Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 64131 

REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER 

Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified 

Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 

AGENCY: Regulatory Information Service Center. 

ACTION: Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified 

Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. 

SUMMARY: The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that 

agencies publish semiannual regulatory agendas in the 

Federal Register describing regulatory actions they are 

developing that may have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). 

Executive Order 12866 ‘‘Regulatory Planning and Review,’’ 

signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735) and Office of 

Management and Budget memoranda implementing section 

4 of that Order establish minimum standards for agencies’ 

agendas, including specific types of information for each 

entry. Section 4 of Executive Order 12866 also directs that 

each agency prepare, as part of its submission to the fall 

edition of the Unified Agenda, a regulatory plan of the most 

important significant regulatory actions that the agency 

reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form during 

the upcoming fiscal year. The Regulatory Plan (Plan) and 

the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory 

Actions (Unified Agenda) help agencies fulfill these 

requirements. 

Editions of the Unified Agenda prior to fall 2007 were 

printed in their entirety in the Federal Register. Beginning 

with the fall 2007 edition, the Internet is the basic means 

for conveying Regulatory Agenda information to the 

maximum extent legally permissible. The complete Unified 

Agenda for fall 2009, including The Regulatory Plan, is 

available to the public at http://reginfo.gov. 

The fall 2009 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the 

Federal Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency 

regulatory flexibility agendas, in accordance with the 

publication requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

Agency regulatory flexibility agendas contain only those 

Agenda entries for rules which are likely to have a 

significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities and entries that have been selected for 

periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act. 

The complete fall 2009 Unified Agenda contains the plans 

of 27 Federal agencies and the regulatory agendas for these 

and 32 other Federal agencies. 

ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information Service Center (MI), 

General Services Administration, 1800 F Street NW., Suite 

3039, Washington, DC 20405. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information 

about specific regulatory actions, please refer to the Agency 

Contact listed for each entry. 

To provide comment on or to obtain further information 

about this publication, contact: John C. Thomas, Executive 

Director, Regulatory Information Service Center (MI), 

General Services Administration, 1800 F Street NW., Suite 

3039, Washington, DC 20405, (202) 482-7340. You may also 

send comments to us by e-mail at: 

risc@gsa.gov 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page 

Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of 

Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 

I. What Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda? ... 64132 

II. Why Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 

Published? ............................................................................ 64133 

III. How Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 

Organized? ........................................................................... 64133 

IV. What Information Appears for Each Entry? ....................... 64134 

V. Abbreviations ....................................................................... 64135 

VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda? 64136 

Introduction to the Fall 2009 Regulatory Plan .................... 64137 

AGENCY REGULATORY PLANS 

Cabinet Departments 

Department of Agriculture ........................................................ 64149 

Department of Commerce ........................................................ 64182 

Department of Defense ............................................................ 64189 

Department of Education ......................................................... 64194 

Department of Energy .............................................................. 64198 

Department of Health and Human Services ............................ 64201 

Department of Homeland Security ........................................... 64213 

Department of Housing and Urban Development .................... 64246 

Department of the Interior ........................................................ 64250 

Department of Justice .............................................................. 64257 

Department of Labor ................................................................ 64264 

Department of Transportation .................................................. 64283 

Department of the Treasury ..................................................... 64304 

Department of Veterans Affairs ................................................ 64317 

Other Executive Agencies 

Environmental Protection Agency ............................................ 64318 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission .......................... 64340 

General Services Administration .............................................. 64342 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration ...................... 64343 

National Archives and Records Administration ........................ 64344 

Office of Personnel Management ............................................ 64345 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation .................................... 64347 

Small Business Administration ................................................. 64349 

Social Security Administration .................................................. 64354 

Independent Regulatory Agencies 

Federal Maritime Commission ................................................. 64362 

Federal Trade Commission ...................................................... 64363 

National Indian Gaming Commission ....................................... 64372 

Postal Regulatory Commission ................................................ 64374 

AGENCY AGENDAS 

Cabinet Departments 

Department of Agriculture ........................................................ 64375 

Department of Commerce ........................................................ 64395 

