[The Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions]
[Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Part II





Regulatory Information Service Center





-----------------------------------------------------------------------



Introduction to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and 
Deregulatory Actions

Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 236 / Monday, December 10, 2007 / The 
Regulatory Plan

Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 236 / Monday, December 10, 2007 / The 
Regulatory Plan

[[Page 69737]]





REGULATORY INFORMATION SERVICE CENTER



Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal 
Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions



AGENCY: Regulatory Information Service Center.

ACTION: Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of 
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.

_______________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY: The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies publish 
semiannual regulatory agendas describing regulatory actions they are 
developing that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Executive Order 12866 
``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 
51735), as amended, and Office of Management and Budget memoranda 
implementing section 4 of that Order establish minimum standards for 
agencies' agendas, including specific types of information for each 
entry. Section 4 of Executive Order 12866 also directs that each agency 
prepare, as part of its submission to the fall edition of the Unified 
Agenda, a regulatory plan of the most important significant regulatory 
actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or 
final form during the upcoming fiscal year. The Regulatory Plan (Plan) 
and the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions 
(Unified Agenda) help agencies fulfill these requirements.

     Prior editions of the Unified Agenda have been printed in their 
entirety in the Federal Register. Beginning with the fall 2007 edition, 
the Internet is the basic means for conveying Regulatory Agenda 
information to the maximum extent legally permissible. The complete 
Unified Agenda, including The Regulatory Plan, is available to the 
public at http://reginfo.gov.

     The fall 2007 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal 
Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory 
flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of 
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas 
contain only those Agenda entries for rules which are likely to have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section 
610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

     The complete fall 2007 Unified Agenda contains the plans of 29 
Federal agencies and the regulatory agendas for these and 29 other 
Federal agencies.

ADDRESSES: Regulatory Information Service Center (MI), General Services 
Administration, 1800 F Street NW., Suite 3039, Washington, DC 20405.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about specific 
regulatory actions, please refer to the Agency Contact listed for each 
entry.

     To provide comment on or to obtain further information about this 
publication, contact: John C. Thomas, Executive Director, Regulatory 
Information Service Center (MI), General Services Administration, 1800 
F Street NW., Suite 3039, Washington, DC 20405, (202) 482-7340. You may 
also send comments to us by e-mail at:

[email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

                            TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
                                                                   Page
 
  Introduction to The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Federal
                   Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
 
I. What Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda?.........   69738
II. Why Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda             69739
 Published?.....................................................
III. How Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda            69739
 Organized?.....................................................
IV. What Information Appears for Each Entry?....................   69740
V. Abbreviations................................................   69741
VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda?........   69742
 
Introduction to the Fall 2007 Regulatory Plan...................   69743
 
                         AGENCY REGULATORY PLANS
 
                           Cabinet Departments
 
Department of Agriculture.......................................   69755
Department of Commerce..........................................   69785
Department of Defense...........................................   69793
Department of Education.........................................   69796
Department of Energy............................................   69799
Department of Health and Human Services.........................   69802
Department of Homeland Security.................................   69819
Department of Housing and Urban Development.....................   69852
Department of the Interior......................................   69856
Department of Justice...........................................   69866
Department of Labor.............................................   69871
Department of Transportation....................................   69888
Department of the Treasury......................................   69910
Department of Veterans Affairs..................................   69921
 
                        Other Executive Agencies
 
Environmental Protection Agency.................................   69922
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.........................   69957
General Services Administration.................................   69959
National Aeronautics and Space Administration...................   69960
National Archives and Records Administration....................   69961
Office of Personnel Management..................................   69962
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation............................   69964
Small Business Administration...................................   69965
Social Security Administration..................................   69966
 
                     Independent Regulatory Agencies
 
Consumer Product Safety Commission..............................   69979
Federal Housing Finance Board...................................   69981
Federal Maritime Commission.....................................   69982
Federal Trade Commission........................................   69983
National Indian Gaming Commission...............................   69994
Postal Regulatory Commission....................................   69996
 
