[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 120 (Friday, June 22, 2007)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34419-34424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-11810]


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DEPARTMENT OF STATE

22 CFR Part 62

[Public Notice: 5837]
RIN 1400-AC38


Exchange Visitor Program--Fees and Charges for Exchange Visitor 
Program Services

AGENCY: Department of State.

ACTION: Proposed rule with request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department is proposing to revise its regulations 
regarding Fees and Charges for Exchange Visitor Program services. A new 
section will contain all of the fees and charges for Exchange Visitor 
Program services. The long-range goal of these changes is to recoup the 
full cost for providing such services.

DATES: The Department will accept comments from the public by August 
21, 2007.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by any of the following 
methods:
     Persons with access to the Internet may view this notice 
and provide comments by going to the regulations.gov Web site at: 
http://www.regulations.gov/index.cfm.
     Mail (paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions): U.S. Department 
of State, Office of Exchange Coordination and Designation, SA-44, 301 
4th Street, SW., Room 734, Washington, DC 20547.
     E-mail: [email protected]. You must include the RIN 
(1400-AC38) in the subject line of your message.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stanley S. Colvin, Director, Office of 
Exchange Coordination and Designation, U.S. Department of State, SA-44, 
301 4th Street, SW., Room 734, Washington, DC 20547; 202-203-5096 or e-
mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of State designates U.S. 
government, academic, and private sector entities to conduct 
educational and cultural exchange programs pursuant to a broad grant of 
authority provided by the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act 
of 1961, as amended (Fulbright-Hays Act), 22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.; the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J); the Foreign 
Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, Public Law 105-277; as 
well as other statutory enactments, Reorganization Plans and Executive 
Orders. Under those authorities, designated program sponsors facilitate 
the entry of more

[[Page 34420]]

than 300,000 exchange participants each year.
    The Fulbright-Hays Act is the organic legislation underpinning the 
entire Exchange Visitor Program. Section 101 of that Act sets forth the 
purpose of the Act, viz., ``to enable the Government of the United 
States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the 
United States and the people of other countries by means of educational 
and cultural exchange * * *''. The Act authorizes the President to 
provide for such exchanges when he considers that it would strengthen 
international cooperative relations. The language of the Act and its 
legislative history make it clear that Congress considered 
international educational and cultural exchanges to be a significant 
part of the public diplomacy efforts of the President in connection 
with his Constitutional prerogatives in conducting foreign affairs.
    The former United States Information Agency (USIA) and, as of 
October 1, 1999, its successor, the U.S. Department of State, have 
promulgated regulations governing the Exchange Visitor Program. Those 
regulations appear at 22 CFR part 62, and have remained largely 
unchanged since 1993, when USIA undertook a major regulatory reform of 
the Exchange Visitor Program. The first fee regulation was promulgated 
on September 27, 1999, when USIA published an Interim Final Rule on 
fees. 64 FR 51894. User fees were adopted for the first time under the 
authority of Section 810 of the United States Information and 
Educational Exchange Act of 1948, as amended, 22 U.S.C.1475e, and the 
Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 (IOAA), 31 U.S.C. 9701 . 
Following the guidelines set forth in Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) Circular No. A-25, USIA determined that the following user fees 
were appropriate in order to recoup the full cost of providing a 
benefit or service to the users of those benefits or services: Request 
for Sec.  212(e) waiver review--$136; Request for program extension--
$198; Request for change of program category--$198; Request for 
reinstatement--$198; Program Designation --$799; and Requests for non-
routine handling of Form IAP-66 --$43. The Interim Final Rule became 
Final on April 14, 2000, 65 FR 20083, and it has not been changed since 
that date.
    In 2006, the Department examined the current fee structure for 
compliance with applicable laws and policies, and to determine the 
appropriate level of fees and whether additional fees are justified. 
The analysis proceeded from the guiding principles set forth in the 
legislative framework and authorities cited above, namely, that user 
fees should be fair, that they should reflect the full cost to perform 
the services, and that services performed on behalf of distinct, 
identifiable beneficiaries (versus the public at large) should, to the 
extent possible, be self-sustaining. As a result of our review, we 
determined that additional fee categories and increased fees were 
justified.
    The services covered by the new categories of fees include those 
related to new applications for Designation and Redesignation. These 
fees also include the cost of applications and requests for amendments, 
allotment requests, and updates of information, as well as the costs 
for program compliance, regulatory review and development, outreach, 
and general program administration. There are also new fees for 
``changes,'' i.e., requests for change of program category, extension 
beyond maximum duration, requests for reinstatement, requests to update 
the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) status, and 
similar requests. The fees received for this category of services also 
include the appropriate share of costs for regulatory review and 
development, outreach, and general program administration.
    The new fee structure was developed by once again following the 
guidelines set forth in OMB Circular A-25, as well as the Statement of 
Federal Finance and Accounting Standards No. 4 (SFFAS 4). In accordance 
with SFFAS 4, the Department used an ``activity-based costing'' (ABC) 
approach to develop a sustainable cost model to align the costs of the 
program to the specific services performed on behalf of program 
sponsors and other program stakeholders. Activity-based costing is a 
method of identifying the work that is performed, how resources are 
consumed by that work, and how that work contributes to the production 
of required outputs. The ABC methodology enabled the development of a 
bottom-up budget that factored in forecasts for expected demand of 
program services in the years when the fees are effective and would 
provide the program with adequate resources to meet that future program 
demand and eliminate the existing application backlog.

