30182 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 107 / Monday, June 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1531–1538) requires 

Federal agencies to assess the effects of 

their discretionary regulatory actions. In 

particular, the Act addresses actions 

that may result in the expenditure by a 

State, local, or tribal government, in the 

aggregate, or by the private sector of 

$100,000,000 (adjusted for inflation) or 

more in any one year. Though this rule 

will not result in such an expenditure, 

we do discuss the effects of this rule 

elsewhere in this preamble. 

F. Environment 

We have analyzed this rule under 

Department of Homeland Security 

Directive 023–01, Rev. 1, associated 

implementing instructions, and 

Environmental Planning COMDTINST 

5090.1 (series), which guide the Coast 

Guard in complying with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

U.S.C. 4321–4370f), and have 

determined that this action is one of a 

category of actions that do not 

individually or cumulatively have a 

significant effect on the human 

environment. This rule involves a safety 

zone lasting only 1 hour that will 

prohibit entry within a 500-foot radius 

of a fireworks display in Lake 

Charlevoix. It is categorically excluded 

from further review under paragraph 

L[60(a)] of Appendix A, Table 1 of DHS 

Instruction Manual 023–01–001–01, 

Rev. 1. A Record of Environmental 

Consideration supporting this 

determination is available in the docket. 

For instructions on locating the docket, 

see the ADDRESSES section of this 

preamble. 

G. Protest Activities 

The Coast Guard respects the First 

Amendment rights of protesters. 

Protesters are asked to call or email the 

person listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section to 

coordinate protest activities so that your 

message can be received without 

jeopardizing the safety or security of 

people, places or vessels. 

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 165 

Harbors, Marine safety, Navigation 

(water), Reporting and record keeping 

requirements, Security measures, 

Waterways. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Coast Guard amends 33 

CFR part 165 as follows: 

PART 165—REGULATED NAVIGATION 

AREAS AND LIMITED ACCESS AREAS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 165 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 46 U.S.C. 70034, 70051; 33 CFR 

1.05–1, 6.04–1, 6.04–6, and 160.5; 

Department of Homeland Security Delegation 

No. 0170.1. 

■ 2. Add § 165.T09–0350 to read as 

follows: 

§ 165.T09–0350 Charlevoix Graduation 

Fireworks Lake Charlevoix, East Jordan, MI. 

(a) Location. The following area is a 

safety zone: All navigable water within 

500 feet of the fireworks launching 

location in position 45°09′14.82′′ N 

85°07′59.39′′ W (NAD 83) 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section, designated representative 

means a Coast Guard Patrol 

Commander, including a Coast Guard 

coxswain, petty officer, or other officer 

operating a Coast Guard vessel and a 

Federal, State, and local officer 

designated by or assisting the Captain of 

the Port Sault Sainte Marie (COTP) in 

the enforcement of the safety zone. 

(c) Regulations. (1) In accordance with 

the general regulations in § 165.23, entry 

into, transiting, or anchoring within the 

safety zone described in paragraph (a) is 

prohibited unless authorized by the 

Captain of the Port, Sault Sainte Marie 

or his designated representative. 

(2) Before a vessel operator may enter 

or operate within the safety zone, they 

must obtain permission from the 

Captain of the Port, Sault Sainte Marie, 

or his designated representative via VHF 

Channel 16 or telephone at (906) 635– 

3233. Vessel operators given permission 

to enter or operate in the safety zone 

must comply with all orders given to 

them by the Captain of the Port, Sault 

Sainte Marie or his designated 

representative. 

(d) Enforcement period. This section 

will be enforced from 10 p.m. through 

11 p.m. on June 12, 2021. 

Dated: June 1, 2021 

A.R. Jones, 

Captain of the Port Sault Sainte Marie. 

[FR Doc. 2021–11832 Filed 6–4–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

38 CFR Part 5 

RIN 2900–AR21 

Changes to Administrative Procedures 

Governing Guidance Documents 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations 

that govern the processes and 

procedures for issuing and managing 

guidance documents. These changes are 

necessary because an Executive order 

(E.O.) entitled ‘‘Promoting the Rule of 

Law Through Improved Agency 

Guidance Documents,’’ under which the 

regulations were originally issued, has 

been rescinded by an E.O. entitled 

‘‘Revocation of Certain Executive Orders 

Concerning Federal Regulation.’’ This 

final rulemaking will implement 

changes to ensure that the processes and 

procedures comply with the mandates 

of the E.Os. entitled ‘‘Revocation of 

Certain Executive Orders Concerning 

Federal Regulation’’ and ‘‘Regulatory 

Planning and Review,’’ while also 

maintaining certain beneficial practices. 