                             AGENCY AGENDAS
 
                           Cabinet Departments
 
Department of Agriculture.......................................   69999
Department of Commerce..........................................   70013
Department of Defense...........................................   70037
Department of Energy............................................   70041
Department of Health and Human Services.........................   70043
Department of Homeland Security.................................   70065
Department of Housing and Urban Development.....................   70075
Department of the Interior......................................   70079
Department of Justice...........................................   70081
Department of Labor.............................................   70087
Department of Transportation....................................   70095
 
                        Other Executive Agencies
 
Environmental Protection Agency.................................   70117

[[Page 69738]]

 
General Services Administration.................................   70125
National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities
  Institute of Museum and Library Services......................   70129
  National Endowment for the Arts...............................   70131
Office of Personnel Management..................................   70133
Small Business Administration...................................   70135
Social Security Administration..................................   70141
 
                             Joint Authority
 
Department of Defense/General Services Administration/National     70143
 Aeronautics and Space Administration (Federal Acquisition
 Regulation)....................................................
 
                     Independent Regulatory Agencies
 
Federal Communications Commission...............................   70147
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission............................   70193
Federal Reserve System..........................................   70195
Federal Trade Commission........................................   70199
Nuclear Regulatory Commission...................................   70203
Securities and Exchange Commission..............................   70207
 



INTRODUCTION TO THE REGULATORY PLAN AND THE UNIFIED AGENDA OF 
FEDERAL REGULATORY AND DEREGULATORY ACTIONS



I. What Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda?

     The Regulatory Plan serves as a defining statement of the 
Administration's regulatory and deregulatory policies and priorities. 
The Plan is part of the fall edition of the Unified Agenda. Each 
participating agency's regulatory plan contains: (1) A narrative 
statement of the agency's regulatory priorities and, for most agencies, 
(2) a description of the most important significant regulatory and 
deregulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in 
proposed or final form during the upcoming fiscal year. This edition 
includes the regulatory plans of 29 agencies.

     The Unified Agenda provides information about regulations that the 
Government is considering or reviewing. The Unified Agenda has appeared 
in the Federal Register twice each year since 1983 and has been 
available online since 1995. In order to further the Administration's 
commitment to use modern technology to deliver better service to the 
American people for lower cost, beginning with the fall 2007 edition, 
the Internet is the basic means for conveying Regulatory Agenda 
information to the maximum extent legally permissible. The complete 
Unified Agenda, including The Regulatory Plan, is available to the 
public at http://reginfo.gov. The online Unified Agenda offers flexible 
search tools and, by early 2008, access to the entire historic Unified 
Agenda database.

     The fall 2007 Unified Agenda publication appearing in the Federal 
Register consists of The Regulatory Plan and agency regulatory 
flexibility agendas, in accordance with the publication requirements of 
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Agency regulatory flexibility agendas 
contain only those Agenda entries for rules which are likely to have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
and entries that have been selected for periodic review under section 
610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Printed entries display only the 
fields required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Complete agenda 
information for those entries appears, in a uniform format, in the 
online Unified Agenda at http://reginfo.gov.

     These changes meet the publication mandates of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866, as amended, as well as move 
the Agenda process toward the Administration's goal of e-Government, 
while providing a substantial reduction in printing costs. The changes 
do not reduce the amount of information available to the public, but 
they do limit most of the content of the Agenda to online access. The 
complete online edition of the Unified Agenda includes regulatory 
agendas from 58 Federal agencies. Agencies of the United States 
Congress are not included.

     The following agencies have no entries identified for inclusion in 
the printed regulatory flexibility agenda. An asterisk (*) indicates 
agencies that appear in the Regulatory Plan. The regulatory agendas of 
these agencies are available to the public at http://reginfo.gov.