Full Cost

    One of the most critical elements in building the cost models to 
determine user fees is to identify all of the sources and the 
appropriate amounts of costs to be included in the analysis. According 
to the legislative and regulatory guidance as documented in the legal 
framework, user charges should be based on the full cost to the 
government of providing the services or things of value. OMB Circular 
A-25 defines full cost as all direct and indirect costs to any part of 
the Federal government of providing a good, resource, or service. These 
costs include, but are not limited to, an appropriate share of:
    [cir] Direct and indirect personnel costs, including salaries and 
fringe benefits such as medical insurance and retirement.
    [cir] Physical overhead, consulting, and other indirect costs 
including material and supply costs, utilities, insurance, travel, and 
rents or imputed rents on land, buildings, and equipment.
    [cir] Management and supervisory costs.
    [cir] Costs of enforcement, collection, research, establishment of 
standards, and regulation, including any required environmental impact 
statements.
    The generally accepted government accounting practices for 
managerial cost accounting, published in SFFAS 4, provide the standards 
for cost definition, recognition, accumulation and assignment as they 
relate to the recognition of full cost. These standards have been 
applied to the determination of what costs to include in or exclude 
from the Exchange Visitor Program fee model. According to SFFAS 4, with 
respect to each responsibility segment, the costs that are to be 
assigned to outputs include: (a) Direct and indirect costs incurred 
within the responsibility segment, (b) costs of other responsibility 
segments that are assigned to the segment, and (c) inter-entity costs 
recognized by the receiving entity and assigned to the segment.
    Following the relevant guidance, three general ``pools'' of costs 
were identified that should be considered for inclusion in the Exchange 
Visitor Program fee model: Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs/
Office of Exchange Coordination and Designation (ECA/EC) costs (direct 
costs incurred by ECA/EC to administer the Exchange Visitor Program); 
Bureau-wide costs (indirect costs to provide joint or common services 
across ECA); and Department-wide costs (indirect costs to provide joint 
or common services across the Department).

Cost Model Structure and Historic Program Cost

    Costs within the ECA/EC ABC model were separated into three 
categories: labor, non-labor, and ECA and Department costs. Bureau 
costs were allocated from the Program Direction & Administration (PD&A) 
budget of ECA's Program Plan; Department costs were

[[Page 34421]]

allocated from the Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ).

