[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 1 (Thursday, January 2, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 46-48]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-33142]


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POSTAL RATE COMMISSION

39 CFR Part 3001

[Docket No. RM2003-2; Order No. 1357]


Electronic Filing

AGENCY: Postal Rate Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This rule identifies certain categories of documents that may 
be filed using temporary, rather than permanent, Filing Online 
accounts. This provides a filing option for situations that may not 
warrant obtaining permanent account holder status and risking the 
potential delay or other consequences that may be associated with that 
effort.

DATES: This change takes effect January 7, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing 
Online system, which may be accessed at http://www.prc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel, 
202-780-6818.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulatory History

    See 66 FR 33034 (June 20, 2001).
    See 67 FR 35766 (May 21, 2002).
    See 67 FR 67552 (November 6, 2002).

Introduction

    On October 21, 2002, the Commission issued order no. 1349 amending 
its rules of practice. This order made submitting documents via the 
Internet using the Commission's Filing Online system the standard 
method for filing documents in Commission proceedings. The effective 
date of the new filing system is January 7, 2003.
    Under this new filing system, each person intending to participate 
in Commission proceedings is required to set up a Filing Online account 
prior to using the Filing Online system to file documents. In order to 
become an account holder in the Filing Online system, a person must 
complete, sign, and mail to the Secretary, a hardcopy application. This 
process requires a modest amount of effort by the applicant, and 
involves a modest amount of delay. The effort and delay is necessary to 
effectively link documents with those that file them, to allow 
principal, agent, and client relationships to be tracked in an orderly 
way, to ensure that documents are authorized and authentic, and to 
provide adequate security for the system.

Application and Approval Process

    Obtaining a permanent Filing Online account requires the applicant 
to undertake a number of commitments, and usually takes several days. 
In addition to providing identifying and contact information, the 
applicant must request status as a principal account holder or an agent 
account holder. A person applying to become a principal account holder 
must assume a contractual duty to ensure that each document that he or 
she files online is authentic, accurate, and authorized by the 
participant that the account holder purports to represent. A principal 
account holder is obligated to notify the Commission when there are 
changes in his or her authority to file documents on behalf of another 
participant.
    After a person has completed and signed the account holder 
application, he or she must mail it to the Commission. When the 
Commission accepts the application, it e-mails the applicant his or her 
user name and a temporary password. Both are required to log in to 
Filing Online. After logging in, the account holder selects a permanent 
password. Several days may elapse between the time that a person 
applies to become an account holder and the receipt of his permanent 
password.
    The Commission recognizes that this amount of effort and delay 
might not be necessary or appropriate for certain categories of 
documents that are filed with the Commission. It has decided to allow 
such documents to be filed under temporary Filing Online accounts which 
people may obtain through a simplified and expedited procedure.

Temporary Account Option Available for Certain Documents

    The Commission has added rule 9(e) to its rules of practice [39 CFR 
3001.9(e)]. This rule allows two categories of documents to be filed 
under temporary Filing Online accounts. The first category is notices 
of intervention. A notice of intervention is typically the first 
document submitted by a participant in a formal hearing. The Commission 
is aware that those who have not applied for permanent Filing Online 
accounts might assume that they will be able to apply for a permanent 
account, gain access to Filing Online, and file a notice of 
intervention all on the day that notices of intervention are due. 
First-time participants in a Commission hearing and first-time users of 
Filing Online may not realize that it could take several days for their 
signed, hardcopy application for a permanent Filing Online account to 
be delivered to