Department of Energy .............................................................. 64421 

Department of Health and Human Services ............................ 64423 

Department of Homeland Security ........................................... 64447 

Department of the Interior ........................................................ 64455 

Department of Justice .............................................................. 64457 

Department of Labor ................................................................ 64461 

Department of Transportation .................................................. 64469 

Department of the Treasury ..................................................... 64493 

Other Executive Agencies 

Environmental Protection Agency ............................................ 64495 

General Services Administration .............................................. 64505 

Small Business Administration ................................................. 64509 


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Joint Authority 

Department of Defense/General Services 

Administration/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Federal Acquisition Regulation) ................................... 64517 

Independent Regulatory Agencies 

Federal Communications Commission .................................... 64521 

Federal Reserve System .......................................................... 64565 

National Credit Union Administration ....................................... 64567 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission .............................................. 64571 

Securities and Exchange Commission .................................... 64577 

INTRODUCTION TO THE REGULATORY PLAN AND THE 

UNIFIED AGENDA OF FEDERAL REGULATORY AND 

DEREGULATORY ACTIONS 

I. What Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda? 

The Regulatory Plan serves as a defining statement of the 

Administration’s regulatory and deregulatory policies and 

priorities. The Plan is part of the fall edition of the Unified 

Agenda. Each participating agency’s regulatory plan 

contains: (1) A narrative statement of the agency’s regulatory 

priorities and, for most agencies, (2) a description of the 

most important significant regulatory and deregulatory 

actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in 

proposed or final form during the upcoming fiscal year. This 

edition includes the regulatory plans of 27 agencies. 

The Unified Agenda provides information about 

regulations that the Government is considering or reviewing. 

The Unified Agenda has appeared in the Federal Register 

twice each year since 1983 and has been available online 

since 1995. To further the objective of using modern 

technology to deliver better service to the American people 

for lower cost, beginning with the fall 2007 edition, the 

Internet is the basic means for conveying Regulatory Agenda 

information to the maximum extent legally permissible. The 

complete Unified Agenda, including The Regulatory Plan, 

is available to the public at http://reginfo.gov. The online 

Unified Agenda offers flexible search tools and will soon 

offer access to the entire historic Unified Agenda database. 

The fall 2009 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the 

Federal Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency 

regulatory flexibility agendas, in accordance with the 

publication requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

Agency regulatory flexibility agendas contain only those 

Agenda entries for rules which are likely to have a 

significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities and entries that have been selected for 

periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act. Printed entries display only the fields 

required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Complete agenda 

information for those entries appears, in a uniform format, 

in the online Unified Agenda at http://reginfo.gov. 

These publication formats meet the publication mandates 

of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866, 

as well as move the Agenda process toward the goal of eGovernment, at a substantially reduced printing cost 

compared with prior editions. The current format does not 

reduce the amount of information available to the public, 

but it does limit most of the content of the Agenda to online 

access. The complete online edition of the Unified Agenda 

includes regulatory agendas from 59 Federal agencies. 

Agencies of the United States Congress are not included. 

The following agencies have no entries identified for 

inclusion in the printed regulatory flexibility agenda. An 

asterisk (*) indicates agencies that appear in the Regulatory 

Plan. The regulatory agendas of these agencies are available 

to the public at http://reginfo.gov. 

Department of Defense * 

Department of Education * 

Department of Housing and Urban Development * 

Department of State 

Department of Veterans Affairs * 

Agency for International Development 

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance 

Board 

Commission on Civil Rights 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or 

Severely Disabled 

Consumer Product Safety Commission 

Corporation for National and Community Service 

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the 

District of Columbia 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission * 

Farm Credit Administration 

Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

Federal Housing Finance Agency 

Federal Maritime Commission * 

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 

Federal Trade Commission * 

Institute of Museum and Library Services 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration * 

National Archives and Records Administration * 

National Endowment for the Arts 

National Endowment for the Humanities 

National Indian Gaming Commission * 

National Science Foundation 

Office of Government Ethics 

Office of Management and Budget 

Office of Personnel Management * 

Peace Corps 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation * 

Postal Regulatory Commission * 

Railroad Retirement Board 

Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board 

Selective Service System 

Social Security Administration * 

Surface Transportation Board 

The Regulatory Information Service Center (the Center) 

compiles the Plan and the Unified Agenda for the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office 

of Management and Budget. OIRA is responsible for 

overseeing the Federal Government’s regulatory, paperwork, 

and information resource management activities, including 

implementation of Executive Order 12866. The Center also 

provides information about Federal regulatory activity to the 

President and his Executive Office, the Congress, agency 

managers, and the public. 


