[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 39 (Monday, February 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10366-10367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-04275]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network


Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of 
the Requirement for Information Sharing Between Government Agencies and 
Financial Institutions

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (``FinCEN''), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, FinCEN is soliciting comments concerning the 
renewal without change of the ``Information sharing between government 
agencies and financial institutions'' under 31 CFR 1010.520, generally 
referred to as the 314(a) program.

DATES: Written comments are welcome and must be received on or before 
April 29, 2016.

ADDRESSES:  Written comments SHOULD BE SUBMITTED to: Office of 
Regulatory Policy, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Department of 
the Treasury, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, Virginia 22183. Attention: PRA 
Comments--314(a) program.
     Comments also may be submitted by electronic mail to the 
following Internet address: [email protected] with the caption in 
the body of the text, ``Attention: PRA Comments--314(a) program.''
     Please submit by one method only. All comments submitted 
by either method in response to this notice will become a matter of 
public record. Therefore, you should submit only information that you 
wish to make publicly available.
    Inspection of comments. Comments will be posted on the FinCEN 
public Web site. Persons wishing to review the comments submitted may 
access the posted comments by going to https://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/frn/https://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/frn/ and select 
the appropriate listing.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FinCEN Resource Center at 1-800-767-
2825 or 1-703-905-3591 (not a toll free number) and select option 3 for 
regulatory questions. Email inquiries can be sent to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

A. Statutory Provisions

    On October 26, 2001, the President signed into law the Uniting and 
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to 
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (``USA PATRIOT Act'' or 
``Act''), Public Law 107-56. Title III of the Act amends the anti-money 
laundering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (``BSA''), codified at 12 
U.S.C. 1829b and 1951-1959 and 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314 and 5316-5332, to 
promote the prevention, detection, and prosecution of international 
money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Regulations 
implementing the BSA appear at 31 CFR Chapter X. The authority of the 
Secretary of the Treasury to administer the BSA has been delegated to 
the Director of FinCEN.
    Of the Act's many goals, the facilitation of information sharing 
among governmental entities and financial institutions for the purpose 
of combating terrorism and money laundering, is of paramount 
importance. As with many other provisions of the Act, Congress has 
charged the U.S. Department of the Treasury with developing regulations 
to implement these information-sharing provisions.
    Subsection 314(a) of the Act states in part that:

[t]he Secretary shall . . . adopt regulations to encourage further 
cooperation among financial institutions, their regulatory 
authorities, and law enforcement authorities, with the specific 
purpose of encouraging regulatory authorities and law enforcement 
authorities to share with financial institutions information 
regarding individuals, entities, and organizations engaged in or 
reasonably suspected based on credible evidence of engaging in 
terrorist acts or money laundering activities.\1\
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    \1\ See 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314.
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B. Overview of the Current Regulatory Provisions Regarding the 314(a) 
Program

    On September 26, 2002, FinCEN published a final rule implementing 
the authority contained in section 314(a) of the Act.\2\ That rule 
(``the 314(a) rule'') required U.S. financial institutions upon 
FinCEN's request, to search their records to determine whether they 
have maintained an account or conducted a transaction with a person 
that a Federal law enforcement agency has certified is engaging in or 
suspected, based on credible evidence, of engaging in terrorist 
activity or money laundering.\3\ The rule was expanded on February 10, 
2010, to enable certain entities other than Federal law enforcement 
agencies to benefit from 314(a) requests to industry. As amended, the 
rule now also enables certain foreign law enforcement agencies, state 
and local law enforcement agencies, as well as FinCEN, on its own 
behalf and on behalf of appropriate components of the Department of the 
Treasury, to initiate 314(a) queries.\4\ Before processing a request, 
FinCEN requires the requesting agency to certify that, in the case of 
money laundering, the matter is significant, and that the requesting 
agency has been unable to locate the information sought through 
traditional methods of investigation and analysis before attempting to 
use the 314(a) program.\5\
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    \2\ Special Information Sharing Procedures to Deter Money 
Laundering and Terrorist Activity, 67 FR 60,579 (Sept. 26, 2002).
    \3\ 31 CFR 1010.520.
    \4\ Expansion of Special Information Sharing Procedures To Deter 
Money Laundering and Terrorist Activity, 75 FR 6560 (Feb. 10, 2010).
    \5\ FinCEN's 314(a) Fact Sheet (https://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/patriot/pdf/314afactsheet.pdf)
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    Since its inception, the 314(a) program has yielded significant 
investigative benefits for law enforcement in terrorist financing and 
significant money laundering cases. Feedback from the requesters and 
illustrations from sample case studies consistently demonstrate that 
the program is extremely valuable to furthering terrorist financing and 
significant money laundering investigations. In view of the proven 
success of the 314(a) program, FinCEN seeks to renew without change the 
314(a) program.

[[Page 10367]]

II. Paperwork Reduction Act (``PRA''): \6\
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    \6\ The PRA does not apply to the requirement in section 
1010.520(b)(2) concerning reports by financial institutions in 
response to a request from FinCEN on behalf of a Federal law 
enforcement agency. See 5 CFR 1320.4(a)(2). Therefore, this renewal 
applies only to the use of the 314(a) program with respect to 
queries initiated by non-federal law enforcement entities.
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    Title: Information sharing between government agencies and 
financial institutions.
    Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') Number: 1506-0049.
    Form Number: Not Applicable.
    Abstract: 31 CFR Chapter X, Information sharing between government 
agencies and financial institutions (31 CFR 1010.520) details the 
requirements of section 314(a) of the USA PATRIOT Act. Each financial 
institution (as defined in 31 U.S.C. 5312(a)(2) or (c)(1)) should refer 
to its Chapter X part for any additional special information sharing 
procedures.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profit and non-profit 
organizations, and the Federal, state, and local government.
    Frequency: As required.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 20,134.\7\
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    \7\ On an annual basis, there are approximately 20,134 covered 
financial institutions, consisting of certain commercial banks, 
savings associations, and credit unions, securities broker-dealers, 
future commission merchants, certain trust companies, life insurance 
companies, mutual funds and money services businesses.
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    Estimated Time per Respondent: 54 hours annually.\8\
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    \8\ Estimated requests per annum subject to the PRA include, 10 
from FinCEN, 50 from state and local law enforcement, and 30 from 
European Union countries approved by treaty, for a total of 90 
requests per annum, with each request containing an average of 9 
subjects (including aliases). Each subject requires 4 minutes to 
research, resulting in (90 x 9 x 4 / 60) = 54 hours per year.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,087,236.\9\
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    \9\ Burden computation is as follows: 54 hours per year per 
respondent times 20,134 respondents (54 x 20,134) = 1,087,236 hours.
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    The following paragraph applies to all of the collections of 
information covered by this notice:
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of 
information displays a valid OMB control number. In accordance with 31 
CFR 1010.330(e)(3), a person required to make a report under this 
section must keep a copy of each report filed for five years from the 
date of filing.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All 
comments will become a matter of public record. Comments are invited 
on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) 
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) 
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information.

Jamal El-Hindi,
Deputy Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2016-04275 Filed 2-26-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4810-02-P