Communications 

International Union/BRC (TCIU/BRC); 

Transportation Security Administration 

(TSA); and 

United Transportation Union (UTU). 

*Indicates associate, non-voting 

membership. 

When appropriate, FRA assigns a task 

to RSAC, and after consideration and 

debate, RSAC may accept or reject the 

task. If the task is accepted, RSAC 

establishes a working group that 

possesses the appropriate expertise and 

representation of interests to develop 

recommendations to FRA for action on 

the task. These recommendations are 

developed by consensus. A working 

group may establish one or more task 

forces to develop facts and options on 

a particular aspect of a given task. The 

task force then provides that 

information to the working group for 

consideration. If a working group comes 

to unanimous consensus on 

recommendations for action, the 

package is presented to the full RSAC 

for a vote. If the proposal is accepted by 

a simple majority of RSAC, the proposal 

is formally recommended to FRA. FRA 

then determines what action to take on 

the recommendation. Because FRA staff 

play an active role at the working group 

level in discussing the issues and 

options and in drafting the language of 

the consensus proposal, FRA is often 

favorably inclined toward the RSAC 

recommendation. However, FRA is in 

no way bound to follow the 

recommendation, and the agency 

exercises its independent judgment on 

whether the recommended rule achieves 

the agency’s regulatory goal, is soundly 

supported, and is in accordance with 

policy and legal requirements. Often, 

FRA varies in some respects from the 

RSAC recommendation in developing 

the actual regulatory proposal or final 

rule. Any such variations would be 

noted and explained in the rulemaking 

document issued by FRA. If the working 

group or RSAC is unable to reach 

consensus on recommendations for 

action, FRA moves ahead to resolve the 

issue through traditional rulemaking 

proceedings. 

Railroad Bridge Working Group 

RSAC agreed with FRA on February 

20, 2008, to accept the task of reviewing 

FRA’s railroad bridge safety policies and 

activities, and to make appropriate 

recommendations for FRA to improve 

the bridge safety program. RSAC 

accordingly established a Railroad 

Bridge Working Group (RBWG), 

composed of representatives of the 

various organizations on the RSAC and 

including persons with particular 

expertise in railroad bridge safety and 

management. The RBWG met on April 

24–25, 2008, June 12, 2008, and August 

7, 2008. On September 10, 2008, the full 

RSAC voted on the RBWG’s report, and 

recommended that FRA implement the 

RBWG’s proposal of a set of ‘‘Essential 

Elements of Railroad Bridge 

Management Programs,’’ (Essential 

Elements) in FRA’s Agency Policy on 

the Safety of Railroad Bridges. 

Developing the Essential Elements 

composed the bulk of the RBWG’s work. 

The purpose of these Essential Elements 

is to provide railroad bridge owners 

with a uniform, comprehensive set of 

components for recommended inclusion 

in their bridge management programs. 

With this information, a bridge owner 

may develop a single, comprehensive 

set of instructions, information and data 

as guidance for his employees who are 

responsible for the management, 

inspection, maintenance and safety of 

railroad bridges. 

In the course of developing these 

Essential Elements, the members of the 

RBWG combined their experience in 

determining the items to be included. 

The RBWG members also recognized 

that, although most railroads were 

already performing these functions to 

varying degrees, it would be useful to 

have the recommended Essential 

Elements available in a central location 

so that all concerned may see the 

railroad’s full program, and also to 

determine that no essential element is 

overlooked. FRA agrees with this 

recommendation by the RSAC, which is 

the agency’s basis for now incorporating 

the ‘‘Essential Elements of Railroad 

Bridge Management Programs’’ into 

Appendix C of the Track Safety 

Standards. 

On October 16, 2008, President Bush 

signed into law, the Railroad Safety 

Improvement Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110– 

423) (Act’’). Section 417 of the Act 

directs FRA to issue, by October 16, 

2009, regulations requiring railroad 

bridge owners to adopt and follow 

specific procedures to protect the safety 

of their bridges. FRA plans to conform 

to that legislative mandate. A close 

reading and study of the specific 

requirements of the bridge safety 

provisions mandated by the Act shows 

that they closely parallel the Essential 

Elements of RSAC’s September 10, 

2008, recommendation. FRA therefore 

finds that this amendment of the 

Statement of Agency Policy on the 

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2009 / Rules and Regulations 1607 

Safety of Railroad Bridges, which FRA 

is completing expeditiously as a nonregulatory proceeding, will benefit 

railroad bridge owners by giving them 

prompt advice regarding the 

development of their bridge safety 

programs, and that the early work to be 

done railroad bridge owners in 

conformance with this recommendation 

will benefit the owners and the public 

when FRA issues regulations 

conforming to the legislative mandate. 

Effect of the Amendment to This 

Statement of Policy 

This amendment to Policy contains 

guidelines for the development of 

effective programs for the management 

and safety of railroad bridges. It is 

meant to be advisory in nature. It does 

not have the force of regulations under 

which FRA ordinarily issues violations 

and assesses civil penalties. The 

guidelines contained herein represent 

the general criteria against which FRA 

will evaluate each railroad’s bridge 

inspection and management program. 

Even without specific bridge safety 

regulations, FRA maintains authority to 

perform safety inspections of any 

railroad facility and to issue emergency 

orders under 49 U.S.C. 20104, 49 U.S.C. 

