This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

45679 

Vol. 82, No. 189 

Monday, October 2, 2017 

1 81 FR 94934 (Dec. 27, 2016). 

2Public Law 114–185, 130 Stat. 538 (enacted June 

30, 2016). 

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM 

12 CFR Part 271 

Rules Regarding Availability of 

Information 

AGENCY: Federal Open Market 

Committee, Federal Reserve System. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Open Market 

Committee (‘‘Committee’’) is finalizing 

its interim final rule amending the 

Committee’s regulations under the 

Freedom of Information Act (‘‘FOIA’’). 

The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 

(‘‘Improvement Act’’) amended the 

FOIA and required each federal agency 

to review its FOIA regulations and to 

issue certain revisions by December 27, 

2016. Substantive revisions to the 

Committee’s Rules Regarding 

Availability of Information (‘‘Rules’’) 

were made to conform to the 

Improvement Act, and the Committee 

made other technical changes to the 

Rules in order to clarify the existing 

procedures for requesting information 

and to update contact information. The 

interim final rule became effective on 

December 27, 2016. This rulemaking 

finalizes the interim rule with minor 

edits for consistency and clarification. 

DATES: This final rule is effective on 

November 1, 2017. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Matthew M. Luecke, Deputy Secretary, 

(202) 452–2576, Federal Open Market 

Committee, 20th Street and Constitution 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20551; or 

Amory Goldberg, Counsel, (202) 452– 

3124, Legal Division, Board of 

Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System, 20th Street and Constitution 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20551. 

Users of Telecommunications Device for 

Deaf (TDD) only, please call (202) 263– 

4869. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Overview of Final Rule 

On December 27, 2016, the Committee 

published an interim final rule 1

amending its existing Rules found at 12 

CFR part 271, in order to comply with 

the statutory changes required by the 

FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 

(‘‘Improvement Act’’).2 Substantive 

amendments to the Committee’s Rules, 

which were required by the 

Improvement Act, included revising the 

Committee’s procedures for disclosing 

records under the FOIA, assessing fees, 

and notifying requestors of options for 

resolving disputes through the 

Committee’s FOIA Public Liaison and 

the Office of Government Information 

Services (‘‘OGIS’’) within the National 

Archives and Records Administration. 

In addition, the Committee made certain 

technical changes to the Rules to make 

the FOIA process easier for the public 

to navigate, such as making certain 

provisions clearer (removing obsolete 

language) and informing the public of 

additional electronic methods for 

submitting FOIA requests and 

administrative appeals. The interim 

final rule became effective on December 

27, 2016, and the Committee accepted 

comments through February 27, 2017. 

The Committee is finalizing the interim 

rule with minor changes to paragraph 

(h)(3) of section 271.6 in response to a 

public comment. 

II. Summary of Public Comments and 

Final Rule 

Interested persons were afforded the 

opportunity to participate in the 

rulemaking process through submission 

of written comments on the interim 

final rule during the open comment 

period. The Committee received one 

comment on the interim final rule from 

OGIS. OGIS asked the Committee to 

revise paragraph (h)(3) of section 271.6 

of the Rules to require that a 

determination letter on an appeal 

inform appellants of the availability of 

OGIS’s dispute resolution services. 

Although not required by the FOIA 

statute, this change is consistent with 

guidance issued by the Department of 

Justice’s Office of Information Policy. 

Accordingly, the Committee has 

determined to edit the language in 

paragraph (h)(3) of section 271.6 to 

notify an appealing party of the 

availability of OGIS’s dispute resolution 

services as a nonexclusive alternative to 

litigation. 

The Committee has determined not to 

adopt two other suggestions by OGIS. 

OGIS’s proposed amendment would add 

a statement that ‘‘[d]ispute resolution is 

a voluntary process.’’ This sentence 

appears to be unnecessary and repetitive 

given that the Committee is already 

advising appellants that dispute 

resolution services are available as a 

‘‘nonexclusive alternative to litigation.’’ 