ECA/EC Costs

    ECA/EC direct costs were easily identified through the 
transactional data of ECA's fee account and the use of general figures 
for the average grade and step for all current and planned positions. 
The costs associated with the Coordination Division and the 
administration of the ECA/EC G-1 exchange program were driven to 
different activities and outputs than those for the Exchange Visitor 
Program. As a result, these costs were included in the ECA/EC ABC model 
but were excluded from the Exchange Visitor Program cost and fee 
calculations. ECA/EC costs were identified as follows:

Labor Costs

     OPM General Schedule Salary Rates for Washington, DC 
area--We used the OPM General Schedule Salary rates tables, provided at 
http://www.opm.gov/oca to populate the labor costs. The mid-range (step 
5) for each grade was used to provide a consistent average labor cost 
across the board. This is an accepted method used as prescribed by OMB 
Circular A-76, as well as budgeting processes. In addition to salary 
costs, the OMB standard of 32.85% of total salary was applied to 
develop the cost for personnel benefits.

Non-Labor Costs

     ECA/EC Fee Account (X0113.P)--The ECA/EC model uses 
detailed transaction data pulled from CFMS for the fee account--fund 
X0113.P.

ECA Bureau-Wide Costs

    Bureau-wide labor costs were identified through specific personnel 
within the ECA Executive Office (ECA-IIP/EX) who provide service 
directly to ECA/EC. Bureau-wide non-labor costs were identified through 
ECA's PD&A. Any costs directly related to other offices within ECA were 
excluded from the analysis. Costs that were shared across ECA were 
allocated costs to ECA/EC based on the ratio of ECA/EC to ECA FTE and, 
in the instance of ECA's Management Information System project, the 
ratio of funds managed.

Department-Wide Costs

    There was much less insight into the nature of the joint or common 
services provided by other bureaus throughout the Department to ECA/EC 
and the Exchange Visitor Program. No detail related to the cost of 
centrally provided services could be extracted from either the central 
State Department financial system or ECA's corporate financial system. 
In addition, neither the Department nor individual bureaus discretely 
allocate the cost of centrally provided services to constituent bureaus 
or formally establish shared services arrangements to receive 
reimbursement for the cost of providing services to other bureaus.
    As a result, the FY2007 CBJ (please spell out the acronym) was 
identified as the best available source of Department-wide costs. Since 
the Department does not discretely allocate intra-entity across 
bureaus, a materiality was performed to determine the inclusion or 
exclusion of these costs. Accordingly, these costs were evaluated on a 
case-by-case basis for inclusion based on materiality factors presented 
by SFFAS 4:
     Significance to the entity--with limited exceptions, there 
are no significant costs of goods or services that should be factored 
into the full cost of Exchange Visitor Program outputs;
     Directness of relationship to the entity's operations--
with limited exceptions, none of the Department-wide joint or common 
costs can be considered as direct costs, an integral part of, or 
necessary to, the outputs produced by the Exchange Visitor Program; 
and,
     Identifiability--no formal process exists to match 
Department-wide joint or common costs to any other entity or 
responsibility segment. Also, with limited exceptions, there is no 
means by which to match any Department-wide costs to ECA/EC with 
reasonable precision.
    Finally, there was no economical way either to assign directly most 
of these costs to ECA/EC or to identify or establish any cause and 
effect relationships between most Department-wide costs and ECA/EC. As 
a result, most Department-wide costs were excluded from the full cost 
analysis and costs were only included from this pool when a distinct 
relationship exists between ECA/EC and other bureaus, whereby ECA/EC 
directly consumes services from the other bureau and these costs can be 
reasonably estimated.
    The following direct intra-entity support was identified:
     Office of the Legal Adviser--provides legal opinions to 
the Exchange Visitor Program as required on various subjects including, 
but not limited to, regulations, policies, designations and sanctions. 
Pro-rated costs for personnel compensation were included based on the 
ratio of ECA/EC to DoS personnel.
     Bureau of Administration--provides administration and 
infrastructure management across the Department. Pro-rated costs for 
GSA rent were included based on the ratio of ECA/EC to DoS personnel.
     Office of the Inspector General--provides compliance 
assistance to the Exchange Visitor Program on a per referral basis. 
Pro-rated costs for personnel compensation were included based on the 
ratio of ECA/EC to DoS personnel.