DATES: This rule is effective July 7, 

2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jeffrey Martin, Office of Regulation 

Policy and Management (00REG), 810 

Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 

20420, (202) 230–6402. (This is not a 

toll-free telephone number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

November 13, 2020 (85 FR 72569), VA 

promulgated regulations in 38 CFR part 

5 that established processes and 

procedures for issuing and managing 

guidance documents in accordance with 

E.O. 13891, Promoting the Rule of Law 

Through Improved Agency Guidance 

Documents. However, E.O. 13891 was 

rescinded by E.O. 13992, Revocation of 

Certain Executive Orders Concerning 

Federal Regulation, which directed 

agencies to ‘‘promptly take steps to 

rescind any orders, rules, regulations, 

guidelines, or policies, or portions 

thereof, implementing or enforcing’’ the 

rescinded E.O. With E.O. 13891 

rescinded, there is no requirement that 

VA have regulations that govern 

guidance documents. However, some of 

the requirements and processes 

contained in the regulations serve useful 

functions and are worth maintaining. 

Additionally, VA’s practices for 

guidance documents are still expected 

to comply with E.O. 12866, Regulatory 

Planning and Review. Therefore, to 

ensure VA’s practices regarding 

guidance documents comply with both 

E.O. 12866 and E.O. 13992, and 

continue certain beneficial practices, we 

make the following changes to the 

regulations in part 5. 

Authority 

We are removing the citation to E.O. 

13891 in the authority for part 5 and 

replacing it with a citation to E.O. 

12866. 

Section 5.0 Purpose. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 107 / Monday, June 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 30183 

Section 5.0 is being amended by 

removing the language that discusses 

E.O. 13891. 

Section 5.10 Definitions relating to 

guidance documents. 

Section 5.10 is the definitions section. 

The section generally tracks the 

requirements that were outlined in E.O. 

13891, as applied to VA. However, we 

are not making any changes to this 

section. We note that the definition of 

‘‘guidance document’’ in § 5.10 largely 

correlates with the definition of ‘‘rule’’ 

from E.O. 12866, and the criteria for 

what makes a guidance document 

‘‘significant’’ are substantively the same 

as the criteria for rules under E.O. 

12866. 

Section 5.15 Procedures for issuing 

guidance documents. 

Section 5.15 contains procedures for 

issuing guidance documents. Paragraph 

(a) applies to all guidance documents, 

while paragraph (b) is specific to 

significant guidance documents. 

We are changing paragraph (a)(1) to 

state that each guidance document 

should include a disclaimer that the 

document does not have the force and 

effect of law and is not meant to bind 

the public in any way, rather than 

requiring such disclaimers to be 

included. This disclaimer is not 

required by E.O. 12866, and removing 

its requirement will minimize litigation 

risks associated with technical 

noncompliance. However, we are not 

entirely eliminating the use of the 

disclaimer because we believe it serves 

a beneficial purpose of clarifying the 

scope and limitations of guidance 

documents. 

As with paragraph (a)(1), we are 

changing paragraph (a)(2) to state that 

each guidance document should include 

the listed information, rather than 

requiring the information to be 

included. We believe this change will 

provide a measure of standardization to 

guidance documents without requiring 

significant additional work and will also 

minimize litigation risks associated with 

technical noncompliance. 

For paragraph (b), as with paragraphs 

(a)(1) and (2), we are changing the 

language to state that significant 

guidance documents should contain the 

disclaimer and listed information from 

paragraph (a), rather than requiring that 

they do so. 

We are removing paragraph (b)(1) and 

renumbering the remaining paragraphs 

accordingly. This change will remove 

the requirement to conduct notice-andcomment procedures when issuing 

significant guidance documents. We 

acknowledge that providing the public 

an opportunity to participate in the 

process of issuing guidance documents 

would track the requirements from 

section 6(a)(1) of E.O. 12866 that 

agencies provide the public meaningful 

participation and an opportunity to 

comment on proposed regulations. 