OGIS also proposed language stating 

that the Committee will ‘‘actively 

engage as a partner to the process in an 

attempt to resolve the dispute’’ if the 

Committee participates in the OGIS 

dispute resolution process. Although 

active engagement in attempting to 

resolve a FOIA dispute is of course not 

unreasonable, the proposed sentence 

could create additional legal obligations 

not required under the FOIA or by the 

statutory amendments to the FOIA. 

Accordingly, aside from adding in 

language regarding the availability of 

OGIS’s dispute resolution services as a 

nonexclusive alternative to litigation, 

the Committee is adopting section 

271.6(h)(3) in the final rule without any 

further change. 

III. Regulatory Requirements 

As the Committee noted in publishing 

the interim final rule, Congress required 

that the substantive changes to the 

Committee’s Rules under the 

Improvement Act become effective by 

December 27, 2016, and the other 

amendments to the Committee’s Rules 

were technical in nature. Thus, the 

Committee determined that the prior 

notice and comment requirements of the 

Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 

553(b), did not apply to the rule. 

Because no notice of proposed 

rulemaking is required, these 

regulations are not a ‘‘rule’’ as defined 

by the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 

U.S.C. 601(2), and no initial or final 

regulatory flexibility analysis is 

required. 

List of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 271 

Federal Open Market Committee, 

Freedom of information. 

Authority and Issuance 

For the reasons set forth in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, the 

Committee is adopting the interim final 


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45680 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2017 / Rules and Regulations 

1 15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq., 12 CFR part 1002. 

2 12 CFR 1002.5(b). 

3 12 CFR 1002.5(a)(2). 

4Appendix B to 12 CFR part 1003. 

5Home Mortgage Disclosure (Regulation C), 80 FR 

66128 (Oct. 28, 2015). 

6See Fannie Mae, Guide Forms, available at 

https://www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/sellingservicing-guide-forms (last visited Sept. 6, 2017) 

(listing all selling and servicing guide forms); 

Freddie Mac, ‘‘Forms and Documents,’’ available at 

http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/guide/ 

(last visited Sept. 6, 2017) (same). 

7Amendments to Equal Credit Opportunity Act 

(Regulation B) Ethnicity and Race Information 

Collection, 82 FR 16307 (Apr. 4, 2017). 

rule published on December 27, 2016, at 

81 FR 94934, as final with the following 

change: 

PART 271—RULES REGARDING 

AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 271 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552; 12 U.S.C. 263. 

■ 2. In § 271.6, paragraph (h)(3) is 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 271.6 Processing requests. 

* * * * * 

(h) * * * 

(3) The Committee, or such member of 

the Committee as is delegated the 

authority, shall make a determination 

regarding any appeal within 20 working 

days of actual receipt of the appeal by 

the Secretary. If an adverse 

determination is upheld on appeal, in 

whole or in part, the determination 

letter shall notify the appealing party of 

the right to seek judicial review and of 

the availability of dispute resolution 

services from the Office of Government 

Information Services as a nonexclusive 

alternative to litigation. 

By order of the Federal Open Market 

Committee, September 19, 2017. 

Brian F. Madigan, 

Secretary, Federal Open Market Committee. 

[FR Doc. 2017–21071 Filed 9–29–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6210–01–P 

BUREAU OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL 

PROTECTION 

12 CFR Part 1002 

[Docket No. CFPB–2017–0009] 

RIN 3170–AA65 

Equal Credit Opportunity Act 

(Regulation B) Ethnicity and Race 

Information Collection 

AGENCY: Bureau of Consumer Financial 

Protection. 

ACTION: Final rule; official 

interpretation. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Consumer 

Financial Protection (Bureau) is issuing 

a final rule that amends Regulation B to 

permit creditors additional flexibility in 

complying with Regulation B in order to 

facilitate compliance with Regulation C, 

adds certain model forms and removes 

others from Regulation B, and makes 

various other amendments to Regulation 

B and its commentary to facilitate the 

collection and retention of information 

about the ethnicity, sex, and race of 

certain mortgage applicants. 

