‘‘(D) includes a monitoring plan to be car-
ried out by the parties to the Agreement; and 
‘‘(E) provides assurances to the covered 
party that no additional conservation measures 
will be required and additional land, water, or 
resource use restrictions will not be imposed on 
the covered party if the covered species becomes 
listed after the effective date of such Agree-
ment. 
‘‘(3) DENIAL.—Not later than 120 days after 
the date of the receipt of a proposed Agreement 
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) deny the proposed Agreement if the 
Secretary determines that the proposed Agree-
ment does not meet the requirements described 
in paragraph (2); and 
‘‘(B) provide the submitting covered party 
a written explanation for such determination 
and the adjustments required for the Secretary 
to approve such proposed Agreement. 
‘‘(4) PROGRAMMATIC
CANDIDATE
CONSERVA-
TION AGREEMENT WITH ASSURANCES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 
through the Director of the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service, may enter into a Can-
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didate Conservation Agreement with Assurances 
with a covered party that authorizes such cov-
ered party— 
‘‘(i) to administer such Candidate 
Conservation Agreement with Assurances; 
‘‘(ii) to hold any permit issued under 
this section with regard to such Candidate 
Conservation Agreement with Assurances; 
‘‘(iii) to enroll other covered parties 
within the area covered by such Candidate 
Conservation Agreement with Assurances 
in such Candidate Conservation Agreement 
with Assurances; and 
‘‘(iv) to convey any permit authoriza-
tion held by such covered party under 
clause (ii) to each covered party enrolled 
under clause (iii). 
‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—Upon receipt of a 
proposed programmatic Candidate Conservation 
Agreement with Assurances under paragraph 
(1) and before approving or denying such a pro-
posed programmatic Candidate Conservation 
Agreement with Assurances under paragraph 
(2) or (3), respectively, the Secretary shall— 
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‘‘(i) not later than 30 days after the 
date of such receipt, publish the proposed 
programmatic 
Candidate 
Conservation 
Agreement with Assurances in the Federal 
Register for public comment for a period 
of not less than 60 days; 
‘‘(ii) review any comments received 
under clause (i); and 
‘‘(iii) after the close of the public com-
ment 
period 
for 
the 
proposed 
pro-
grammatic Candidate Conservation Agree-
ment with Assurances, publish in the Fed-
eral Register— 
‘‘(I) 
any 
comments 
received 
under clause (i); and 
‘‘(II) the approval or denial of 
the proposed programmatic Candidate 
Conservation Agreement with Assur-
ances under paragraph (2) or (3), re-
spectively. 
‘‘(5) INCIDENTAL TAKE AUTHORIZATION.—If a 
covered species is listed under section 4, the Sec-
retary shall issue a permit to the relevant covered 
party under this section allowing incidental take of 
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and modification to the habitat of such covered spe-
cies consistent with the Agreement. 
‘‘(6) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 
shall, upon request, provide a covered party with 
technical assistance in developing a proposed Agree-
ment. 
‘‘(7) REQUEST BY FEDERAL AGENCY TO JOIN 
AGREEMENT.—A Federal agency may, subject to the 
consent of the relevant covered party, join the 
Agreement of a covered party that conducts activi-
ties on land administered by the Federal agency pur-
suant to a permit or lease issued to the covered 
party. 
‘‘(8) EXEMPTION
FROM
CONSULTATION
RE-
QUIREMENT.—An Agreement approved under this 
subsection shall be deemed to have been granted an 
exemption under section 7(h) for the purposes of 
that section. 
‘‘(9) EXEMPTION
FROM
DISCLOSURE.—Infor-
mation submitted by a private party to the Secretary 
under this subsection shall be exempt from disclo-
sure under section 552(b)(3)(B) of title 5, United 
States Code. 
‘‘(10) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
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‘‘(A) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘Agreement’ 
means— 
‘‘(i) a Candidate Conservation Agree-
ment with Assurances; or 
‘‘(ii) a programmatic Candidate Con-
servation Agreement with Assurances. 
‘‘(B) CANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREE-
MENT
WITH
ASSURANCES.—The term ‘Can-
didate Conservation Agreement with Assur-
ances’ means a voluntary agreement between 
the Secretary, acting through the Director of 
the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 
and a covered party in which— 
‘‘(i) the covered party commits to im-
plementing mutually agreed upon conserva-
tion measures for a candidate species; and 
‘‘(ii) the Secretary provides assur-
ances that, if such candidate species is list-
ed pursuant to section 4— 
‘‘(I) the covered party shall incur 
no additional obligations beyond ac-
tions agreed to in the agreement with 
respect to conservation activities re-
quired under this Act; and 
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‘‘(II) no additional land, water, 
or resource use restrictions shall be 
imposed on the covered party beyond 
those included in the agreement. 
‘‘(C) CANDIDATE
SPECIES.—The term 
‘candidate species’ means a species— 
‘‘(i) designated by the Secretary as a 
candidate species under this Act; or 
‘‘(ii) proposed to be listed pursuant to 
section 4. 
‘‘(D) COVERED PARTY.—The term ‘covered 
party’ means a— 
‘‘(i) party that conducts activities on 
land administered by a Federal agency 
pursuant to a permit or lease issued to the 
party; 
‘‘(ii) private property owner; 
‘‘(iii) county; 
‘‘(iv) State or State agency; 
‘‘(v) Federal agency; or 
‘‘(vi) Tribal government. 
‘‘(E) COVERED SPECIES.—The term ‘cov-
ered species’ means, with respect to an Agree-
ment, the species that is the subject of such 
Agreement. 
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