FY08 and FY09 Budget Formulation

    The main goals of budgeting are to facilitate operational planning, 
resource allocation, performance evaluation, and strategy formulation. 
In the user fee environment, the budgeting process garners even more 
importance, as the budget becomes the cost basis for fees. 
Organizations depend on the budgeting process to establish program 
requirements and set fees with the expectation that revenues will cover 
costs during the budget execution period. Too many times, organizations 
focus on historic costs or expected revenues as the basis for fee 
setting. By doing so, agencies become fee constrained and artificially 
limit their ability to meet program requirements and performance 
standards and service levels.
    To develop the recommended fees for the Exchange Visitor Program, 
the Department developed a bottom-up, requirements-based budget 
targeting FY08 as the implementation year for the new fees. In this 
approach, the Department defined the actual resource requirement to 
perform all of the activities necessary to deliver program services 
within existing performance targets and goals. This approach focused on 
determining the budget required to meet this performance, and then 
using this budget as the basis to establish fees. In addition, the 
Department developed the budget requirement for a two-year period (FY08 
and FY09) to coincide with the lifecycle of the fee as prescribed by 
the Chief Financial Officers' Act of 1994.
    This section presents the budget requirement formulation process 
followed to formulate the FY08 and FY09 budget requirements and 
establish the recommended fees. Program requirements were also 
projected through FY12 based on current performance and growth 
projections. By looking forward to future expected output vs. future 
expected costs, the organization can set realistic fees instead of 
depending on historical costs.

Exchange Visitor Program Budget Formulation

    EVP followed a fourstep process to develop the FY08 and FY09 budget 
requirement:

[[Page 34422]]

     Step 1--Identify Strategy, Goals and Objectives.
     Step 2--Develop Workload Requirements.
     Step 3--Determine Organizational Capacity.
     Step 4--Calculate the Budget Requirement.
    The budgeting process begins by determining the organization's main 
objectives and goals and envisioning a desired end-state. After mapping 
out the strategy and goals, the next step is to develop performance 
measures to gauge how the organization is progressing to achieving the 
desired result. The next task is to develop a reliable forecast of the 
expected volume of work in the upcoming period, as well as to identify 
new requirements or initiatives that are needed to achieve the goals 
and meet performance standards. The next step is to determine the 
capacity and capability of the organization as it currently exists, 
compare expected workload to existing capacity, and determine any 
additional workload requirement. The final step is to then perform the 
calculations to translate goals/objectives into financial and human 
resource requirements.

Workload Requirements

    The most basic element needed to develop the budget requirement for 
FY08 is an accurate estimation of expected workload. To develop 
workload estimates for the Exchange Visitor Program, the activities in 
the ABC model were divided into two general categories: (1) 
Application-based; and (2) non-application based. The following 
processes were then used to develop application volume estimates, 
workload estimates and, subsequently, budget requirements.
    Total hours required to perform application-based workload:
     Estimate the expected demand (future volume) for each type 
of application, or output;
     Determine the cycle time to produce each individual 
output; and
     Multiply the expected application volumes by the cycle 
times to calculate the total work hours required to perform the 
application-based workload.
    Total hours required for non-application based workload:
     Measure the percentage of time spent across the 
organization on non-application-based workload;
     Convert this percentage into hours; and,
     Hold these hours as fixed cost (these hours can be held as 
step-fixed if application based workload is expected to increase 
materially going forward.)

Application Volume

    To develop the workload estimates, application volumes from SEVIS 
for FY03-FY06 (to date) were collected. These data and other 
information regarding expected application demand were used to project 
workload volume for FY07-FY12.

Assumptions

     FY07 expected volumes are based on the average of the 
volumes from prior years. For Amendments, a one-time spike of 80 
applications is expected due to the implementation of the Intern 
program category. For Extensions and Reinstatement-Update SEVIS Status, 
FY07 volumes were calculated by applying a 2% growth rate to FY06 
figures because of insufficient historical data.
     FY08-FY12 expected volumes were calculated by applying a 
2% annual growth rate. Permission to Issue volumes were held constant 
to reflect the estimated workload demand, since no SEVIS data exists 
for this application type.