However, guidance documents are not 

regulations, and requiring notice-andcomment procedures is an onerous 

process that is not required by any law 

or other authority. Further, there are 

already less burdensome methods of 

allowing public participation. For 

example, § 5.20 creates a process for the 

public to petition for withdrawal or 

modification of guidance documents. 

In redesignated paragraph (b)(1), we 

are removing the reference to E.O. 

13891. And in redesignated paragraph 

(b)(3), we are removing the reference to 

E.Os. 13771 and 13777 as they have also 

been rescinded by E.O. 13992. We are 

also removing the phrase ‘‘for 

regulations and rules,’’ because as noted 

above, guidance documents are not 

regulations and thus are not subject to 

the same processes and requirements as 

regulations. 

Section 5.20 Procedures for petition 

for the withdrawal or modification of a 

guidance document. 

Section 5.20 contains a process for the 

public to petition for the withdrawal or 

modification of guidance documents, 

including the minimum amount of 

information that must be included in a 

petition. Although not mandated by any 

law or other authority, we are generally 

keeping this process in place as it is 

consistent with E.O. 12866’s focus on 

allowing public participation. However, 

to permit the Department increased 

flexibility in responding to petitions, we 

are changing the 90-day time limit to 

respond in paragraph (c) from a 

requirement to a goal that the agency 

will seek to meet. 

Section 5.25 Guidance website. 

Section 5.25 will continue to provide 

notice of the Department’s guidance 

document website. However, we are 

removing the second sentence from this 

section. This will remove the reference 

to E.O. 13891. Additionally, this will 

remove the limitation on how the 

agency may use guidance documents 

not available on the website to increase 

the agency’s flexibility in utilizing 

guidance documents. 

Administrative Procedure Act 

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs is 

publishing this rule without prior 

opportunity for public comment 

pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A) as this 

rule is a rule of agency organization, 

procedure, or practice, and thus is 

published as a final rule. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This rule contains no provisions 

constituting a collection of information 

under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–3521). 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Secretary hereby certifies that 

this final rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities as they are 

defined in the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act, 5 U.S.C. 601–612. The regulations 

established by this rulemaking do not 

impose burdens or otherwise regulate 

the activities of any entities outside of 

VA. Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

605(b), the initial and final regulatory 

flexibility analysis requirements of 5 

U.S.C. 603 and 604 do not apply. 

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

direct agencies to assess the costs and 

benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives and, when regulation is 

necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety 

effects, and other advantages; 

distributive impacts; and equity). E.O. 

13563 (Improving Regulation and 

Regulatory Review) emphasizes the 

importance of quantifying both costs 

and benefits, reducing costs, 

harmonizing rules, and promoting 

flexibility. The Office of Information 

and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has 

determined that this rule is not a 

significant regulatory action under E.O. 

12866. The Regulatory Impact Analysis 

associated with this rulemaking can be 

found as a supporting document at 

www.regulations.gov. 

Unfunded Mandates 

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 1532, that 

agencies prepare an assessment of 

anticipated costs and benefits before 

issuing any rule that may result in the 

expenditure by State, local, and tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of $100 million or more 

(adjusted annually for inflation) in any 

one year. This final rule would have no 

such effect on State, local, and tribal 

governments, or on the private sector. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

There are no Catalog of Federal 

Domestic Assistance numbers and titles 

for this rule. 

Congressional Review Act 

Pursuant to the Congressional Review 

Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), OIRA 


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30184 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 107 / Monday, June 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

designated this rule as not a major rule 

as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2). 

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 5 

Administrative practice and 

procedure. 

Signing Authority 

Denis McDonough, Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs, approved this 

document on April 15, 2021, and 

authorized the undersigned to sign and 

submit the document to the Office of the 

Federal Register for publication 

electronically as an official document of 

the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Luvenia Potts, 

Regulation Development Coordinator, Office 

of Regulation Policy & Management, Office 

of the Secretary, Department of Veterans 

Affairs. 

For the reasons stated in the 

preamble, the Department of Veterans 

Affairs amends 38 CFR part 5 as follows: 

PART 5—ADMINISTRATIVE 

PROCEDURES: GUIDANCE 

DOCUMENTS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 5 is 

revised to read as follows: 

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501; E.O. 12866, 58 

FR 51735, 3 CFR, 1993 Comp., p. 638. 

■ 2. Revise § 5.0 to read as follows: 

§ 5.0 Purpose. 

This part provides the Department of 

Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) processes and 

procedures for issuing and managing 

guidance documents. 