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The activities included in the Agenda are, in general, 

those that will have a regulatory action within the next 12 

months. Agencies may choose to include activities that will 

have a longer timeframe than 12 months. Agency agendas 

also show actions or reviews completed or withdrawn since 

the last Unified Agenda. Executive Order 12866 does not 

require agencies to include regulations concerning military 

or foreign affairs functions or regulations related to agency 

organization, management, or personnel matters. 

Agencies prepared entries for this publication to give the 

public notice of their plans to review, propose, and issue 

regulations. They have tried to predict their activities over 

the next 12 months as accurately as possible, but dates and 

schedules are subject to change. Agencies may withdraw 

some of the regulations now under development, and they 

may issue or propose other regulations not included in their 

agendas. Agency actions in the rulemaking process may 

occur before or after the dates they have listed. The 

Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda do not create a 

legal obligation on agencies to adhere to schedules in this 

publication or to confine their regulatory activities to those 

regulations that appear within it. 

II. Why Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 

Published? 

The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda help 

agencies comply with their obligations under the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act and various Executive orders and other 

statutes. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to identify 

those rules that may have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). 

Agencies meet that requirement by including the 

information in their submissions for the Unified Agenda. 

Agencies may also indicate those regulations that they are 

reviewing as part of their periodic review of existing rules 

under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 610). 

Executive Order 13272 entitled ‘‘Proper Consideration of 

Small Entities in Agency Rulemaking,’’ signed August 13, 

2002 (67 FR 53461) provides additional guidance on 

compliance with the Act. 

Executive Order 12866 

Executive Order 12866 entitled ‘‘Regulatory Planning and 

Review,’’ signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735) requires 

covered agencies to prepare an agenda of all regulations 

under development or review. The Order also requires that 

certain agencies prepare annually a regulatory plan of their 

‘‘most important significant regulatory actions,’’ which 

appears as part of the fall Unified Agenda. Executive Order 

13497, signed January 30, 2009 (74 FR 6113), revoked the 

amendments to Executive Order 12866 that were contained 

in Executive Order 13258 and Executive Order 13422. 

Executive Order 13132 

Executive Order 13132 entitled ‘‘Federalism,’’ signed 

August 4, 1999 (64 FR 43255), directs agencies to have an 

accountable process to ensure meaningful and timely input 

by State and local officials in the development of regulatory 

policies that have ‘‘federalism implications’’ as defined in 

the Order. Under the Order, an agency that is proposing 

regulations with federalism implications, which either 

preempt State law or impose nonstatutory unfunded 

substantial direct compliance costs on State and local 

governments, must consult with State and local officials 

early in the process of developing the regulation. In 

addition, the agency must provide to the Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget a federalism summary 

impact statement for such regulations, which consists of a 

description of the extent of the agency’s prior consultation 

with State and local officials, a summary of their concerns 

and the agency’s position supporting the need to issue the 

regulation, and a statement of the extent to which those 

concerns have been met. As part of this effort, agencies 

include in their submissions for the Unified Agenda 

information on whether their regulatory actions may have 

an effect on the various levels of government and whether 

those actions have federalism implications. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104- 

4, title II) requires agencies to prepare written assessments 

of the costs and benefits of significant regulatory actions 

‘‘that may result in the expenditure by State, local, and tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of 

$100,000,000 or more . . . in any 1 year . . . .’’ The 

requirement does not apply to independent regulatory 

agencies, nor does it apply to certain subject areas excluded 

by section 4 of the Act. Affected agencies identify in the 

Unified Agenda those regulatory actions they believe are 

subject to title II of the Act. 