Cycle Time

    EVP staff were surveyed to collect percentage of time estimates 
that each staff member spent to complete one application or request for 
each application type. The Department also performed a sampling 
exercise to validate the estimates collected in the survey. Over a 
five-day period, observations of the actual time spent performing the 
individual tasks for each activity were collected. A mean for each task 
was established and then summed to calculate the mean cycle time for 
each application type.

Total Workload Requirement

    With cycle time information and forecasts for application volumes, 
the total application-based workload requirement was calculated, in 
hours, for FY07-FY12.

Organizational Capacity

    To determine capacity of the current organization, the Department 
calculated the ratio of FTE hours dedicated towards application work 
and non-application work. ECA/EC staff completed activity surveys to 
provide estimates for percentage of time spent performing each 
activity, as defined in the ABC model. Survey data was summarized 
across office and position levels, and the percentage of application 
and non-application-based workload was determined. The Department used 
the OMB Circular A-76 standard of 1776 hours for the total number of 
productive hours for a Federal employee as the basis for establishing 
hours and FTE levels.
    The Department compared the total number of hours required to 
complete the application-based workload to the existing total capacity 
for application based-workload. This provided the gap between capacity 
and the true workload requirement. For forecasting purposes, non-
application-based costs were held as fixed. The total number of 
application hours in excess of capacity was divided by 1776 to quantify 
an FTE requirement in future years.

Budget Formulation

    Once the forecasted workload requirement was established, the 
future budgets for each general cost ``pools'' included in the full 
cost of the Exchange Visitor Program were developed.

ECA/EC Direct Cost Estimation

    ECA/EC Direct Costs were provided by the ECA Executive Office (ECA-
IIP/EX) budget staff. Labor costs were determined according to the 
grade level of each employee within ECA/EC. We used the following 
assumptions in estimating ECA/EC Direct Costs:
     Estimated salary and benefits based on OPM's Washington, 
DC-area GS salary table, assuming Step 5;
     Estimated salary and benefit costs based on grade levels, 
as recommended in an organizational analysis performed by ECA/EC;
     Applied the OMB Circular A-76 standard of 32.85% for 
fringe benefits for each employee;
     For FY07-FY12, applied a 3.1% COLA growth rate to salaries 
to account for inflation;
     FY07 staffing model reflects the following expected staff 
additions:
    [cir] Compliance Division: 1 GS-9, 1 GS-13;
    [cir] Private Sector Programs Division: 1 Program officer at GS-13; 
and,
    [cir] Office of the Director: 1 Deputy Director at GS-15.
     Cycle times were established assuming standard processes 
and current performance standards;
     FY08-FY12 costs were estimated factoring in the additional 
resources required as estimated in the workload analysis; and,
     Non-application workload was held as fixed and all 
additional resources were applied 100% to application workload.
    For non-labor costs, ECA-IIP/EX provided detailed transaction data 
pulled from Corporate Financial Management System (CFMS) for fund 
X0113.P (fee account) to identify ECA/EC direct costs for FY05 and 
FY06. Basic assumptions and or growth rates

[[Page 34423]]

were applied to estimate all non-labor direct costs.

ECA Bureau-Wide Cost Estimation

    ECA Bureau-wide costs represent indirect costs to provide joint or 
common services across the Bureau. No direct or cause and effect 
relationships are evident for these costs. Consequently, reasonable 
allocation methodologies were used to determine the appropriate amount 
of cost to allocate to ECA/EC for inclusion in the full cost model. ECA 
Bureau-wide costs were divided into two pools of cost: Labor and Non-
labor. Then Application Development costs were separated from the Non-
labor cost pool, as different cost allocation methodologies were used 
to perform cost allocation for this line item.

Labor Costs

     A 3.1% COLA growth rate was applied to the pro-rated 
figures.