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the Secretary and processed. If they are not aware of this requirement, 
they risk missing the deadline for filing their notice of intervention. 
In order to reduce this risk, the Commission has designated notices of 
intervention as a category of document that a prospective participant 
may file under a temporary account. This dispenses with the requirement 
to complete and sign a hardcopy application and undertake the duties 
inherent in the subscription requirement. In deciding to dispense with 
this requirement for notices of intervention, the Commission has 
considered that the representations of affected interests that are 
provided in notices of intervention are not the kind that require the 
safeguards of the subscription requirement. If there were material 
misrepresentations of fact in a notice of intervention, the Commission 
is aware that such misrepresentations may be brought to its attention 
by others in a motion to deny intervention.
    The second category of documents that may be filed under a 
temporary Filing Online account is comments that have been solicited by 
the Commission. This includes comments that the Commission solicits in 
informal inquiries, such as its inquiry in the Petition for Review of 
Unclassified Services, instituted on November 21, 2002, and comments 
that the Commission solicits in rulemaking proceedings. As with notices 
of intervention, there may be first-time users of Filing Online who 
wish to file comments in a rulemaking or other Commission proceeding 
who assume that they may apply for a permanent account, gain access to 
Filing Online, and file comments, all on the day that comments are due. 
If they are not aware that a signed, hardcopy application must be 
delivered to the Commission and processed before they become permanent 
account holders, they risk missing the deadline for comments. In order 
to reduce this risk, the Commission allows comments that it solicits to 
be filed under a temporary Filing Online account.
    The Commission has not included statements of views submitted under 
rule 20b among the categories of documents that may be filed online 
under temporary accounts. Rule 20b is designed to allow the public to 
submit unsolicited comments on issues raised in formal record hearings 
that have been noticed under rule 17 of the Commission's rules of 
practice. Rule 20b provides an even less formal procedure for 
communicating with the Commission than the temporary Filing Online 
account provides. Statements submitted under rule 20b may be mailed or 
e-mailed to the Commission. The preferred method is using the form 
provided under the ``Contact Us'' link on the Commission's Web site, at 
http://www.prc.gov. The language of rule 20b has been revised to 
clarify the procedural options that are available to filers of rule 20b 
comments.
    Under new rule 9(e), the Commission will entertain motions to allow 
other categories of documents to be filed under temporary Filing Online 
accounts under extraordinary circumstances for good cause shown.

Temporary Account Procedures

    The procedure required to obtain a temporary account is determined 
by the Secretary. Currently, an applicant for a temporary account may 
submit a form online that contains the applicant's identity and contact 
information, and the identity of the participant on whose behalf the 
document is submitted. After providing this information, the applicant 
for a temporary account will choose a User Name and a password that 
will allow him or her to log in to Filing Online and file a document of 
the type that the Commission has designated. This will establish the 
temporary account. The applicant need not mail a signed hardcopy form 
to the Secretary. The applicant will not be asked to undertake the 
obligations that accompany the subscription requirement, or to request 
status as a principal account holder or an agent account holder. The 
user name and password that the applicant selects will be valid for a 
limited time that the Commission determines. Currently a temporary 
account is valid for ten days. Since a temporary account cannot be 
renewed, a temporary account holder who wishes to file a series of 
documents in a proceeding will need to obtain a permanent Filing Online 
account. Because the revisions made in this order to rules 9 and 20b of 
the Commission's rules of practice simplify the procedures for filing 
some documents with the Commission, they are presumed not to be 
prejudicial to the interests of any prospective participant in 
Commission proceedings. For this reason, the Commission considers it 
appropriate to make these revisions without first issuing a notice of 
proposed rulemaking. These revisions to rules 9 and 20b of the 
Commission rules of practice will take effect on January 7, 2003, 
concurrently with the implementation of the rules governing Filing 
Online adopted in order no. 1349.

Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The addition of Sec.  3001.9(e) and the revision of Sec.  
3001.20b of the Commission's rules of practice, as set forth below, 
shall take effect on January 7, 2003.
    2. The Secretary shall cause this to be published in the Federal 
Register.

    Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3603.

    By the Commission.

    Order No. 1357 issued December 23, 2002; errata issued December 
27, 2002.
Garry J. Sikora,
Acting Secretary.

List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 3001

    Administrative practice and procedure, Postal Service.

    For the reasons stated in the accompanying Order, the Commission 
adopts the following amendments to 39 CFR part 3001.

PART 3001--RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE

    1. The authority citation for part 3001 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 39 U.S.C. 404(b); 3603; 3622-24; 3661; 3662; 3663.

Subpart A--Rules of General Applicability

    2. Amend Sec.  3001.9 by adding paragraph (e) to read as follows:


Sec.  3001.9  Filing of Documents.

* * * * *
    (e) Account holder exemptions. Notices of intervention and comments 
solicited by the Commission may be filed under temporary Filing Online 
accounts. Temporary Filing Online accounts may be obtained without 
meeting all of the requirements of paragraphs (b) and (c) of this 
section, and the subscription requirements of Sec.  11. Other 
categories of documents may be filed under temporary Filing Online 
accounts under extraordinary circumstances, for good cause shown.

    3. Revise Sec.  3001.20b by redesignating paragraphs 3001.20b(a), 
(b) and (c) as paragraphs 3001.20b(b), (c) and (d), and adding new 
paragraph 3001.20b(a) to read as follows:


Sec.  3001.20b.  Informal expression of views by persons not parties or 
limited participators (commenters).

* * * * *
    (a) Form of statement. A statement filed pursuant to this section 
may be submitted as a hardcopy letter mailed to the Secretary or an 
electronic message entered on the form provided for this purpose under 
the ``Contact Us'' link on

[[Page 48]]

the Commission's Web site, http://www.prc.gov.
[FR Doc. 02-33142 Filed 12-31-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P