Executive Order 13211 

Executive Order 13211 entitled ‘‘Actions Concerning 

Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use,’’ signed May 18, 2001 (66 FR 28355), 

directs agencies to provide, to the extent possible, 

information regarding the adverse effects that agency actions 

may have on the supply, distribution, and use of energy. 

Under the Order, the agency must prepare and submit a 

Statement of Energy Effects to the Administrator of the 

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 

Management and Budget, for ‘‘those matters identified as 

significant energy actions.’’ As part of this effort, agencies 

may optionally include in their submissions for the Unified 

Agenda information on whether they have prepared or plan 

to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects for their regulatory 

actions. 

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act 

The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act 

(Pub. L. 104-121, title II) established a procedure for 

congressional review of rules (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), which 

defers, unless exempted, the effective date of a ‘‘major’’ rule 

for at least 60 days from the publication of the final rule 

in the Federal Register. The Act specifies that a rule is 

‘‘major’’ if it has resulted or is likely to result in an annual 

effect on the economy of $100 million or more or meets 

other criteria specified in that Act. The Act provides that 

the Administrator of OIRA will make the final determination 

as to whether a rule is major. 

III. How Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 

Organized? 

The Regulatory Plan appears in part II of a daily edition 

of the Federal Register. The Plan is a single document 

beginning with an introduction, followed by a table of 

contents, followed by each agency’s section of the Plan. 

Following the Plan in the Federal Register, as separate parts, 

are the regulatory flexibility agendas for each agency whose 

agenda includes entries for rules which are likely to have 

a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities or rules that have been selected for periodic 

review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

Each printed agenda appears as a separate part. The sections 

of the Plan and the parts of the Unified Agenda are 


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organized alphabetically in four groups: Cabinet 

departments; other executive agencies; the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation, a joint authority (Agenda only); and 

independent regulatory agencies. Agencies may in turn be 

divided into subagencies. Each printed agency agenda has 

a table of contents listing the agency’s printed entries that 

follow. 

Each agency’s section of the Plan contains a narrative 

statement of regulatory priorities and, for most agencies, a 

description of the agency’s most important significant 

regulatory and deregulatory actions. Each agency’s part of 

the Agenda contains a preamble providing information 

specific to that agency plus descriptions of the agency’s 

regulatory and deregulatory actions. 

The online, complete Unified Agenda contains the 

preambles of all participating agencies. Unlike the printed 

edition, the online Agenda has no fixed ordering. In the 

online Agenda, users can select the particular agencies 

whose agendas they want to see. Users have broad flexibility 

to specify the characteristics of the entries of interest to them 

by choosing the desired responses to individual data fields. 

To see a listing of all of an agency’s entries, a user can select 

the agency without specifying any particular characteristics 

of entries. 

Each entry in the Agenda is associated with one of five 

rulemaking stages. In the Plan, only the first three stages are 

applicable. Some agencies use subheadings to identify 

regulations that are grouped according to particular topics. 

The rulemaking stages are: 

1. Prerule Stage — actions agencies will undertake to 

determine whether or how to initiate rulemaking. Such 

actions occur prior to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

(NPRM) and may include Advance Notices of Proposed 

Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of existing 

regulations. 

2. Proposed Rule Stage — actions for which agencies plan 

to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as the next 

step in their rulemaking process or for which the closing 

date of the NPRM Comment Period is the next step. 

3. Final Rule Stage — actions for which agencies plan to 

publish a final rule or an interim final rule or to take other 

final action as the next step. 

4. Long-Term Actions — items under development but for 

which the agency does not expect to have a regulatory 

action within the 12 months after publication of this 

edition of the Unified Agenda. Some of the entries in this 

section may contain abbreviated information. 

5. Completed Actions — actions or reviews the agency has 

completed or withdrawn since publishing its last agenda. 

This section also includes items the agency began and 

completed between issues of the Agenda. 

A bullet (•) preceding the title of an entry indicates that 

the entry is appearing in the Unified Agenda for the first 

time. 