Department of Education *

Department of State

Department of the Treasury *

Department of Veterans Affairs *

Agency for International Development

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board

Commission on Civil Rights

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled

Consumer Product Safety Commission *

Corporation for National and Community Service

Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of 
Columbia

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission *

Farm Credit Administration

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Federal Housing Finance Board *

Federal Maritime Commission *

Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

National Aeronautics and Space Administration *

National Archives and Records Administration *

National Credit Union Administration

National Endowment for the Humanities

National Indian Gaming Commission *

Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight

Office of Government Ethics

Office of Management and Budget

Peace Corps

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation *

Postal Regulatory Commission *

Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board

Railroad Retirement Board

Selective Service System

Surface Transportation Board

     The Regulatory Information Service Center (the Center) compiles 
the Plan and the Unified Agenda for the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office of Management and Budget. 
OIRA is responsible for overseeing the Federal Government's regulatory, 
paperwork, and information resource management activities, including 
implementation of Executive Order 12866. The Center also provides 
information about Federal regulatory activity to the President and his 
Executive Office, the Congress, agency managers, and the public.

[[Page 69739]]

     The activities included in the Agenda are, in general, those that 
will have a regulatory action within the next 12 months. Agencies may 
choose to include activities that will have a longer timeframe than 12 
months. Agency agendas also show actions or reviews completed or 
withdrawn since the last Unified Agenda. Executive Order 12866 does not 
require agencies to include regulations concerning military or foreign 
affairs functions or regulations related to agency organization, 
management, or personnel matters.

     Agencies prepared entries for this publication to give the public 
notice of their plans to review, propose, and issue regulations. They 
have tried to predict their activities over the next 12 months as 
accurately as possible, but dates and schedules are subject to change. 
Agencies may withdraw some of the regulations now under development, 
and they may issue or propose other regulations not included in their 
agendas. Agency actions in the rulemaking process may occur before or 
after the dates they have listed. The Regulatory Plan and the Unified 
Agenda do not create a legal obligation on agencies to adhere to 
schedules in this publication or to confine their regulatory activities 
to those regulations that appear within it.



II. Why Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda Published?

     The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda help agencies comply 
with their obligations under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and various 
Executive orders and other statutes.



Regulatory Flexibility Act

     The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to identify those 
rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities (5 U.S.C. 602). Agencies meet that requirement 
by including the information in their submissions for the Unified 
Agenda. Agencies may also indicate those regulations that they are 
reviewing as part of their periodic review of existing rules under the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 610). Executive Order 13272 
entitled ``Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Agency 
Rulemaking,'' signed August 13, 2002 (67 FR 53461) provides additional 
guidance on compliance with the Act.



Executive Order 12866

     Executive Order 12866 entitled ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' 
signed September 30, 1993 (58 FR 51735) requires covered agencies to 
prepare an agenda of all regulations under development or review. The 
Order also requires that certain agencies prepare annually a regulatory 
plan of their ``most important significant regulatory actions,'' which 
appears as part of the fall Unified Agenda. The requirements for 
regulatory plans were amended by Executive Order 13422 entitled 
``Further Amendment to Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and 
Review,'' signed January 18, 2007 (72 FR 2763).



Executive Order 13132

     Executive Order 13132 entitled ``Federalism,'' signed August 4, 
1999 (64 FR 43255) directs agencies to have an accountable process to 
ensure meaningful and timely input by State and local officials in the 
development of regulatory policies that have ``federalism 
implications'' as defined in the Order. Under the Order, an agency that 
is proposing regulations with federalism implications, which either 
preempt State law or impose nonstatutory unfunded substantial direct 
compliance costs on State and local governments, must consult with 
State and local officials early in the process of developing the 
regulation. In addition, the agency must provide to the Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget a federalism summary impact statement 
for such regulations, which consists of a description of the extent of 
the agency's prior consultation with State and local officials, a 
summary of their concerns and the agency's position supporting the need 
to issue the regulation, and a statement of the extent to which those 
concerns have been met. As part of this effort, agencies include in 
their submissions for the Unified Agenda information on whether their 
regulatory actions may have an effect on the various levels of 
government and whether those actions have federalism implications.



Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

     The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4, title II) 
requires agencies to prepare written assessments of the costs and 
benefits of significant regulatory actions ``that may result in the 
expenditure by State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, 
or by the private sector, of $100,000,000 or more . . . in any 1 year . 
. . .'' The requirement does not apply to independent regulatory 
agencies, nor does it apply to certain subject areas excluded by 
section 4 of the Act. Affected agencies identify in the Unified Agenda 
those regulatory actions they believe are subject to title II of the 
Act.



Executive Order 13211

     Executive Order 13211 entitled ``Actions Concerning Regulations 
That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,'' signed 
May 18, 2001 (66 FR 28355) directs agencies to provide, to the extent 
possible, information regarding the adverse effects that agency actions 
may have on the supply, distribution, and use of energy. Under the 
Order, the agency must prepare and submit a Statement of Energy Effects 
to the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, for ``those matters 
identified as significant energy actions.'' As part of this effort, 
agencies may optionally include in their submissions for the Unified 
Agenda information on whether they have prepared or plan to prepare a 
Statement of Energy Effects for their regulatory actions.



Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act

     The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (Pub. L. 
104-121, title II) established a procedure for congressional review of 
rules (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), which defers, unless exempted, the 
effective date of a ``major'' rule for at least 60 days from the 
publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The Act 
specifies that a rule is ``major'' if it has resulted or is likely to 
result in an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or 
meets other criteria specified in that Act. The Act provides that the 
Administrator of OIRA will make the final determination as to whether a 
rule is major.



III. How Are The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda 
Organized?

     The Regulatory Plan appears in part II of a daily edition of the 
Federal Register. The Plan is a single document beginning with an 
introduction, followed by a table of contents, followed by each 
agency's section of the Plan. Following the Plan in the Federal 
Register, as separate parts, are the regulatory flexibility agendas for 
each agency whose agenda includes entries for rules which are likely to 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities or rules that have been selected for periodic review under 
section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Each printed agenda 
appears as a separate part. The sections

[[Page 69740]]

of the Plan and the parts of the Unified Agenda are organized 
alphabetically in four groups: Cabinet departments; other executive 
agencies; the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a joint authority (Agenda 
only); and independent regulatory agencies. Agencies may in turn be 
divided into subagencies.

     Unlike the printed edition, the online, complete Unified Agenda 
has no fixed ordering. In the online Agenda, users can select the 
particular agencies whose agendas or plans they want to see. Users also 
have broad flexibility to specify the characteristics of the entries of 
interest to them.

     Each agency's section of the Plan contains a narrative statement 
of regulatory priorities and, for most agencies, a description of the 
agency's most important significant regulatory and deregulatory 
actions. Each agency's part of the Agenda contains a preamble providing 
information specific to that part. The printed agency agendas have a 
table of contents that lists their printed entries. Following the table 
of contents is a description of the agency's regulatory and 
deregulatory actions. In the online Agenda, users can see a listing of 
an agency's entries by selecting the agency.

     In the Agenda, each agency presents its entries under one of five 
rulemaking stages. In the Plan, only the first three stages are 
applicable. Some agencies use subheadings to identify regulations that 
are grouped according to particular topics. The rulemaking stages are:

1. Prerule Stage -- actions agencies will undertake to determine 
    whether or how to initiate rulemaking. Such actions occur prior to 
    a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and may include Advance 
    Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of existing 
    regulations.
2. Proposed Rule Stage -- actions for which agencies plan to publish a 
    Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as the next step in their rulemaking 
    process or for which the closing date of the NPRM Comment Period is 
    the next step.
3. Final Rule Stage -- actions for which agencies plan to publish a 
    final rule or an interim final rule or to take other final action 
    as the next step.
4. Long-Term Actions -- items under development but for which the 
    agency does not expect to have a regulatory action within the 12 
    months after publication of this edition of the Unified Agenda. 
    Some of the entries in this section may contain abbreviated 
    information.
5. Completed Actions -- actions or reviews the agency has completed or 
    withdrawn since publishing its last agenda. This section also 
    includes items the agency began and completed between issues of the 
    Agenda.

