Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 15 / Monday, January 25, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 3941 

Done in Washington, DC, this 15th day of 

January 2016. 

Gary Woodward, 

Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and 

Regulatory Programs. 

[FR Doc. 2016–01399 Filed 1–22–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION 

12 CFR Parts 600 and 606 

RIN 3052–AD08 

Organization and Functions; 

Enforcement of Nondiscrimination on 

the Basis of Handicap in Programs or 

Activities Conducted by the Farm 

Credit Administration; Organization of 

the Farm Credit Administration 

AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration. 

ACTION: Notice of effective date. 

SUMMARY: The Farm Credit 

Administration (FCA, we, Agency or 

our) amended our regulations to reflect 

internal organization changes and to 

update a statutory citation for the Farm 

Credit Act. In accordance with the law, 

the effective date of the rule is no earlier 

than 30 days from the date of 

publication in the Federal Register 

during which either or both Houses of 

Congress are in session. 

DATES: Under the authority of 12 U.S.C. 

2252, the regulation amending 12 CFR 

parts 600 and 606 published on 

November 5, 2015 (80 FR 68427) is 

effective January 25, 2016. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael T. Wilson, Policy Analyst, 

Office of Regulatory Policy, Farm Credit 

Administration, McLean, VA 22102– 

5090, (703) 883–4124, TTY (703) 883– 

4056, or Jane Virga, Senior Counsel, 

Office of General Counsel, Farm Credit 

Administration, McLean, VA 22102– 

5090, (703) 883–4071, TTY (703) 883– 

4056. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Farm 

Credit Administration amended our 

regulations to reflect internal 

organization changes and to update a 

statutory citation for the Farm Credit 

Act. In accordance with 12 U.S.C. 2252, 

the effective date of the final rule is no 

earlier than 30 days from the date of 

publication in the Federal Register 

during which either or both Houses of 

Congress are in session. Based on the 

records of the sessions of Congress, the 

effective date of the regulations is 

January 25, 2016. (12 U.S.C. 2252(a)(9) 

and (10)) 

Dated: January 20, 2016. 

Dale L. Aultman, 

Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board. 

[FR Doc. 2016–01398 Filed 1–22–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6705–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 121 

RIN 3245–AG49 

Small Business Size Standards: 

Employee Based Size Standards in 

Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA or Agency) is 

increasing 47 small business size 

standards based on a concern’s number 

of employees. These increases affect 46 

industries in North American Industry 

Classification System (NAICS) Sector 

42, Wholesale Trade, and one industry 

in NAICS Sector 44–45, Retail Trade. 

SBA retains the size standards for the 

remaining industries in those sectors 

and the 500-employee size standard for 

the Federal Government’s procurement 

of supplies under the nonmanufacturer 

rule. As part of its comprehensive size 

standards review under the Small 

Business Jobs Act of 2010, SBA 

reviewed all 71 industries in NAICS 

Sector 42, as well as the two industries 

in NAICS Sector 44–45, that have 

employee based size standards. The 

revisions adopted in this rule primarily 

affect eligibility for SBA’s financial 

assistance programs, and have no 

impact on Federal procurement 

programs. 

DATES: This rule is effective on February 

26, 2016. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl 

Jordan, Office of Size Standards, (202) 

205–6618 or sizestandards@sba.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 

19, 2014 (79 FR 28631), SBA proposed 

to increase employee based size 

standards for 46 industries in NAICS 

Sector 42, Wholesale Trade, and one 

industry in NAICS Sector 44–45, Retail 

Trade. The Agency proposed keeping 

the current size standards for the 

remaining industries in those sectors. 

SBA also proposed to retain the 500- 

employee size standard for Federal 

procurement of supplies under the 

nonmanufacturer rule (13 CFR 121.406). 

The proposed rule sought comments 

from the public on the Agency’s 

proposals and received seven 

comments. Generally, commenters 

opposed the proposed increases to the 

size standards in the wholesale trade 

industries. However, while some 

commenters appeared to be cognizant of 

the effects of the proposed increases and 

how they apply to various small 

business programs and their industries, 

others did not seem to be aware that the 

NAICS codes and size standards for the 

wholesale and retail trade industries do 

not apply to Federal Government 

procurement programs and the 

proposed increases would have no 

impact on size eligibility for Federal 

contracts. 

What follows is a summary and 

discussion of the comments, their 

positions and the issues they raise, and 

SBA’s responses. All comments are 

available for public review at the 

Federal Rulemaking Portal, 

www.regulations.gov. 

Summary and Discussion of Public 

Comments to the May 19, 2014 

Proposed Rule 

Two parties submitted identical 

comments, opposing SBA’s proposal to 

increase the size standards. The 

commenters stated that current size 

standards are already too high, and 

expanding them will make matters 

worse. The commenters contended that 

98 percent of all businesses (including 

non-employer firms) have 1–19 

employees, and those businesses mostly 

need loans of $50,000 to $250,000. 

Expanding the definition of ‘‘small’’ is 

crippling their ability to get loans, they 

added. The commenters maintained that 

the average size of SBA’s loan increased 

from $182,000 in 2008 to $547,000 in 

2013, while the share of loans under 

$100,000, which they claimed generally 

go to truly small businesses, decreased 

from 24 percent to 9 percent. 

The European Union defines the 

smallest unit of small business as less 

than 10 employees, and Australia 

defines ‘‘small’’ as 1–14 employees 

under its Fair Work Act, the 

commenters noted. In addition, they 

stated that the U.S. Congress defines 

small business as 20–25 employees 

‘‘and rarely as high as 50.’’ The 

commenters asked SBA to stop focusing 

on 2 percent of the largest small 

businesses and refocus on the remaining 

98 percent of small businesses because 

they are the ones who really need the 

help. The higher size standards, if 

adopted, will put loan assistance out of 

reach for most small businesses, they 

argued. 

Another commenter that offers startup 

workshops to entrepreneurs expressed 

concerns on how SBA defines small 

business. Specifically, the commenter 

stated that almost any business with up 

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