In the printed edition, all entries are numbered 

sequentially from the beginning to the end of the 

publication. The sequence number preceding the title of 

each entry identifies the location of the entry in this edition. 

The sequence number is used as the reference in the printed 

table of contents. Sequence numbers are not used in the 

online Unified Agenda because the unique Regulation 

Identifier Number (RIN) is able to provide this crossreference capability. 

Editions of the Unified Agenda prior to fall 2007 

contained several indexes, which identified entries with 

various characteristics. These included regulatory actions for 

which agencies believe that the Regulatory Flexibility Act 

may require a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, actions 

selected for periodic review under section 610(c) of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act, and actions that may have 

federalism implications as defined in Executive Order 13132 

or other effects on levels of government. These indexes are 

no longer compiled, because users of the online Unified 

Agenda have the flexibility to search for entries with any 

combination of desired characteristics. The online edition 

retains the Unified Agenda’s subject index based on the 

Federal Register Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. In addition, 

online users have the option of searching Agenda text fields 

for words or phrases. 

IV. What Information Appears for Each Entry? 

All entries in the Unified Agenda contain uniform data 

elements including, at a minimum, the following 

information: 

Title of the Regulation — a brief description of the subject 

of the regulation. In the printed edition, the notation 

‘‘Section 610 Review’’ following the title indicates that the 

agency has selected the rule for its periodic review of 

existing rules under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 

610(c)). Some agencies have indicated completions of 

section 610 reviews or rulemaking actions resulting from 

completed section 610 reviews. In the online edition, these 

notations appear in a separate field. 

Priority — an indication of the significance of the 

regulation. Agencies assign each entry to one of the 

following five categories of significance. 

(1) Economically Significant 

As defined in Executive Order 12866, a rulemaking action 

that will have an annual effect on the economy of $100 

million or more or will adversely affect in a material way 

the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, 

competition, jobs, the environment, public health or 

safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or 

communities. The definition of an ‘‘economically 

significant’’ rule is similar but not identical to the 

definition of a ‘‘major’’ rule under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 

104-121). (See below.) 

(2) Other Significant 

A rulemaking that is not Economically Significant but is 

considered Significant by the agency. This category 

includes rules that the agency anticipates will be reviewed 

under Executive Order 12866 or rules that are a priority 

of the agency head. These rules may or may not be 

included in the agency’s regulatory plan. 

(3) Substantive, Nonsignificant 

A rulemaking that has substantive impacts but is neither 

Significant, nor Routine and Frequent, nor 

Informational/Administrative/Other. 

(4) Routine and Frequent 

A rulemaking that is a specific case of a multiple recurring 

application of a regulatory program in the Code of Federal 

Regulations and that does not alter the body of the 

regulation. 

(5) Informational/Administrative/Other 

A rulemaking that is primarily informational or pertains 

to agency matters not central to accomplishing the 

agency’s regulatory mandate but that the agency places in 

the Unified Agenda to inform the public of the activity. 


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Major — whether the rule is ‘‘major’’ under 5 U.S.C. 801 

(Pub. L. 104-121) because it has resulted or is likely to result 

in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more 

or meets other criteria specified in that Act. The Act 

provides that the Administrator of the Office of Information 

and Regulatory Affairs will make the final determination as 

to whether a rule is major. 

Unfunded Mandates — whether the rule is covered by 

section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 

(Pub. L. 104-4). The Act requires that, before issuing an 

NPRM likely to result in a mandate that may result in 

expenditures by State, local, and tribal governments, in the 

aggregate, or by the private sector of more than $100 million 

in 1 year, agencies, other than independent regulatory 

agencies, shall prepare a written statement containing an 

assessment of the anticipated costs and benefits of the 

Federal mandate. 

Legal Authority — the section(s) of the United States Code 

(U.S.C.) or Public Law (Pub. L.) or the Executive order (E.O.) 

that authorize(s) the regulatory action. Agencies may 

provide popular name references to laws in addition to these 

citations. 

CFR Citation — the section(s) of the Code of Federal 

Regulations that will be affected by the action. 