DATES: The rule is effective on January 

1, 2018, except that the amendment to 

Appendix B to Part 1002 revising 

paragraph 1 and removing the existing 

‘‘Uniform Residential Loan 

Application’’ form in amendatory 

instruction 6 is effective January 1, 

2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shaakira Gold-Ramirez, Paralegal 

Specialist, Kathryn Lazarev, Counsel, or 

James Wylie, Senior Counsel, Office of 

Regulations, at 202–435–7700 or https:// 

www.consumerfinance.gov/policycompliance/guidance/. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Summary of the Final Rule 

Regulation B implements the Equal 

Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) 1 and, in 

part, prohibits a creditor from inquiring 

about the race, color, religion, national 

origin, or sex of a credit applicant 

except under certain circumstances.2

Two of these circumstances are a 

requirement for creditors to collect and 

retain certain information about 

applicants for certain dwelling-secured 

loans under Regulation B § 1002.13 and 

the similar applicant information that 

financial institutions are required to 

collect and report under Regulation C, 

12 CFR part 1003, which implements 

the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act 

(HMDA).3 Regulation B also includes 

certain optional model forms for use in 

complying with certain Regulation B 

requirements, including a model form 

for complying with § 1002.13 that is a 

2004 version of the Uniform Residential 

Loan Application (URLA) issued by the 

Federal National Mortgage Association 

(Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home 

Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie 

Mac) (collectively, the Enterprises).4

The HMDA requirement to collect and 

report applicant information was 

recently updated through a final rule 

amending Regulation C, published in 

October of 2015 (2015 HMDA Final 

Rule).5 In 2016, the Enterprises issued a 

new version of the URLA that complies 

with the 2015 HMDA Final Rule (2016 

URLA).6 These changes to Regulation C 

and the URLA require updates to 

Regulation B to ensure consistency 

among regulations and facilitate 

compliance with Regulation B and 

Regulation C by financial institutions. 

To address these issues, the Bureau 

issued a proposal on March 24, 2017, 

which was published in the Federal 

Register on April 4, 2017 (the 2017 

ECOA Proposal).7

The Bureau is now publishing final 

amendments to Regulation B. The final 

rule will provide creditors flexibility in 

complying with Regulation B in order to 

facilitate compliance with Regulation C 

and transition to the 2016 URLA. The 

changes to Regulation B in this rule are 

summarized briefly in this section and 

discussed in detail below. 

A. Scope 

The final rule amends parts of 

Regulation B, its commentary, and its 

appendices, and affects when and how 

a creditor may collect information 

regarding the applicant’s ethnicity, race, 

and sex. The Regulation B creditors 

affected by this rule are primarily those 

creditors making mortgage loans subject 

to § 1002.13, which applies to purchase 

and refinance transactions involving an 

applicant’s primary residence. Financial 

institutions that report under Regulation 

C, have reported in the prior five years, 

or may report in the near future may 

also be affected by this rule. Creditors 

that utilize model forms from appendix 

B to Regulation B (the Regulation B 

appendix) for mortgage loans are also 

affected by the rule. 

B. Changes to Applicant Information 

Collection for Regulation B Creditors 

For Regulation B creditors making 

mortgage loans subject to § 1002.13, the 

rule will allow creditors to collect the 

applicant’s information using either the 

aggregate ethnicity and race categories 

or disaggregated ethnicity and race 

categories and subcategories, as set forth 

in appendix B to Regulation C (the 

Regulation C appendix) as amended by 

the 2015 HMDA Final Rule. The rule 

change therefore will not require 

Regulation B creditors that are not 

HMDA reporters (Regulation B-only 

creditors) to change their § 1002.13 

compliance practices, but would allow 

them to adopt voluntarily new practices 

for collecting applicant information, 

including practices that would permit 

such creditors to transition to the 2016 

URLA. Regulation B creditors will also 

be able to collect voluntarily certain 

information about applicants for certain 

mortgage loan scenarios as provided for 

in § 1002.5(a)(4). These scenarios 


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