     A bullet () preceding the title of an entry indicates that 
the entry is appearing in the Unified Agenda for the first time.

     In the printed edition, all entries are numbered sequentially from 
the beginning to the end of the publication. The sequence number 
preceding the title of each entry identifies the location of the entry 
in this edition. This sequence number is used as the reference in the 
printed table of contents. Sequence numbers are not used in the online 
Unified Agenda because the unique Regulation Identifier Number (RIN) is 
able to provide this cross-reference capability.

     Previous editions of the Unified Agenda contained several indexes, 
which identified entries with various characteristics. These included 
regulatory actions for which agencies believe that the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act may require a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, actions 
selected for periodic review under section 610(c) of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, and actions that may have federalism implications as 
defined in Executive Order 13132 or other effects on levels of 
government. These indexes are no longer compiled, because users of the 
online Unified Agenda have the flexibility to search for entries with 
any combination of desired characteristics. The online edition retains 
the Unified Agenda's subject index based on the Federal Register 
Thesaurus of Indexing Terms. In addition, online users have the option 
of searching Agenda text fields for words or phrases.



IV. What Information Appears for Each Entry?

     All entries in the Unified Agenda contain uniform data elements 
including, at a minimum, the following information:

     Title of the Regulation -- a brief description of the subject of 
the regulation. In the printed edition, the notation ``Section 610 
Review'' following the title indicates that the agency has selected the 
rule for its periodic review of existing rules under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 610(c)). Some agencies have indicated 
completions of section 610 reviews or rulemaking actions resulting from 
completed section 610 reviews. In the online edition, these notations 
appear as separate fields.

     Priority -- an indication of the significance of the regulation. 
Agencies assign each entry to one of the following five categories of 
significance.

(1) Economically Significant

 As defined in Executive Order 12866, a rulemaking action that will 
    have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or 
    will adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of 
    the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, 
    public health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or 
    communities. The definition of an ``economically significant'' rule 
    is similar but not identical to the definition of a ``major'' rule 
    under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 104-121). (See below.)

(2) Other Significant

 A rulemaking that is not Economically Significant but is considered 
    Significant by the agency. This category includes rules that the 
    agency anticipates will be reviewed under Executive Order 12866 or 
    rules that are a priority of the agency head. These rules may or 
    may not be included in the agency's regulatory plan.

(3) Substantive, Nonsignificant

 A rulemaking that has substantive impacts but is neither Significant, 
    nor Routine and Frequent, nor Informational/Administrative/Other.

(4) Routine and Frequent

 A rulemaking that is a specific case of a multiple recurring 
    application of a regulatory program in the Code of Federal 
    Regulations and that does not alter the body of the regulation.

(5) Informational/Administrative/Other

 A rulemaking that is primarily informational or pertains to agency 
    matters not central to accomplishing the agency's regulatory 
    mandate but that the agency places in the Unified Agenda to inform 
    the public of the activity.

     In addition, if a rule is ``major'' under 5 U.S.C. 801 (Pub. L. 
104-121) because it has resulted or is likely to result in

[[Page 69741]]

an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or meets other 
criteria specified in that Act, this is indicated under the 
``Priority'' heading. The Act provides that the Administrator of the 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs will make the final 
determination as to whether a rule is major.

     Unfunded Mandates -- whether the rule is covered by section 202 of 
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). The Act 
requires that, before issuing an NPRM likely to result in a mandate 
that may result in expenditures by State, local, and tribal 
governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector of more than 
$100 million in 1 year, agencies, other than independent regulatory 
agencies, shall prepare a written statement containing an assessment of 
the anticipated costs and benefits of the Federal mandate. If the 
agency believes the entry is not subject to the Act, this data element 
will not be printed.

     Legal Authority -- the section(s) of the United States Code 
(U.S.C.) or Public Law (Pub. L.) or the Executive order (E.O.) that 
authorize(s) the regulatory action. Agencies may provide popular name 
references to laws in addition to these citations.

