52576 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 176 / Wednesday, September 10, 2008 / Rules and Regulations 

1 12 U.S.C. 482. 

2Under part 8, the OCC also collects assessments 

from Federal branches and Federal agencies. The 

changes provided for in this final rule will also 

apply to assessments of Federal branches and 

Federal agencies. 

3See 12 CFR 8.2(a) (listing the asset-size 

brackets). 

4See, e.g., OCC Bulletin 2007–46, ‘‘Notice of the 

Comptroller of the Currency Fees for Year 2008’’

(December 1, 2007). The OCC’s regulations provide 

for the annual publication of the Notice of Fees and 

also authorize the publication of interim, or 

amended, notices of fees ‘‘from time to time 

throughout the year as necessary.’’ 12 CFR 8.8. 

5 57 FR 22413 (May 28, 1992). 

6 73 FR 9012 (February 19, 2008). 

7 5 U.S.C. 601(2). 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 946 

Marketing agreements, Potatoes, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

■ For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 946 is amended as 

follows: 

PART 946—IRISH POTATOES GROWN 

IN WASHINGTON 

■ 1. The authority citation for 7 CFR 

part 946 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674. 

■ 2. In § 946.336, paragraph (a)(2)(i) is 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 946.336 Handling regulation. 

* * * * * 

(a) * * * 

(2) Size: (i) At least 17⁄8 inches in 

diameter, except that all red, yellow 

fleshed, and white types may be 3⁄4 inch 

(19.1 mm) minimum diameter, if they 

otherwise meet the requirements of U.S. 

No. 1. 

* * * * * 

Dated: September 5, 2008. 

Lloyd C. Day, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. E8–20999 Filed 9–5–08; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency 

12 CFR Part 8 

[Docket No. OCC–2008–0013] 

RIN 1557–AD06 

Assessment of Fees 

AGENCY: Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency, Treasury. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the Comptroller 

of the Currency (OCC) is adopting as 

final and without change the interim 

final assessments rule issued on 

February 19, 2008. The interim final 

rule added two new asset-size categories 

to the table in 12 CFR 8.2(a) used to 

calculate each national bank’s 

semiannual assessment. The addition of 

these categories is warranted to take 

account of significant structural changes 

in the national banking system since 

1992, when the table was last revised, 

and has enabled the OCC to realign 

assessments to better reflect industry 

structure and OCC’s corresponding 

expenses of operations. No comments 

were received in response to the request 

for comment on the interim final rule. 

DATES: Effective Date: Effective 

September 10, 2008 the rule published 

on February 19, 2008 (73 FR 9012) and 

corrected at 73 FR 9625, Feb. 21, 2008 

is adopted as final without change. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

MaryAnn Nash, Counsel, Legislative 

and Regulatory Activities Division, 

(202) 874–5090; Stuart Feldstein, 

Assistant Director, Legislative and 

Regulatory Activities Division, (202) 

874–5090; or Colette Baylson, 

Accounting Operations Manager, 

Financial Management, (202) 874–4403, 

Office of the Comptroller of the 

Currency, 250 E Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20219. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The National Bank Act authorizes the 

OCC to fund the expenses of its 

operations through assessments on 

national banks.1 Under this authority, 

the OCC collects semiannual 

assessments from national banks in 

accordance with part 8 of our 

regulations and with the OCC’s Notice 

of the Comptroller of the Currency Fees 

(Notice of Fees).2

Part 8 establishes categories, or 

brackets, each of which comprises a 

range of size values for a national bank’s 

total assets. Each national bank’s 

assessment is the sum of a base amount, 

which is the same for every national 

bank in that asset-size bracket, plus a 

marginal amount, which is computed by 

applying a marginal assessment rate to 

the amount of total assets in excess of 

the lower boundary of the asset-size 

bracket.3 The marginal assessment rate 

declines as asset size increases, 

reflecting economies of scale in bank 

examination and supervision, which 

factor into the OCC’s overall cost of 

operations. Both the base amounts and 

the marginal rates applicable to each 

asset-size bracket are published at least 

once a year in the OCC’s Notice of 

Fees.4

Prior to the issuance of the interim 

final rule, the national bank assessments 

were based on asset-size brackets that 

had been last updated in 1992 5 and no 

longer reflected the structure and 

distribution of assets in the national 

banking system as a whole. For 

example, since 1992, there has been a 

significant increase not only in the 

amount of assets held by the largest 

banks, but also in the assets held by 

national banks in other asset-size 

brackets, resulting in a general upward 

shift in the distribution of the 

population of national banks on the 

asset-size bracket table in 12 CFR 8.2(a). 