20107, and 49 CFR part 209. This 

amendment to the Policy does not 

change FRA’s statutory emergency order 

authority with respect to railroad bridge 

safety. This emergency order authority 

permits FRA, if necessary, to remove 

from service, or otherwise impose 

conditions on any railroad operation 

which, in the judgment of the agency, 

poses an emergency situation involving 

a hazard of death or personal injury. 

FRA will not hesitate to use this 

authority if circumstances warrant. 

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 213 

Penalties, Railroad safety, Railroads. 

PART 213—[AMENDED] 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 213 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 20102–20114 and 

20142; 28 U.S.C. 2461, note; and 49 CFR 

1.49(m). 

■ 2. Section 14 is added to Appendix C, 

Part 213 to read as follows: 

Appendix C to Part 213—Statement of 

Agency Policy on the Safety of Railroad 

Bridges 

* * * * * 

14. Railroad Implementation of Bridge Safety 

Programs 

FRA recommends that each track owner or 

other entity which is responsible for the 

integrity of bridges which support its track 

adopt and implement an effective and 

comprehensive program to ensure the safety 

of its bridges. The bridge safety program 

should incorporate the following essential 

elements, applied according to the 

configuration of the railroad and its bridges. 

The basis of the program should be in one 

comprehensive and coherent document 

which is available to all railroad personnel 

and other persons who are responsible for the 

application of any portion of the program. 

The program should include: 

(a) Clearly defined roles and 

responsibilities of all persons who are 

designated or authorized to make 

designations regarding the integrity of the 

track owner’s bridges. The definitions may be 

made by position or by individual; 

(b) Provisions for a complete inventory of 

bridges that carry the owner’s track, to 

include the following information on each 

bridge: 

(1) A unique identifier, such as milepost 

location and a subdivision code; 

(2) The location of the bridge by nearest 

town or station, and geographic coordinates; 

(3) The name of the geographic features 

crossed by the bridge; 

(4) The number of tracks on the bridge; 

(5) The number of spans in the bridge; 

(6) The lengths of the spans; and 

(7) Types of construction of: 

(i) Substructure; 

(ii) Superstructure; and 

(iii) Deck; 

(8) Overall length of the bridge. 

(9) Dates of: 

(i) Construction; 

(ii) Major renovation; and 

(iii) Strengthening; 

(10) Identification of entities responsible 

for maintenance of the bridge or its different 

components; 

(c) Known capacity of its bridges as 

determined by rating by competent engineer 

or by design documents; 

(d) Procedures for the control of movement 

of high, wide or heavy loads exceeding the 

nominal capacity of bridges; 

(e) Instructions for the maintenance of 

permanent records of design, construction, 

modification, and repair; 

(f) Railroad-specific procedures and 

standards for design and rating of bridges; 

(g) Detailed bridge inspection policy, 

including: 

(1) Inspector Qualifications. 

(i) Bridge experience or appropriate 

educational training. 

(ii) Training on bridge inspection 

procedures. 

(iii) Training on Railroad Workplace 

Safety. 

(2) Type and frequency of inspection. 

(i) Periodic (at least annually). 

(ii) Underwater. 

(iii) Special. 

(iv) Seismic. 

(v) Cursory inspections of overhead bridges 

that are not the responsibility of the railroad. 

(3) Inspection schedule for each bridge. 

(4) Documentation of inspections. 

(i) Date. 

(ii) Name of inspector. 

(iii) Reporting Format. 

(iv) Coherence of information. 

(5) Inspection Report Review Process. 

(6) Record retention. 

(7) Tracking of critical deficiencies to 

resolution; 

(h) Provide for the protection of train 

operations following an inspection, noting a 

critical deficiency, repair, modification or 

adverse event and should 

(1) Include a listing of qualifications of 

personnel permitted to authorize train 

operations following an adverse event; and 

(i) Detailed internal program audit 

procedures to ensure compliance with the 

provisions of the program. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on January 7, 

2009. 

Clifford C. Eby, 

Acting Administrator. 

[FR Doc. E9–436 Filed 1–12–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Parts 216 and 300 

[Docket No. 070717339–81648–02] 

RIN 0648–AV37 

International Fisheries; Pacific Tuna 

Fisheries; Revisions to Regulations for 

Vessels Authorized to Fish for Tuna 

and Tuna-like Species in the Eastern 

Tropical Pacific Ocean and to 

Requirements for the Submission of 

Fisheries Certificates of Origin 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this final rule to 

revise regulations governing vessels 

authorized by the United States to fish 

for tuna and tuna-like species in the 

eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP). 

This final rule updates and clarifies 

regulations promulgated by NMFS to 

implement the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act, the Tuna Conventions 

Act, the Dolphin Protection Consumer 

Information Act, and resolutions 

adopted by the Inter-American Tropical 

Tuna Commission (IATTC) and by the 

Parties to the Agreement on the 

International Dolphin Conservation 

Program (AIDCP). This rule modifies the 

procedures and requirements for the 

Vessel Register, the list of vessels 

authorized to fish for tuna and tuna-like 

species in the ETP. Requirements for the 

submission of certifications by 

importers are also revised. This rule is 

intended to clarify the regulations, 

facilitate management of U.S. vessels,