[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 51 (Monday, March 17, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 12588-12590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6250]


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POSTAL RATE COMMISSION

39 CFR Part 3001

[Docket No. RM2003-4; Order No. 1362]


Rule of Practice and Procedure

AGENCY: Postal Rate Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Commission recently implemented a comprehensive electronic 
(online) document handling system. This system's ability to provide 
rapid notice of filings has overtaken practices that were adopted some 
time ago to address certain situations where there was special interest 
in expediting notice of Postal Service requests and distribution of 
other documents. Accordingly, the Commission is making minor conforming 
changes to four sets of provisions to align them with the new online 
system. These changes preserve or increase the expedition these 
provisions were originally designed to provide.

DATES: This rule is effective April 16, 2003.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel, 
202-789-6818.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulatory History

    66 FR 33034
    67 FR 67552
    68 FR 46

Background

    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 was January 7, 2003.
    The Commission's rules of practice provide expedited procedures for 
considering Postal Service requests for a recommended decision on 
certain, narrowly defined changes to postal rates, classifications, or 
terms of service. Currently, the Commission has four sets of rules 
authorizing expedited proceedings that seek to achieve expedition, in 
part, through special accelerated notice, service, intervention, or 
discovery procedures. They were adopted before Filing Online became the 
standard procedure for filing and serving documents in formal 
Commission dockets. Filing Online now provides a faster and more 
effective means for performing most of these functions. The Commission 
is eliminating or simplifying these special procedures, as appropriate, 
wherever standard Filing Online procedures provide a faster and more 
effective alternative.
    In 1989, the Postal Service proposed, and the Commission adopted, a 
set of special rules for processing ``Express Mail Market Response 
Rate'' requests. See Order No. 836, issued August 10, 1989, and 39 CFR 
3001.57 through 3001.60. They are designed to allow such requests to be 
processed within 90 days of filing. 39 CFR 3001.60. To help speed the 
processing of such requests, existing rule 59(c)(1) authorizes persons 
wishing to participate in such a proceeding to register their name and 
business address with the Commission. Registrants are automatically 
made parties to a Market Response rate proceeding at the time that the 
request is filed. Existing rule 59(c)(2) requires the Postal Service to 
hand deliver a copy of its request on the day that it is filed to 
registrants who maintain a service address in the Washington 
metropolitan area, and to serve other registrants with a copy by 
Express Mail. Rule 59(c)(3) requires the Postal Service to send by 
Express Mail to all participants in the most recent omnibus rate case, 
a notice briefly describing its Market Response Rate Request, the 
special rules under which it was filed, and advising them of the 
deadline for intervention.
    This registration and notification scheme provides a model for 
three other sets of rules authorizing expedited proceedings. Almost 
identical provisions are included in the set of rules for processing 
``expedited minor classification cases'' (see 39 CFR 3001.69b(b), (c) 
and (d)), the rules for ``expedited review to allow market tests of 
proposed mail classification changes'' (see 39 CFR 3001.163(b), (c) and 
(d)), and the rules for ``expedited review of requests for Provisional 
Service Changes of Limited Duration'' (see 39 CFR 3001.173(b), (c) and 
(d)).

Rationale for Making Minor Conforming Changes

    For each of these four sets of rules, the purpose of these special 
notice, intervention, and service procedures was to accelerate the 
processing of these requests. The Commission's Filing Online system and 
related electronic document handling procedures can now serve this 
purpose more quickly and more effectively.
    Under the Commission's electronic document handling procedures, 
there is no longer a need to maintain a list of registrants who are 
entitled to receive a hard copy of a Postal Service request of one of 
these special types promptly after it is filed. On the Commission's 
website, an interested person may define a ``Document Alert'' rule that 
will result in notice from the Commission by e-mail when the Postal 
Service files a request to institute a proceeding of any kind, 
expedited or otherwise. That person should be able to download the 
request from the Commission's website within 30 minutes of the time 
that the request was accepted for filing by the Commission. This is 
earlier than the person would have received hard copy delivery of the 
request from the Postal Service. Because requests under these expedited 
rules are expected to be much smaller and simpler documents than 
omnibus rate requests, downloading them from the Commission's website 
is unlikely to strain the computing resources of any interested person. 
Under the Commission's electronic document handling procedures, 
therefore, the opportunity to register to promptly receive a hard copy 
of a request in an expedited proceeding does not provide an additional 
benefit of any significance to interested persons.