The growth in the average assets held by 

national banks reflects the consolidation 

in the banking industry that has 

occurred since 1992. 

Given these developments, the OCC 

has determined that it is appropriate to 

update the existing asset-size brackets to 

reflect the current structure of the 

national banking system. The interim 

final rule has enabled the OCC to adjust 

the assessment framework to better 

reflect industry structure and the OCC’s 

corresponding expenses of operations. 

Interim Final Rule and Comments 

On February 19, 2008, the OCC 

published and requested comment on 

an interim final rule that expanded the 

number of asset-size assessment 

brackets in the table at 12 CFR 8.2(a) by 

revising the current top bracket, 

presently $40 billion and above, to 

cover banks with assets between $40 

billion and $250 billion.6 In addition, 

the interim final rule created a new top 

bracket that applies to banks with assets 

in excess of $250 billion. 

The OCC also made a conforming 

change to delete the word ‘‘ten’’ from 

the description of the asset-size brackets 

in § 8.2(a)(1) of the assessment rules 

since it no longer accurately described 

the number of brackets. 

The OCC received no comments in 

response to the interim final rule and 

has determined that it is appropriate to 

adopt as final the interim final rule as 

originally published on February 19, 

2008. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. 

L. 96–354, Sept. 19, 1980) (RFA) applies 

only to rules for which an agency 

publishes a general notice of proposed 

rulemaking pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b).7

Pursuant to the Administrative 

Procedure Act (APA), at 5 U.S.C. 

553(b)(B), notice and an opportunity for 

public comment are not required prior 

to the issuance of a final rule if an 


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8 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B). 

9Although notice and comment were not 

required prior to the effective date of the interim 

final rule, the OCC nonetheless invited comments 

on all aspects of this interim final rule and intended 

to revise the interim final rule if necessary or 

appropriate in light of the comments received. As 

explained above, however, the OCC received no 

comments on the interim final rule. 

10 2 U.S.C. 1532. 

1Sections 403(1) and 411 of the Homeland 

Security Act of 2002 (‘‘the Act,’’ Pub. L. 107–296) 

transferred the United States Customs Service and 

its functions from the Department of the Treasury 

to the Department of Homeland Security; pursuant 

to section 1502 of the Act, the President renamed 

the ‘‘Customs Service’’ as the ‘‘Bureau of Customs 

and Border Protection.’’ Effective on March 31, 

2007, DHS changed the name of ‘‘Bureau of 

Customs and Border Protection’’ to ‘‘U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection (CBP)’’ (See 72 FR 20131, 

April 23, 2007). 

agency, for good cause, finds that 

‘‘notice and public procedure thereon 

are impracticable, unnecessary, or 

contrary to the public interest.’’ 8

As we have described, the asset 

brackets in the assessments table in 12 

CFR 8.2(a) were last revised in 1992 and 

did not reflect the current structure of 

the national banking industry. The OCC 

adopted the changes to that framework 

in the form of an interim final rule 

because completion of notice and 

comment rulemaking procedures prior 

to issuing the interim final rule would 

have required delaying implementation 

of the new asset brackets beyond the 

next scheduled assessment date. Such a 

delay would have been contrary to the 

public interest since it would have 

resulted in national banks’ continued 

payment of assessments under a 

framework that the OCC has determined 

is no longer representative of current 

industry structure and the OCC’s 

corresponding expenses of operation. 