Non-labor Costs

     The average percentage of PD&A costs to the overall 
Exchanges Support budget using FY05 and FY06 figures was calculated and 
used to derive the PD&A costs for FY07.
     Using FY05 and FY06 figures, the average percentage of the 
individual PD&A line items to the total PD&A amount was calculated. 
These average rates were applied to the FY07 PD&A summary amount to 
calculate the individual PD&A line items in order to derive an 
estimated value for the Application Development line item for FY07.
     Using FY05 and FY06 values, the Department developed the 
average percentage of ECA Application Development costs allocated to 
ECA/EC. The FY07 Application Development line item was then multiplied 
by the rate to develop pro-rated FY07 application development costs.
     To forecast the ECA Bureau-wide figures for FY08-12, a 4% 
estimated growth rate for FY08 and a 2% estimated growth rate for FY09-
FY12 was applied to the Exchanges Support line item as presented in the 
FY07 CBJ. The PD&A summary figure and individual line items were then 
calculated using the FY05-06 average percentage rates.
     The same estimated growth rates were used to forecast the 
ECA FTE figures and develop ECA/EC to ECA FTE ratios for FY08-FY12.
     Finally, the forecasted numbers were pro-rated using the 
forecasted FTE and Funds Managed ratios as previously described.

Department-Wide Cost Estimation

    Department-wide costs were collected from the FY07 CBJ. This 
document provided actual costs for FY05, estimated costs for FY06, and 
budgeted requests for FY07 for both cost and FTE. The following 
variables were used to forecast the Department-wide costs for FY08-12, 
based on the figures presented in the FY07 CBJ:
     A 3.1% COLA growth rate (applied to FY07 CBJ) for pro-
rated personnel compensation costs; and
     Average % increase from prior 2 years applied to FY07 
budget figures for GSA rent figures.

ECA/EC FY08 Budget Model

    The final step in the budgeting process was to align the budget 
requirement to its funding sources. ECA/EC has three sources of funds:
    1. Exchange Visitor Program Fees--revenue generated by the Program 
Designation and Exchange Visitor Changes Fees;
    2. DHS ICE Reimbursable Agreement--reimbursement for expenses to 
support SEVIS development, operations and maintenance; and,
    3. Direct Appropriation--funding to cover operations of the ECA/EC 
G-1 Program and Coordination Division.
    To accomplish this, the ABC model was architected to align the 
costs of program outputs to their respective funding sources. Using the 
same basic model architecture, model periods for FY07-FY12 were 
established and the output volumes, activity drivers and budgetary 
resources were adjusted according to forecasts. Finally, the Department 
entered the forecasted costs of the organization, aligned those costs 
according to the appropriate funding source, and calculated the model 
to determine the total budget requirement to be recovered in Exchange 
Visitor Program user fees.

Recommended Fees

    To set the recommended fees, the budget periods of the Exchange 
Visitor Program ABC Model were calculated to develop the cost of each 
fee category for FY07-12 based on forecasts. The units were calculated 
based on the expected periodicity of the fee defined in the fee 
structure.
    To set the recommended fee, the budget requirement and forecasted 
number of units for FY08 and FY09 were combined to reflect the two-year 
expected life cycle of the new fee. The Department divided the total 
cost by the total forecasted volume for each fee category to calculate 
the unit-based fee.
    The Chief Financial Officer Act of 1994 and OMB Circular A-25 
require that fees be reviewed every two years. ECA/EC will operate and 
maintain the ABC model in order to monitor the program against its 
financial plan as part of ongoing operations. Every two years, ECA/EC 
will revise the model as necessary and evaluate the fee structure and 
fee amounts. As the Exchange Visitor Program evolves, any program 
changes will be reflected in the costs model and the fees will change 
accordingly.
    The new fees will be flat fees, i.e., they will not vary based on 
program size and exchange visitor volume. Future fees, however, may be 
higher or lower depending on how volumes and costs vary in the future.

Regulatory Analysis

Administrative Procedure Act

    This regulation involves a foreign affairs function of the United 
States and, therefore, in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1), is not 
subject to the rule making procedures set forth at 5 U.S.C. 553.