Legal Deadline — whether the action is subject to a 

statutory or judicial deadline, the date of that deadline, and 

whether the deadline pertains to an NPRM, a Final Action, 

or some other action. 

Abstract — a brief description of the problem the 

regulation will address; the need for a Federal solution; to 

the extent available, alternatives that the agency is 

considering to address the problem; and potential costs and 

benefits of the action. 

Timetable — the dates and citations (if available) for all 

past steps and a projected date for at least the next step for 

the regulatory action. A date printed in the form 08/00/10 

means the agency is predicting the month and year the 

action will take place but not the day it will occur. In some 

instances, agencies may indicate what the next action will 

be, but the date of that action is ‘‘To Be Determined.’’ ‘‘Next 

Action Undetermined’’ indicates the agency does not know 

what action it will take next. 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required — whether an 

analysis is required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) because the rulemaking action is likely 

to have a significant economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities as defined by the Act. 

Small Entities Affected — the types of small entities 

(businesses, governmental jurisdictions, or organizations) on 

which the rulemaking action is likely to have an impact as 

defined by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Some agencies 

have chosen to indicate likely effects on small entities even 

though they believe that a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

will not be required. 

Government Levels Affected — whether the action is 

expected to affect levels of government and, if so, whether 

the governments are State, local, tribal, or Federal. 

International Impacts — whether the regulation is 

expected to have international trade and investment effects, 

or otherwise may be of interest to the Nation’s international 

trading partners. 

Federalism — whether the action has ‘‘federalism 

implications’’ as defined in Executive Order 13132. This 

term refers to actions ‘‘that have substantial direct effects on 

the States, on the relationship between the national 

government and the States, or on the distribution of power 

and responsibilities among the various levels of 

government.’’ Independent regulatory agencies are not 

required to supply this information. 

Agency Contact — the name and phone number of at least 

one person in the agency who is knowledgeable about the 

rulemaking action. The agency may also provide the title, 

address, fax number, e-mail address, and TDD for each 

agency contact. 

Some agencies have provided the following optional 

information: 

RIN Information URL — the Internet address of a site that 

provides more information about the entry. 

Public Comment URL — the Internet address of a site that 

will accept public comments on the entry. Alternatively, 

timely public comments may be submitted at the 

governmentwide e-rulemaking site, 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

Additional Information — any information an agency 

wishes to include that does not have a specific 

corresponding data element. 

Compliance Cost to the Public — the estimated gross 

compliance cost of the action. 

Affected Sectors — the industrial sectors that the action 

may most affect, either directly or indirectly. Affected 

Sectors are identified by North American Industry 

Classification System (NAICS) codes. 

Energy Effects — an indication of whether the agency has 

prepared or plans to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects 

for the action, as required by Executive Order 13211 

‘‘Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect 

Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,’’ signed May 18, 2001 

(66 FR 28355). 

Related RINs— one or more past or current RINs 

associated with activity related to this action, such as 

merged RINs, split RINs, new activity for previously 

completed RINs, or duplicate RINs. 

Entries appearing in The Regulatory Plan include some 

or all of the following additional data elements, but will, at 

a minimum, include information in Statement of Need and 

in Anticipated Costs and Benefits: 

Statement of Need — a description of the need for the 

regulatory action. 

Summary of the Legal Basis — a description of the legal 

basis for the action, including whether any aspect of the 

action is required by statute or court order. 

Alternatives — a description of the alternatives the 

agency has considered or will consider as required by 

section 4(c)(1)(B) of Executive Order 12866. 

Anticipated Costs and Benefits — a description of 

preliminary estimates of the anticipated costs and benefits 

of the action. 

Risks — a description of the magnitude of the risk the 

action addresses, the amount by which the agency expects 

the action to reduce this risk, and the relation of the risk 

and this risk reduction effort to other risks and risk 

reduction efforts within the agency’s jurisdiction. 

V. Abbreviations 

The following abbreviations appear throughout this 

publication: 


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ANPRM — An Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 

is a preliminary notice, published in the Federal Register, 

announcing that an agency is considering a regulatory 

action. An agency may issue an ANPRM before it develops 

a detailed proposed rule. An ANPRM describes the general 

area that may be subject to regulation and usually asks for 

public comment on the issues and options being discussed. 

