Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 248 / Thursday, December 27, 2001 / Proposed Rules 66847

74See Section 2(b) of the Securities Act (15 U.S.C.

77b(b)).

the benefit of this proposal for small

entities.

The Securities Act prohibits the states

from requiring the registration of

securities transactions with qualified

purchasers. Consequently, the states

may not review or comment on the

disclosure provided to qualified

purchasers, nor apply standards with

respect to the merits of the offering or

impose conditions on offerings to

qualified purchasers. Removing these

costs should facilitate capital raising.

We believe that preempting state

regulation of transactions involving

qualified purchasers who we define the

same as accredited investors may make

state accredited investor exemptions a

nullity. In this case, the accredited

investor prong of the Rule 504 public

offering exemption may no longer be

usable. We are concerned, however, that

as a result, issuers, especially small

ones, might be disadvantaged in their

ability to raise capital by publicly

offering their securities to accredited

investors. Consequently, we have

invited comment on the issue and to see

if it would be better to provide limited

relief from our proposed preemption for

these public Rule 504 transactions. We

also have solicited comment on an

alternative approach that would replace

the accredited investor prong with a

new exemption for offerings to qualified

purchasers.

We believe that design standards of

objectively defining qualified

purchasers add certainty and promote

the purposes of the rule. We therefore

do not propose performance standards

to specify different requirements for

small entities. We do not believe that it

is feasible to further clarify, consolidate

or simplify the proposed rule for small

entities.

E. Overlapping or Conflicting Federal

Rules

We do not believe any current federal

rules duplicate, overlap or conflict with

the rule we propose to amend.

F. Solicitation of Comments

We encourage the submission of

written comments with respect to any

aspect of this initial regulatory

flexibility analysis. Such written

comments will be considered in the

preparation of the final regulatory

flexibility analysis, if the proposed rule

amendment is adopted. Persons wishing

to submit written comments should

follow the instructions contained in the

beginning of this release. We

particularly seek comment on:

• The number of small entities that

would be affected by the proposed rule;

• The expected impact of the

proposal;

• How to quantify the number of

small entities that would be affected by,

and how to quantify the impact of the

proposed rule.

We ask commenters to describe the

nature of any impact and provide

empirical data supporting the extent of

the impact.

VII. Promotion of Efficiency,

Competition, and Capital Formation

We request your comment on whether

the proposed amendment would be a

‘‘major rule’’ for purposes of the Small

Business Regulatory Enforcement

Fairness Act of 1996. We request

comments on whether the proposed

amendment is likely to have a $100

million or greater annual effect on the

economy. Your comments should

provide empirical data to support your

views.

We are required to define qualified

purchaser consistent with the public

interest and the protection of investors.

When the public interest is considered,

we must determine whether the

definition selected would promote

efficiency, competition and capital

formation, in addition to investor

protection.74 As described in this

release, we believe the proposal fosters

each of these important goals. We

request your comments on how our

proposals would affect each of these

objectives.

VIII. Statutory Basis

We propose an amendment to Rule

146 under the authority set forth in

Sections 2(b), 18(b) and 19 of the

Securities Act.

IX. Text of the Amendments

List of Subjects in 17 CFR Part 230

Securities.

In accordance with the foregoing,

Title 17, Chapter II of the Code of

Federal Regulations is proposed to be

amended as follows:

PART 230—GENERAL RULES AND

REGULATIONS, SECURITIES ACT OF

1933

1. The authority citation for Part 230

continues to read in part as follows:

Authority: 15 U.S.C. 77b, 77c, 77d, 77f,

77g, 77h, 77j, 77r, 77sss, 77z–3, 78c, 78d, 78l,

78m, 78n, 78o, 78t, 78w, 78ll(d), 78mm, 79t,

80a–8, 80a–24, 80a–28, 80a–29, 80a–30, and

80a–37, unless otherwise noted.

* * * * *

2. Section 230.146 is amended by

adding paragraph (c) to read as follows:

§ 230.146 Rules under section 18 of the

Act.

* * * * *

(c) Qualified Purchaser. A ‘‘qualified

purchaser’’ as used in Section 18(b)(3)

of the Act (15 U.S.C. 77r(b)(3)) means

any accredited investor as defined in

§ 230.501(a).

3. Section 230.504 is amended by:

a. Adding ‘‘or’’ at the end of

paragraph (b)(1)(i);

b. Removing ‘‘; or’’ at the end of

paragraph (b)(1)(ii) and adding in its

place a period; and

c. Removing paragraph (b)(1)(iii).

By the Commission.

Dated: December 19, 2001.

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–31742 Filed 12–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010–01–U

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs

25 CFR Part 292

RIN 1076–AD93

Gaming on Trust Lands Acquired After

October 17, 1988

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs,

Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule: reopening of

comment period.

SUMMARY: This notice reopens the

comment period for the proposed rule

that was published in the Federal

Register on September 14, 2000.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Comments must be

received on or before February 25, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Mail comments to George

Skibine, Director, Office of Indian

Gaming Management, Bureau of Indian

Affairs, 1849 C Street NW, MS 2070–

MIB, Washington, DC 20240. Comments

may be hand delivered to the same

address from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday

through Friday or sent by facsimile to

202–273–3153.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Nancy Pierskalla, Office of Indian

Gaming Management, 202–219–4066.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

September 14, 2000, the Bureau of

Indian Affairs published a proposed

rule (65 FR 55471) concerning Gaming

on Trust Lands Acquired After October

17, 1988. The deadline for receipt of

comments was November 13, 2000. Six

comments were received after

66848 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 248 / Thursday, December 27, 2001 / Proposed Rules

November 13, 2000. Several of these

comments raise substantive issues that

may result in modification of the

proposed rule. The comment period is

reopened to allow consideration of the

comments received after November 13,

2000, and to allow additional time for

comment on the proposed rule.