Regulatory Flexibility Act/Executive Order 13272: Small Business

    This rule is not subject to the notice-and-comment rulemaking 
provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act or any other act and, 
accordingly it does not require analysis under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601, et seq.) and Executive Order 13272, 
section 3(b).

The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

    Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UFMA), 
Public Law 104-4, 109 Stat. 48, 2 U.S.C. 1532, generally requires 
agencies to prepare a statement before proposing any rule that may 
result in an annual expenditure of $100 million or more by State, 
local, or tribal governments, or by the private sector. This rule will 
not result in any such expenditure, nor will it significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments.

The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996

    This rule is not a major rule as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804, for 
purposes of congressional review of agency rulemaking under the Small 
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, Public Law 104-
121. This rule will not result in an annual effect on the economy of 
$100 million or more; a major increase in costs or prices; or adverse 
effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, 
innovation, or the ability of United

[[Page 34424]]

States-based companies to compete with foreign-based companies in 
domestic and import markets.

Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Review

    The Department of State has reviewed this rule to ensure its 
consistency with the regulatory philosophy and principles set forth in 
Executive Order 12866 and has determined that the benefits of the 
proposed regulation justify its costs. The Department does not consider 
the rule to be an economically significant action within the scope of 
section 3(f)(1) of the Executive Order, since it is not likely to have 
an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or to adversely 
affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy, 
competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or state, 
local, or tribal governments or communities.

Executive Orders 12372 and 13132: Federalism

    This regulation will not have substantial direct effects on the 
States, on the relationship between the national government and the 
States, or the distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government. Therefore, in accordance with section 6 
of Executive Order 13132, it is determined that this rule does not have 
sufficient federalism implications to require consultations or warrant 
the preparation of a federalism summary impact statement. The 
regulations implementing Executive Order 12372 regarding 
intergovernmental consultation on Federal programs and activities do 
not apply to this regulation.

Executive Order 12988: Civil Justice Reform

    The Department has reviewed the proposed regulations in light of 
sections 3(a) and 3(b)(2) of Executive Order No. 12988 to eliminate 
ambiguity, minimize litigation, establish clear legal standards, and 
reduce burden.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This rule does not impose information collection requirements under 
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C., Chapter 35.

List of Subjects in 22 CFR Part 62

    Cultural Exchange Programs.

    Accordingly, 22 CFR part 62 is proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 62--EXCHANGE VISITOR PROGRAM

    1. The authority citation for part 62 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(J), 1182, 1184, 1258, 1372 
(2001), 1701-1775 (2002); 22 U.S.C. 1431-1442, 2451-2460; 6501 
(1998); 5 U.S.C. app. Sec.  1-11 (1977); Reorganization Plan No. 2 
of 1977, 3 CFR, 1977 Comp. p. 200; E.O. 12048 of March 27, 1978; 3 
CFR, 1978 Comp. p. 168.

    2. Revise Sec.  62.17 to read as follows:


Sec.  62.17  Fees and charges.

    (a) Remittances. Fees prescribed within the framework of 31 U.S.C. 
9701 must be submitted as directed by the Department and must be in the 
amount prescribed by law or regulation.
    (b) Amounts of fees. The following fees are prescribed for Fiscal 
Years 2008-2009 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2009):
    (1) For filing an application for program designation and/or 
redesignation (Form DS-3036)--$1,748.
    (2) For filing an application for exchange visitor status changes 
(i.e., extension beyond the maximum duration, change of category, 
reinstatement, reinstatement-update SEVIS status, ECFMG sponsorship 
authorization, and permission to issue)--$246.

Subpart H--[Removed]


Sec.  62.90  [Removed]

    3. Remove Subpart H--Fees and Sec.  62.90.

    Dated: June 12, 2007.
Stanley S. Colvin,
Director, Office of Exchange Coordination and Designation, Bureau of 
Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State.
 [FR Doc. E7-11810 Filed 6-21-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-05-P