[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 236 (Monday, December 9, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 72869-72870]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-30951]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
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 

  Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 236 / Monday, December 9, 2002 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 72869]]



DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

14 CFR Part 255 and Part 399

[Dockets Nos. OST-97-2881, OST-97-3014, OST-98-4775, and OST-99-5888]
RIN 2105-AC65


Computer Reservations System (CRS) Regulations; Statements of 
General Policy

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice extending comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Department has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that 
proposes to readopt and amend its existing rules governing airline 
computer reservations systems (CRSs) and to clarify the requirements of 
its Statements of General Policy on travel agency disclosure of any 
agency service fees.

DATES: The Department is now extending the due date for comments and 
reply comments on this notice of proposed rulemaking to March 16, 2003, 
and May 15, 2003, from the original dates of January 14 and February 
13, 2003.

ADDRESSES: To make sure your comments and related material are not 
entered more than once in the docket, please submit them (marked with 
docket numbers OST-97-2881, OST-97-3014, OST-98-4775 and OST-99-5888) 
by only one of the following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By hand delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the 
Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. 
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The 
telephone number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov. Comments must be filed in Dockets OST-97-
2881, OST-97-3014, and OST-98-4775 and OST-99-5888, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 7th St. SW., Washington, DC 20590. Late filed 
comments will be considered to the extent possible.
    Due to security procedures in effect since October 2001 on mail 
deliveries, mail received through the Postal Service may be subject to 
delays. Commenters should consider using an express mail firm to ensure 
the timely filing of any comments not submitted electronically or by 
hand.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Ray, Office of the General 
Counsel, 400 Seventh St. SW., Washington, DC 20590, (202) 366-4731.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department has begun a rulemaking to 
reexamine whether it should maintain its existing rules governing CRS 
operations. Our rules have a sunset date, currently March 31, 2003, to 
ensure that we would reexamine the need for the rules and their 
effectiveness. 67 FR 14846 (March 28, 2002). We issued a notice of 
proposed rulemaking that set forth our tentative conclusions on whether 
the rules should be readopted, whether we should extend the rules to 
cover the sale of airline tickets through the Internet, and whether we 
should clarify our full-fare advertising policy insofar as it concerns 
the disclosure of travel agency service fees. 67 FR 69366 (November 15, 
2002). Comments and reply comments were due sixty days and ninety days, 
respectively, after the notice's publication.
    Nineteen of the parties have filed a petition to extend these 
comment periods and to extend the rules' existing sunset date. These 
petitioners, Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, Interactive Travel Services 
Association, American Society of Travel Agents, National Business 
Travel Association, National Consumers League, Navigant International, 
Rosenbluth International, Tzell Travel, Maritz TQ3, Colwick Travel, 
Protravel International, Austin Travel, Corporate Travel Planners, 
Altour International, World Travel BTI, Compass Travel, and Sea Gate 
Travel Group, ask that we provide an additional sixty days for comments 
and an additional thirty days for reply comments. They also ask that we 
extend the rules' sunset date to September 30, 2003. They request us to 
grant their petition by December 3 so that they may better plan the 
preparation of their comments.
    In support of their request for more time, the petitioners note 
that our notice of proposed rulemaking is very long and requests the 
parties to address a large number of issues. They contend that the 
comment periods provided by the notice of proposed rulemaking will not 
enable them to prepare meaningful comments on the issues. They point 
out that the initial comment period includes the Thanksgiving, 
Christmas, and New Year's Day holidays. And they allege that our 
proposals, if adopted, would require the systems, airlines, and many 
travel agencies to make significant changes in their operations.
    We have determined that it would be reasonable to give commenters 
more time for preparing their responses to the advance notice. The 
issues are complex, and our notice of proposed rulemaking is lengthy. 
As the petitioners point out, the comment period includes three major 
holidays. Extending the comment period should help us, by enabling the 
parties to prepare comments that thoroughly analyze the issues raised 
by our notice of proposed rulemaking. We will therefore give commenters 
an additional sixty days for the comments and thirty days for reply 
comments. These extensions should give them adequate time for preparing 
responses to our notice and the comments filed by other parties without 
unduly delaying the completion of this rulemaking. These comment 
periods will be comparable to those established by us in our last major 
reexamination of the rules. 56 FR 12586 (March 26, 1991). As a result, 
we are making the comments due on March 16 instead of January 14, 2003, 
and the reply comments due on May 15 instead of February 13.
    We recognize that Continental, Orbitz, and Northwest have filed 
oppositions to the request for an extension that argue that we should 
not delay our decision on new rules, since the current rules allegedly 
restrict competition. We appreciate the need to proceed without undue 
delay, but we think the public interest will be best served by ensuring 
that the commenters have an opportunity to thoroughly address and 
analyze the issues.

[[Page 72870]]

    We are not now prepared to propose another extension of the rules' 
sunset date. We will consider that issue early next year and see no 
reason to act on that matter at this time.

    Issued in Washington, DC on December 2, 2002.
Kirk K. Van Tine,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 02-30951 Filed 12-3-02; 4:39 pm]
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