[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 66 (Thursday, April 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18372-18373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-07260]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Office of Foreign Assets Control

[Docket No.: OFAC-2021-0001]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request for Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations

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 
information collection requirements contained within OFAC's Reporting, 
Procedures and Penalties Regulations.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 7, 2021 to 
be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions on the website for submitting comments.
    Email: [email protected] with Attn: Request for Comments 
(Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations).
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and refer to Docket Number OFAC-2021-0001 and the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) control number 1505-0164. Comments received will be 
made available to the public via https://www.regulations.gov or upon 
request, without change and including any personal information 
provided.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: OFAC: Assistant Director for 
Licensing, 202-622-2480; Assistant Director for Regulatory Affairs, 
202-622-4855; or Assistant Director for Sanctions Compliance & 
Evaluation, 202-622-2490.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations.
    OMB Number: 1505-0164.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Description: The collections of information are contained in 
sections 501.601 through 501.605, 501.801, and 501.805 through 501.807 
of OFAC's Reporting, Procedures and Penalties Regulations (the 
``Regulations''), and certain other parts, and pertain to the operation 
of various economic sanctions programs administered by OFAC under 31 
CFR chapter V. Section 501.601 addresses the maintenance of records and 
Sec.  501.602 relates to OFAC demands for information relative to any 
transaction or property subject to the provisions of 31 CFR chapter V. 
Section 501.603 imposes reporting requirements pertaining to blocked 
property and retained funds, as well as property that is released from 
blocked status (unblocked property). This information is required by 
OFAC to monitor compliance with regulatory requirements, to support 
diplomatic negotiations concerning the targets of sanctions, and to 
support settlement negotiations addressing U.S. claims. Section 501.604 
requires the filing of reports for compliance purposes by U.S. persons 
where a transaction is not required to be blocked but where processing 
or otherwise engaging in the transaction would nonetheless violate, or 
facilitate a transaction that is prohibited under, other provisions in 
31 CFR chapter V. Section 501.605 requires reporting of information 
pertaining to litigation, arbitration, and other binding alternative 
dispute resolution proceedings in the United States to prevent the 
intentional or inadvertent transfer through such proceedings of

[[Page 18373]]

blocked property or retained funds. Sections 501.801 and 501.805 
relate, respectively, to license requests and records requests. Section 
501.806 sets forth the procedures to be followed by a person seeking to 
have funds unblocked at a financial institution if the person believes 
that the funds were blocked due to mistaken identity. Section 501.807 
sets forth the procedures to be followed by a person seeking 
administrative reconsideration of a designation or of a vessel as 
blocked, or who wishes to assert that the circumstances resulting in 
the designation or blocking no longer apply.
    The reports covered by this information collection 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.
    Forms: OFAC requires the submission of the Annual Report of Blocked 
Property (ARBP) through approved form: TD-F 90-22.50. OFAC also 
maintains voluntary forms for submission of certain other information 
required as a part of the information collections covered by this 
notice including the following approved forms: Report on Blocked 
Property--Financial, TD-F 93.02; Report on Blocked Property--Tangible/
Real/Other Non-Financial Property, TD-F 93.08; Report on Rejected 
Transaction, TD-F 93.07; TSRA License Application, TD-F 93.04; and 
Licensing Cover Sheet, TD-F 98-22.61. Any other information collections 
covered by this notice do not have mandatory or voluntary forms.
    Affected Public: Financial institutions, business organizations, 
individuals, and legal representatives.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: OFAC's estimate for the number of 
unique reporting respondents is approximately 5,600. The significant 
decrease in the number of unique respondents since OFAC's last 
information collection submission regarding the Regulations in 2019 is 
due to OFAC's increased use of technology, which has enabled it to 
consolidate multiple filers within a single institution under one 
unique identification number assigned to the institution for all 
reports submitted to OFAC. Previously, OFAC did not have the ability to 
easily ascertain the number of unique respondents due to different 
identification numbers being selected for reports filed by different 
individuals within the same institution, or different branches or 
offices of the same institution. This inability to uniquely identify 
all reports associated with one institution led to counting numerous 
filers that were all associated with the same institution instead of 
counting the institutions themselves as unique respondents, resulting 
in an inflated number of respondents in past information collection 
submissions. OFAC is now adjusting its number of unique reporting 
respondents based on its more accurate data set.
    Frequency of Response: The estimated annual frequency of responses 
is between 1 and 4,641, varying greatly by entity depending on the 
size, nature, and scope of business activities of each respondent, with 
the majority of filers providing a small number of responses and a 
small number of filers submitting a higher number of responses.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: The estimated total 
number of responses per year is approximately 30,051.
    Estimated Time per Response: OFAC assesses that there is an average 
time estimate for reports associated with forms ranging from 15 minutes 
to 2 hours and for reports associated with general licenses and other 
miscellaneous reports ranging from 15 minutes to 5 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: The estimated total annual 
reporting burden is approximately 14,752 hours.

Request for Comments

    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and 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 has 
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 required to provide information.

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

    Dated: April 5, 2021.
Andrea Gacki,
Director, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[FR Doc. 2021-07260 Filed 4-7-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-AL-P