Comments must be received on on

before March 27, 2002.

This notice is published in

accordance with the authority delegated

by the Secretary of the Interior to the

Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs by

209 Department Manual 8.1.

Dated: December 11, 2001.

Neal A. McCaleb,

Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs.

[FR Doc. 01–31664 Filed 12–26–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–02–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service

30 CFR Part 250

RIN 1010–AC95

Oil and Gas and Sulphur Operations in

the Outer Continental Shelf—

Document Incorporated by

Reference—API 510

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service

(MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: MMS is proposing to add a

document to be incorporated by

reference into our regulations governing

oil and gas and sulphur operations in

the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This

revision will ensure that lessees use the

best available and safest technologies

while operating in the OCS. The new

document, API 510, is titled ‘‘Pressure

Vessel Inspection Code: Maintenance

Inspection, Rating, Repair, and

Alteration.’’

DATES: We will consider all comments

we receive by February 25, 2002. We

will begin reviewing comments then

and may not fully consider comments

we receive after February 25, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand-carry

comments (three copies) to the

Department of the Interior; Minerals

Management Service; Mail Stop 4024;

381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia

20170–4817; Attention: Rules

Processing Team. If you wish to e-mail

comments, the e-mail address is:

rules.comments@mms.gov. Reference

API 510 in your e-mail subject line.

Include your name and return address

in your e-mail message and mark your

message for return receipt.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Richard Ensele, Operations Analysis

Branch, at (703) 787–1583.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We use

standards, specifications, and

recommended practices developed by

standard-setting organizations and the

oil and gas industry for establishing

requirements for activities in the OCS.

This practice, known as incorporation

by reference, allows us to incorporate

the provisions of technical standards

into the regulations without increasing

the volume of the Code of Federal

Regulations (CFR). The legal effect of

incorporation by reference is that the

material is treated as if it was published

in the Federal Register. This material,

like any other properly issued

regulation, then has the force and effect

of law. We hold operators/lessees

accountable for complying with the

documents incorporated by reference in

our regulations. The regulations found

at 1 CFR part 51 govern how MMS and

other Federal agencies incorporate

various documents by reference.

Agencies can only incorporate by

reference through publication in the

Federal Register. Agencies must also

gain approval from the Director of the

Federal Register for each publication

incorporated by reference. Incorporation

by reference of a document or

publication is limited to the specific

edition or specific edition and

supplement or addendum cited in the

regulations.

The proposed rule will incorporate by

reference into MMS regulations the

provisions of API 510.

We have reviewed this document and

have determined that the latest edition

should be incorporated into the

regulations to ensure the use of the best

available and safest technologies.

MMS’s Review Concerning Pressure

Vessels

The MMS documents incorporated by

reference currently include three

sections of the American Society of

Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 1998

Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code:

Section I— Rules for the Construction

of Power Boilers;

Section IV—Rules for the

Construction of Heating Boilers; and

Section VIII—Rules for the

Construction of Pressure Vessels.

Each of these sections provides

requirements applicable to the design,

fabrication, inspection, testing, and

certification of newly constructed

boilers and pressure vessels. The ASME

Code has been the recognized standard

for the construction of new boilers and

pressure vessels since the early 1900’s.

The ASME Code does not, however,

address the maintenance inspection,

rating, repair, and alteration of pressure

vessels after the vessels are placed into

service.

MMS has not previously included in

its documents incorporated by reference

a standard on pressure vessel

maintenance inspection, rating, repair,

and alteration. Our review of the

document proposed for incorporation

into MMS regulations, API 510,

indicates that it would be beneficial to

us and to the offshore industry to clarify

requirements on pressure vessel

operations, inspections, repairs, and

maintenance of the pressure vessels in

service on the OCS.

In December 1931, ASME and the

American Petroleum Institute (API)

created a joint committee to consider

safe practices in the design,

construction, inspection, and repair of

pressure vessels used in the oil and gas

industry. The resulting API/ASME Code

remained in effect until discontinued in

1956. Since the need for uniform

maintenance, inspection, and repair of

pressure vessels continued, API

published the first edition of API 510 in

1958 to satisfy this need.

Another set of boiler and pressure

vessel requirements exists, which is

widely used or referenced by many

states and municipalities in their

regulations. It is the National Board

Inspection Code (NBIC). Many elements

of the discontinued API/ASME Code

have been included in the NBIC since

its 1960 edition. It is the intention of

both API and NBIC that their respective

scopes not overlap. NBIC advises in its

scope that ‘‘It is recognized that an

American Petroleum Institute

Inspection Code, API–510, exists

covering the maintenance inspection,

repair, alteration and re-rating

procedures for pressure vessels used by

the petroleum and chemical process

industries, which is applicable in these

special circumstances. It is the intent

that this Inspection Code cover

installations other than those covered by

API–510 unless the jurisdiction rules

otherwise.’’

NBIC is an excellent generic code

applicable to boilers and pressure

vessels in general industrial uses. API

510 is designed specifically for the

petroleum and chemical process

industries. Therefore, API 510 is the

appropriate document to provide for the

safest maintenance inspection, rating,

repair, and alteration of pressure vessels

in service on the OCS.