■ 3. Amend § 5.15 as follows: 

■ a. Revise the first sentence of 

paragraph (a)(1); 

■ b. Revise the introductory text of 

paragraph (a)(2); 

■ c. Revise paragraph (a)(2)(vii); 

■ d. Remove paragraph (a)(2)(viii); 

■ e. Redesignate paragraph (a)(2)(ix) as 

paragraph (a)(2)(viii); 

■ f. Revise the introductory text of 

paragraph (b); 

■ g. Remove paragraph (b)(1); 

■ h. Redesignate paragraphs (b)(2) 

through (b)(4) as paragraphs (b)(1) 

through (3); and 

■ i. Revise newly redesignated 

paragraphs (b)(1) and (3). 

The revisions read as follows: 

§ 5.15 Procedures for issuing guidance 

documents. 

(a) General. (1) Each guidance 

document should clearly and 

prominently state that it does not bind 

the public, except as authorized by law 

or as incorporated into a contract. * * * 

(2) Each guidance document should 

include the following information in the 

published guidance document: 

* * * * * 

(vii) A short summary of the subject 

matter covered at the beginning of the 

guidance document; and 

* * * * * 

(b) Significant guidance documents. 

VA will refer to the Administrator of the 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of 

Management and Budget, or the 

Administrator’s designee, the question 

of whether a guidance document is 

significant. Significant guidance 

documents should contain the 

disclaimer and information described in 

paragraph (a) of this section. 

Additionally, unless the Administrator 

of OIRA, pursuant to review under E.O. 

12866, and VA agree that exigency, 

safety, health, or other compelling cause 

warrants an exemption, the following 

additional procedures apply: 

(1) The Secretary or a VA component 

head appointed by the President (with 

or without confirmation by the Senate), 

or by an official who is serving in an 

acting capacity as either of the 

foregoing, must approve any significant 

guidance document prior to issuance. 

This approval authority is not delegable. 

* * * * * 

(3) Significant guidance documents 

must comply with the applicable 

requirements set forth in Executive 

Orders 12866, 13563, and 13609. 

■ 4. Revise § 5.20(c) to read as follows: 

§ 5.20 Procedures for petition for the 

withdrawal or modification of a guidance 

document. 

* * * * * 

(c) VA will seek to provide a response 

to a petition within 90 days of receipt 

of the request. 

■ 5. Revise § 5.25 to read as follows: 

§ 5.25 Guidance website. 

VA has a guidance website that 

contains, or links to, guidance 

documents that are currently in effect. 

The website can be found at the 

following address: www.va.gov/orpm/ 

va_guidance_documents.asp. 

[FR Doc. 2021–11835 Filed 6–4–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Parts 9 and 721 

[EPA–HQ–OPPT–2020–0251; FRL–10021– 

77] 

RIN 2070–AB27 

Significant New Use Rules on Certain 

Chemical Substances (20–6.B) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is issuing significant new 

use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic 

Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 

chemical substances which were the 

subject of premanufacture notices 

(PMNs). This action requires persons to 

notify EPA at least 90 days before 

commencing manufacture (defined by 

statute to include import) or processing 

of any of these chemical substances for 

an activity that is designated as a 

significant new use by this rule. This 

action further requires that persons not 

commence manufacture or processing 

for the significant new use until they 

have submitted a Significant New Use 

Notice (SNUN), EPA has conducted a 

review of the notice, made an 

appropriate determination on the notice, 

and has taken any risk management 

actions as are required as a result of that 

determination. 

DATES: This rule is effective on August 

6, 2021. For purposes of judicial review, 

this rule shall be promulgated at 1 p.m. 

(e.s.t.) on June 21, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

technical information contact: William 

Wysong, New Chemicals Division 

(7405M), Office of Pollution Prevention 

and Toxics, Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460–0001; telephone 

number: (202) 564–4163; email address: 

wysong.william@epa.gov. 

For general information contact: The 

TSCA-Hotline, ABVI-Goodwill, 422 

South Clinton Ave., Rochester, NY 

14620; telephone number: (202) 554– 

1404; email address: TSCA-Hotline@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

A. Does this action apply to me? 

You may be potentially affected by 

this action if you manufacture, process, 

or use the chemical substances 

contained in this rule. The following list 

of North American Industrial 

Classification System (NAICS) codes is 

not intended to be exhaustive, but rather 


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