     CFR Citation -- the section(s) of the Code of Federal Regulations 
that will be affected by the action.

     Legal Deadline -- whether the action is subject to a statutory or 
judicial deadline, the date of that deadline, and whether the deadline 
pertains to an NPRM, a Final Action, or some other action.

     Abstract -- a brief description of the problem the regulation will 
address; the need for a Federal solution; to the extent available, 
alternatives that the agency is considering to address the problem; and 
potential costs and benefits of the action.

     Timetable -- the dates and citations (if available) for all past 
steps and a projected date for at least the next step for the 
regulatory action. A date printed in the form 02/00/08 means the agency 
is predicting the month and year the action will take place but not the 
day it will occur. In some instances, agencies may indicate what the 
next action will be, but the date of that action is ``To Be 
Determined.'' ``Next Action Undetermined'' indicates the agency does 
not know what action it will take next.

     Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required -- whether an analysis is 
required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
because the rulemaking action is likely to have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities as defined by the Act.

     Small Entities Affected -- the types of small entities 
(businesses, governmental jurisdictions, or organizations) on which the 
rulemaking action is likely to have an impact as defined by the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act. Some agencies have chosen to indicate 
likely effects on small entities even though they believe that a 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis will not be required.

     Government Levels Affected -- whether the action is expected to 
affect levels of government and, if so, whether the governments are 
State, local, tribal, or Federal.

     Federalism -- whether the action has ``federalism implications'' 
as defined in Executive Order 13132. This term refers to actions ``that 
have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship 
between the national government and the States, or on the distribution 
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.'' 
If the action does not have federalism implications, this data element 
will not be printed. Independent regulatory agencies are not required 
to supply this information.

     Agency Contact -- the name and phone number of at least one person 
in the agency who is knowledgeable about the rulemaking action. The 
agency may also provide the title, address, fax number, e-mail address, 
and TDD for each agency contact.

     Some agencies have provided the following optional information:

     URL for More Information -- the Internet address of a site that 
provides more information about the entry.

     URL for Public Comments -- the Internet address of a site that 
will accept public comments on the entry. Alternatively, timely public 
comments may be submitted at the governmentwide e-rulemaking site, 
http://www.regulations.gov.

     Additional Information -- any information an agency wishes to 
include that does not have a specific data element.

     Compliance Cost to the Public -- the estimated gross compliance 
cost of the action.

     Affected Sectors -- the industrial sectors that the action may 
most affect, either directly or indirectly. Affected Sectors are 
identified by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 
codes.

     Energy Effects -- an indication of whether the agency has prepared 
or plans to prepare a Statement of Energy Effects for the action, as 
required by Executive Order 13211 ``Actions Concerning Regulations That 
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use,'' signed May 
18, 2001 (66 FR 28355).

     Related RINs -- one or more past or current RINs associated with 
activity related to this action, such as merged RINs, split RINs, new 
activity for previously completed RINs, or duplicate RINs.

     Entries appearing in The Regulatory Plan include one or more of 
the following additional data elements, but will, at a minimum, include 
information in Statement of Need and in Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

     Statement of Need -- a description of the need for the regulatory 
action.

     Summary of the Legal Basis -- a description of the legal basis for 
the action, including whether any aspect of the action is required by 
statute or court order.

     Alternatives -- a description of the alternatives the agency has 
considered or will consider as required by section 4(c)(1)(B) of 
Executive Order 12866.

     Anticipated Costs and Benefits -- a description of preliminary 
estimates of the anticipated costs and benefits of the action.

     Risks -- a description of the magnitude of the risk the action 
addresses, the amount by which the agency expects the action to reduce 
this risk, and the relation of the risk and this risk reduction effort 
to other risks and risk reduction efforts within the agency's 
jurisdiction.