Issuance of the interim final rule also 

furthered the public interest and 

reduced regulatory burden because it 

allowed the OCC, as appropriate, to 

issue an amended Notice of Fees that 

better reflects the structure of the 

national banking system and allocates 

the OCC’s expenses of operation on that 

basis. For the same reasons, the OCC 

found good cause to publish the interim 

final rule with an immediate effective 

date. See 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1), 553(d)(3).9

Because the OCC determined for good 

cause that the APA did not require 

public notice and comment on the 

interim final rule, we did not publish a 

general notice of proposed rulemaking. 

Thus, the RFA, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

601(2), does not apply to this final rule 

because it is not a rule for which the 

OCC was required to publish a general 

notice of proposed rulemaking pursuant 

to section 553(b) of the APA. 

Executive Order 12866 

The OCC has determined that this 

final rule is not a significant regulatory 

action under Executive Order 12866. 

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 

1995 Determinations 

Section 202 of the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995 10

(Unfunded Mandates Act) requires that 

an agency prepare a budgetary impact 

statement before promulgating any rule 

likely to result in a Federal mandate 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 in any one year. 

If a budgetary impact statement is 

required, section 205 of the Unfunded 

Mandates Act also requires the agency 

to identify and consider a reasonable 

number of regulatory alternatives before 

promulgating the rule. The OCC has 

determined that this final rule will not 

result in expenditures by state, local, 

and tribal governments, in the aggregate, 

or by the private sector, of $100 million 

or more in any one year. Accordingly, 

the OCC has not prepared a budgetary 

impact statement or specifically 

addressed the regulatory alternatives 

considered. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506; 

5 CFR 1320 appendix A.1), we have 

reviewed the final rule to assess any 

information collections. There are no 

collections of information as defined by 

the Paperwork Reduction Act in the 

final rule. 

Lists of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 8 

Assessment of fees. 

PART 8—ASSESSMENT OF FEES 

■ Accordingly under the authority at 12 

U.S.C. 482 the interim rule amending 12 

CFR part 8 which was published at 73 

FR 9012 on February 19, 2008, and 

corrected at 73 FR 9012, Feb. 21, 2008 

is adopted as final without change. 

Dated: August 11, 2008. 

John C. Dugan, 

Comptroller of the Currency. 

[FR Doc. E8–20905 Filed 9–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4810–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Bureau of Customs and Border 

Protection 

19 CFR Part 122 

[CBP Dec. 08–39] 

Technical Amendment to List of User 

Fee Airports: Addition of Valley 

International Airport, Harlingen, TX 

AGENCY: Customs and Border Protection, 

Department of Homeland Security. 

ACTION: Final rule; technical 

amendment. 

SUMMARY: This document amends the 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 

Regulations by revising the list of user 

fee airports to reflect the recent user fee 

airport designation for Valley 

International Airport in Harlingen, 

Texas. User fee airports are those 

airports which, while not qualifying for 

designation as international or landing 

rights airports, have been approved by 

the Commissioner of CBP to receive, for 

a fee, the services of CBP officers for the 

processing of aircraft entering the 

United States, and the passengers and 

cargo of those aircraft. 

DATES: Effective Date: September 10, 

2008. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Scott Welch, Office of Field Operations, 

202–344–2642. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Title 19, Code of Federal Regulations 

(CFR), sets forth at Part 122 regulations 

relating to the entry and clearance of 

aircraft in international commerce and 

the transportation of persons and cargo 

by aircraft in international commerce. 

Generally, a civil aircraft arriving 

from a place outside of the United States 

is required to land at an airport 

designated as an international airport. 

Alternatively, the pilot of a civil aircraft 

may request permission to land at a 

specific airport, and, if landing rights 

are granted, the civil aircraft may land 

at that landing rights airport. 

Section 236 of Public Law 98–573 (the 

Trade and Tariff Act of 1984), codified 

at 19 U.S.C. 58b, created an option for 

civil aircraft desiring to land at an 

airport other than an international 

airport or a landing rights airport. A 

civil aircraft arriving from a place 

outside of the United States may ask for 

permission to land at an airport 

designated by the Secretary of 

Homeland Security 1 as a user fee 

airport. 

Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 58b, an airport 

may be designated as a user fee airport 

if the Commissioner of CBP as delegated 

by the Secretary of Homeland Security 

determines that the volume of business 

at the airport is insufficient to justify 

customs services at the airport and the 


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