An ANPRM is issued only when an agency believes it needs 

to gather more information before proceeding to a notice of 

proposed rulemaking. 

CFR — The Code of Federal Regulations is an annual 

codification of the general and permanent regulations 

published in the Federal Register by the agencies of the 

Federal Government. The Code is divided into 50 titles, each 

title covering a broad area subject to Federal regulation. The 

CFR is keyed to and kept up to date by the daily issues of 

the Federal Register. 

EO — An Executive order is a directive from the President 

to Executive agencies, issued under constitutional or 

statutory authority. Executive orders are published in the 

Federal Register and in title 3 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations. 

FR — The Federal Register is a daily Federal Government 

publication that provides a uniform system for publishing 

Presidential documents, all proposed and final regulations, 

notices of meetings, and other official documents issued by 

Federal agencies. 

FY — The Federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to 

September 30. 

NPRM — A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is the 

document an agency issues and publishes in the Federal 

Register that describes and solicits public comments on a 

proposed regulatory action. Under the Administrative 

Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), an NPRM must include, at a 

minimum: 

• a statement of the time, place, and nature of the public 

rulemaking proceeding; 

• a reference to the legal authority under which the rule 

is proposed; and 

• either the terms or substance of the proposed rule or a 

description of the subjects and issues involved. 

PL (or Pub. L.) — A public law is a law passed by 

Congress and signed by the President or enacted over his 

veto. It has general applicability, unlike a private law that 

applies only to those persons or entities specifically 

designated. Public laws are numbered in sequence 

throughout the 2-year life of each Congress; for example, PL 

111-5 is the fifth public law of the 111th Congress. 

RFA — A Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is a description 

and analysis of the impact of a rule on small entities, 

including small businesses, small governmental 

jurisdictions, and certain small not-for-profit organizations. 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) requires 

each agency to prepare an initial RFA for public comment 

when it is required to publish an NPRM and to make 

available a final RFA when the final rule is published, 

unless the agency head certifies that the rule would not have 

a significant economic impact on a substantial number of 

small entities. 

RIN — The Regulation Identifier Number is assigned by 

the Regulatory Information Service Center to identify each 

regulatory action listed in The Regulatory Plan and the 

Unified Agenda, as directed by Executive Order 12866 

(section 4(b)). Additionally, OMB has asked agencies to 

include RINs in the headings of their Rule and Proposed 

Rule documents when publishing them in the Federal 

Register, to make it easier for the public and agency officials 

to track the publication history of regulatory actions 

throughout their development. 

Seq. No. — The sequence number identifies the location 

of an entry in the printed edition of the Unified Agenda. 

Note that a specific regulatory action will have the same RIN 

throughout its development but will generally have different 

sequence numbers if it appears in different printed editions 

of The Regulatory Plan and the Agenda. Sequence numbers 

are not used in the online Unified Agenda. 

USC — The United States Code is a consolidation and 

codification of all general and permanent laws of the United 

States. The USC is divided into 50 titles, each title covering 

a broad area of Federal law. 

VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda? 

Copies of the Federal Register issue containing the 

printed edition of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified 

Agenda (agency regulatory flexibility agendas) are available 

from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government 

Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250- 

7954. Telephone: (202) 512-1800 or 1-866-512-1800 (tollfree). 

Copies of individual agency materials may be available 

directly from the agency or may be found on the agency’s 

website. Please contact the particular agency for further 

information. 

All editions of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified 

Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 

since fall 1995 are available in electronic form at 

http://reginfo.gov. This site currently offers flexible search 

tools for recent editions. By early 2010, searchable access to 

the entire historic Unified Agenda database back to 1983 

will be added to the site. 

In accordance with regulations for the Federal Register, 

the Government Printing Office’s GPO Access website 

contains copies of the Agendas and Regulatory Plans that 

have been printed in the Federal Register. These documents 

are available at: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/index.html 

Dated: November 18, 2009. 

John C. Thomas, 

Executive Director. 


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