[[Page 12589]]

    As noted above, the existing registration scheme includes a 
provision that automatically makes a person on the register an 
intervenor in any docket that the Postal Service institutes under these 
various sets of expedited procedures. The only rationale for this 
procedure that can be inferred from the administrative history of this 
rule is that this reduces the delay involved in intervening. For 
example, there was no thought that registrants should be required to 
intervene and respond to discovery as a condition of registration, 
since they were allowed to withdraw as intervenors at any time. See 
Memorandum of United States Postal Service in Response to Presiding 
Officer's Ruling No. RM88-2/1 at 7. As a means of accelerating 
intervention, registration is now obsolete. Under Filing Online, 
persons interested in intervening may accomplish this almost 
instantaneously by filing a notice of intervention under a temporary 
account. See 39 CFR 3001.9(e).
    Accordingly, under the revised rules adopted in this order, the 
provisions found in these four sets of expedited docket rules that 
contemplate delivery of hardcopy Requests to a list of registrants and 
their automatic intervention will be deleted.
    As noted above, these four sets of expedited procedures currently 
require the Postal Service to mail a notice to all participants in the 
most recent omnibus rate case that briefly describes its request, the 
special rules under which it was filed, and alerts them of the deadline 
for intervention. This function is also one that can be performed 
faster and more effectively under the Commission's electronic document 
handling system. Under the revised rules adopted in this order, the 
Postal Service must still prepare a notice summarizing its request to 
institute an expedited docket. Rather than mailing it to all 
participants in the most recent omnibus rate case, however, the Postal 
Service will be required only to file that notice online. The 
Commission will then post the notice on its Daily Listing Page of its 
Web site, where the public may view it and download it immediately. 
This will provide those actively monitoring the Daily Listing Page with 
notice that a request to institute an expedited docket has been filed, 
and will provide it earlier than under the current notice procedure.
    The Commission's electronic document handling system can also 
provide notice to those who do not actively monitor its website. An 
important part of that system is the ``Document Alert'' feature. As 
discussed above, it allows a person to choose a notification rule that 
will result in an e-mail from the Commission when the Postal Service 
files a request to institute a Commission proceeding of any kind, 
including an expedited proceeding. Using the ``Document Alert'' 
function, an interested person will receive immediate notice of the 
filing of such a request. The Daily Listing page can then be accessed 
to view and download either the notice summarizing the request, or the 
request itself, depending on the person's degree of interest. This 
electronic notice will be both earlier, and more effective, than 
receiving a hard copy notice in the mail.
    The Commission will soon mail to every person that participated in 
the most recent omnibus rate case (Docket No. R2001-1) a letter that 
will specifically describe this use of the ``Document Alert'' function, 
and will include a Filing Online User Guide that explains how to take 
advantage of it.
    The implementation of Filing Online makes an additional revision of 
the rules governing Express Mail Market Response Rate requests 
appropriate. In order to accelerate motion practice, existing rule 
59(e)(4) provides that objections to discovery requests made in such 
proceedings be made within 10 days of the discovery request, and served 
``by hand, facsimile, or expedited delivery.'' There is no comparable 
provision in the other three sets of expedited procedures addressed by 
this order. Since filing objections online will provide a faster way to 
communicate them to the questioning party, these special service 
requirements will be deleted from rule 59(e)(4).
    The minor revisions made in this order to these four sets of 
expedited procedures conform their filing and service provisions to the 
general Filing Online rules. They do so while preserving or increasing 
the expedition that they were originally designed to provide. Since 
these changes are not prejudicial to the interests of any prospective 
participants in Commission proceedings, the Commission considers it 
appropriate to make these revision without first issuing a notice of 
proposed rulemaking. They will become effective 30 days from the date 
of this Order.

Ordering Paragraphs

    It is ordered:
    1. The revisions to Sec.  3001.59(c) and (e)(4), Sec.  3001.69b(b) 
through (d), Sec.  3001.163(b) through (d), and Sec.  3001.173(b) 
through (d) of the Commission's rules of practice, as set forth in the 
attachment to this order, shall take effect 30 days from their 
publication in the Federal Register.
    2. The Secretary shall cause this order to be published in the 
Federal Register. By the Commission.

    Authority: 39 U.S.C. 3603.

    Issued March 7, 2003.
Steven W. Williams,
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.

    2. Amend Sec.  3001.59 by revising paragraphs (c) and (e)(4) to 
read as follows:


Sec.  3001.59  Market Response Rate Requests--expedition of public 
notice and procedural schedule.