V. Abbreviations

     The following abbreviations appear throughout this publication:

     ANPRM -- An Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is a preliminary 
notice, published in the Federal Register, announcing that an agency is 
considering a regulatory action. An agency may issue an ANPRM before it 
develops

[[Page 69742]]

a detailed proposed rule. An ANPRM describes the general area that may 
be subject to regulation and usually asks for public comment on the 
issues and options being discussed. An ANPRM is issued only when an 
agency believes it needs to gather more information before proceeding 
to a notice of proposed rulemaking.

     CFR -- The Code of Federal Regulations is an annual codification 
of the general and permanent regulations published in the Federal 
Register by the agencies of the Federal Government. The Code is divided 
into 50 titles, each title covering a broad area subject to Federal 
regulation. The CFR is keyed to and kept up to date by the daily issues 
of the Federal Register.

     EO -- An Executive order is a directive from the President to 
Executive agencies, issued under constitutional or statutory authority. 
Executive orders are published in the Federal Register and in title 3 
of the Code of Federal Regulations.

     FR -- The Federal Register is a daily Federal Government 
publication that provides a uniform system for publishing Presidential 
documents, all proposed and final regulations, notices of meetings, and 
other official documents issued by Federal agencies.

     FY -- The Federal fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.

     NPRM -- A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is the document an agency 
issues and publishes in the Federal Register that describes and 
solicits public comments on a proposed regulatory action. Under the 
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553), an NPRM must include, at a 
minimum:

 a statement of the time, place, and nature of the public 
    rulemaking proceeding;
 a reference to the legal authority under which the rule is 
    proposed; and
 either the terms or substance of the proposed rule or a 
    description of the subjects and issues involved.

     PL (or Pub. L.) -- A Public Law is a law passed by Congress and 
signed by the President or enacted over his veto. It has general 
applicability, unlike a private law that applies only to those persons 
or entities specifically designated. Public laws are numbered in 
sequence throughout the 2-year life of each Congress; for example, PL 
110-4 is the fourth public law of the 110th Congress.

     RFA -- A Regulatory Flexibility Analysis is a description and 
analysis of the impact of a rule on small entities, including small 
businesses, small governmental jurisdictions, and certain small not-
for-profit organizations. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 
et seq.) requires each agency to prepare an initial RFA for public 
comment when it is required to publish an NPRM and to make available a 
final RFA when the final rule is published, unless the agency head 
certifies that the rule would not have a significant economic impact on 
a substantial number of small entities.

     RIN -- The Regulation Identifier Number is assigned by the 
Regulatory Information Service Center to identify each regulatory 
action listed in The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda, as 
directed by Executive Order 12866 (section 4(b)). Additionally, OMB has 
asked agencies to include RINs in the headings of their Rule and 
Proposed Rule documents when publishing them in the Federal Register, 
to make it easier for the public and agency officials to track the 
publication history of regulatory actions throughout their development.

     Seq. No. -- The Sequence Number identifies the location of an 
entry in the printed edition of the Agenda. Note that a specific 
regulatory action will have the same RIN throughout its development but 
will generally have different sequence numbers in different editions of 
The Regulatory Plan and the Agenda.

     USC -- The United States Code is a consolidation and codification 
of all general and permanent laws of the United States. The USC is 
divided into 50 titles, each title covering a broad area of Federal 
law.



VI. How Can Users Get Copies of the Plan and the Agenda?

     Printed copies of this edition of the Federal Register are 
available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government 
Printing Office, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. Telephone: 
(202) 512-1800 or 1-866-512-1800 (toll-free).

     Copies of individual agency materials may be available directly 
from the agency or may be found on the agency's website. Please contact 
the particular agency for further information.

     All editions of The Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of 
Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, since fall 1995, are 
currently available in electronic form in the format used previously. 
By early 2008, users of the online edition will have access to the 
entire historic Unified Agenda database. You can search the Agenda and 
the Plan at:

http://reginfo.gov

     In accordance with regulations for the Federal Register, the 
Government Printing Office's GPO Access website contains copies of the 
Agendas and Regulatory Plans that have been printed in the Federal 
Register. These documents are available at:

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/index.html

Dated: November 21, 2007.

John C. Thomas,
Executive Director.
