[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 173 (Friday, September 6, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47070-47071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19268]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Office of Foreign Assets Control
Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Hizballah Financial
Sanctions Regulations Report on Closure by U.S. Financial Institutions
of Correspondent Accounts and Payable-Through Accounts
AGENCY: Office of Foreign Assets Control, 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 comment on proposed or continuing
information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995. Currently, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the
Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning OFAC's
Hizballah Financial Sanctions Regulations Report on Closure by U.S.
Financial Institutions of Correspondent Accounts and Payable-Through
Accounts.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before November 5, 2019
to be assured of consideration.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions on the website for submitting comments. Refer to Docket
Number OFAC-2019-0004 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
control number 1505-0255.
Fax: Attn: Request for Comments (Hizballah Financial Sanctions
Regulations Report on Closure by U.S. Financial Institutions of
Correspondent Accounts and Payable-Through Accounts) 202-622-1759.
Mail: Attn: Request for Comments (Hizballah Financial Sanctions
Regulations Report on Closure by U.S. Financial Institutions of
Correspondent Accounts and Payable-Through Accounts), Office of Foreign
Assets Control, Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20220. Refer to Docket Number OFAC-2019-0004 and the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number 1505-0255.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and the Federal Register Doc. number that appears at the end of this
document. Comments received will be made available to the public via
www.regulations.gov or upon request, without change and including any
personal information provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: OFAC: Assistant Director for
Licensing, tel.: 202-622-2480; Assistant Director for Regulatory
Affairs, tel.: 202-622-4855; or the Assistant Director for Sanctions
Compliance & Evaluation, tel.: 202-622-2490.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Hizballah Financial Sanctions Regulations Report on Closure
by U.S. Financial Institutions of Correspondent Accounts and Payable-
Through Accounts.
OMB Number: 1505-0255.
Abstract: Section 566.504(b) of the Hizballah Financial Sanctions
Regulations, 31 CFR part 566 (the HFSR) provides that a U.S. financial
institution that maintained a correspondent account or payable-through
account for a foreign financial institution (FFI), whose name is added
to the List of Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Correspondent
Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions (CAPTA) List \1\
(previously the HFSR List) on OFAC's website (www.treasury.gov/ofac) as
subject to a prohibition on the maintaining of such accounts, must file
a report with OFAC that provides full details on the closing of each
such account within 30 days of the closure of the account. The report
must include complete information on all transactions processed or
executed through the account, including the account outside the United
States to which funds remaining in the account were transferred. This
collection of information assists in verifying that U.S. financial
institutions are complying with prohibitions on maintaining
correspondent accounts or payable-through accounts for FFIs subject to
such prohibitions pursuant to 31 CFR part 566. The reports will be
reviewed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and may be used for
compliance, civil penalty, and enforcement purposes by the agency.
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\1\ The CAPTA List, published on March 14, 2019, is designed to
include FFIs subject to correspondent or payable-through account
sanctions pursuant to sanctions authorities including the Ukraine
Freedom Support Act of 2014, as amended by the Countering America's
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act; the North Korea Sanctions
Regulations, 31 CFR part 510; the Iran Freedom and Counter-
Proliferation Act of 2012; the Iranian Financial Sanctions
Regulations, 31 CFR part 561; the Hizballah Financial Sanctions
Regulations, 31 CFR part 566; Executive Order 13846; and Executive
Order 13871.
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Current Actions: There are no changes being made to the information
collection at this time.
Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved
collection.
Affected Public: U.S. financial institutions operating
correspondent accounts or payable-through accounts for FFIs.
Estimated Number of Respondents: The likely respondents and record-
keepers affected by this collection of information in section
566.504(b) are U.S. financial institutions operating correspondent
accounts or payable through accounts for FFIs. Since the date this
reporting requirement was added to the HFSR (April 15, 2016) through
the current reporting period, OFAC has added no names related to the
HFSR to the CAPTA List; therefore, the number of respondents to this
collection remains zero. For future notices, OFAC will continue to
report retrospectively on the number of respondents during the
reporting period.
Estimated Time per Respondent: 2 hours per response.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: While no responses are
expected, an estimate of 1 response (2 hours) is being included to
account for the possibility that someone could have to provide a
notification in the future.
Request for Comments
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 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
[[Page 47071]]
agency, including whether the information has practical utility; (b)
the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection
of information, including the validity of the methodology and
assumptions used; (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.
Approved: September 3, 2019.
Andrea Gacki,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[FR Doc. 2019-19268 Filed 9-5-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AL-P