* * * * *
    (c)(1) Persons who are interested in participating in Express Mail 
Market Response Rate Request cases may intervene pursuant to Sec.  
3001.20 within 28 days of the filing of a formal request made under the 
provisions of Sec. Sec.  3001.57 through 3001.60. Parties may withdraw 
from a case by filing a notice with the Commission.
    (2) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
Sec. Sec.  3001.57 through 3001.60 it shall comply with the standard 
Filing Online procedures of Sec. Sec.  3001.9 through 3001.12.
    (3) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
Sec. Sec.  3001.57 through 3001.60, it shall on that same day file a 
notice that briefly describes its proposal. Such notice shall indicate 
on its first page that it is a notice of an Express Mail Market 
Response Rate Request to be considered under Sec. Sec.  3001.57 through 
3001.60, and identify the last day for filing a notice of intervention 
with the Commission.
* * * * *
    (e) * * *
    (4) In order to assist in the rapid development of an adequate 
evidentiary record, all participants may file appropriate discovery 
requests on other participants as soon as an Express Mail Market 
Response Rate Request is filed. Answers to such discovery requests will 
be due within 10 days. Objections to such discovery requests must be 
filed

[[Page 12590]]

within 10 days in the form of a Motion to Excuse from Answering. 
Responses to Motions to Excuse from Answering must be filed within 7 
days, and should such a motion be denied, the answers to the discovery 
in question are due within 7 days of the denial thereof. It is the 
Commission's intention that parties resolve discovery disputes 
informally between themselves whenever possible. The Commission, 
therefore, encourages the party receiving discovery requests considered 
to be unclear or objectionable to contact counsel for the party filing 
the discovery requests whenever further explanation is needed, or a 
potential discovery dispute might be resolved by means of such 
communication.
* * * * *

    3. Amend Sec.  3001.69b by revising paragraphs (b) through (d) to 
read as follows:


Sec.  3001.69b  Expedited minor classification cases'expedition of 
procedural schedule.

* * * * *
    (b) Persons who are interested in participating in proceedings to 
consider Postal Service requests for minor changes in mail 
classification may intervene pursuant to Sec.  3001.20. Parties may 
withdraw from a particular case by filing a notice with the Secretary 
of the Commission.
    (c) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
Sec. Sec.  3001.69 through 3001.69c, it shall comply with the standard 
Filing Online procedures of Sec. Sec.  3001.9 through 3001.12.
    (d) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
Sec. Sec.  3001.69 through 3001.69c, it shall on that same day file a 
notice that briefly describes its proposal. This notice shall indicate 
on its first page that it is a notice of a request for a minor change 
in mail classification to be considered under Sec. Sec.  3001.69 
through 3001.69c, and identify the last day for filing a notice of 
intervention with the Commission.
* * * * *

    4. Amend Sec.  3001.163 by revising paragraphs (b) through (d) to 
read as follows:


Sec.  3001.163  Procedures'expedition of public notice and procedural 
schedule.

* * * * *
    (b) Persons who are interested in participating in proceedings to 
consider Postal Service requests to conduct a market test may intervene 
pursuant to Sec.  3001.20 within 28 days after the filing of a formal 
request made under the provisions of this subpart. Parties may withdraw 
from a particular case by filing a notice with the Secretary of the 
Commission.
    (c) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
this subpart, it shall comply with the standard Filing Online 
procedures of Sec. Sec.  3001.9 though 3001.12.
    (d) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
this subpart, it shall on that same day file a notice that briefly 
describes its proposal. This notice shall indicate on its first page 
that it is a notice of a Market Test Request to be considered under 
Sec. Sec.  3001.161 through 3001.166, and identify the last day for 
filing a notice of intervention with the Commission.
* * * * *
    5. Amend Sec.  3001.173 by revising paragraphs (b) through (d) to 
read as follows:


Sec.  3001.173  Procedures--expedition of public notice and procedural 
schedule.

* * * * *
    (b) Persons who are interested in participating in proceedings to 
consider Postal Service requests to establish a provisional service may 
intervene pursuant to Sec.  3001.20 within 28 days after the filing of 
a formal request made under the provisions of this subpart. Parties may 
withdraw from a particular case by filing a notice with the Secretary 
of the Commission.
    (c) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
this subpart, it shall comply with the standard Filing Online 
procedures of Sec. Sec.  3001.9 through 3001.12.
    (d) When the Postal Service files a request under the provisions of 
this subpart, it shall on that same day file a notice that briefly 
describes its proposal. Such notice shall indicate on its first page 
that it is a notice of a Request for Establishment of a Provisional 
Service to be considered under Sec. Sec.  3001.171 through 3001.176, 
and identify the last day for filing a notice of intervention with the 
Commission.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 03-6250 Filed 3-14-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-FW-P