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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 188 / Friday, October 1, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Clarifying, updating, and aligning the provisions in subparts D and G for requesting, quashing, modifying, and enforcing subpoenas;
Adding ADR as an option for parties who have requested a subpart D
or subpart G hearing which may help lower the number of subpart D and subpart G hearings;
Adding a request for an informal conference as an option for replying to a hazardous materials notice of proposed order of compliance issued under subpart E to reflect current practice and harmonize the options for responding to a notice throughout part 13;
Adding an expedited administrative appeal process for emergency orders issued under 14 CFR 13.20, including orders of compliance and cease and desist orders, but not including hazardous materials orders that are separately addressed in subpart E; and Removing the mailing rule, in subpart G, that automatically extends parties deadlines by five days when served by mail. Instead, a party requiring additional time would need to seek an extension of time.

Time for Responding after Service by Mail;
Valid Service of Documents;
Disqualification/Recusal;
Motion for a More Definite Statement; and Technological Advances in all Adjudications and Proceedings.
III. Discussion of Public Comments and Final Rule A. FAAs Authority
Current 13.3a notes the Administrators statutory authority to conduct investigations and perform related functions, including the issuance of investigative subpoenas.
Current 13.3b contains the delegation of the Administrators investigative powers for routine investigations to FAAs various services and offices for matters within their respective areas of oversight responsibility. It also delegates the Administrators powers for compulsory processes to certain officials in the Office of the Chief Counsel.
Current 13.3c provides that those delegated officials in the Office of the Chief Counsel may issue orders of investigation per the formal investigation process in subpart F.
C. General Overview of Comments Current 13.3d addresses complaints FAA received comments from nine about violations of certain airportcommenters. Commenters included the related laws.
Administrative Conference of the In the NPRM, FAA proposed to revise United States ACUS, the Air Line 13.3 to update and simplify the Pilots Association ALPA, the Aircraft language by removing the statutory Owners and Pilots Association AOPA, citations. FAA also proposed the Experimental Aircraft Association reorganizing 13.3b and c so that EAA, and the National Business 13.3b would solely address the Aviation Association NBAA. These Administrators delegation of commenters generally supported the investigative powers for routine proposed changes. Some of these investigations, and 13.3c would commenters, however, suggested pertain only to the Administrators changes, which FAA discusses in more delegation of powers for certain detail later in this preamble.
compulsory processes. Further, FAA
Additionally, four individuals proposed revising 13.3c by listing commented. Some of the individuals the actions authorized by the statutes comments fell outside the scope of this cited in the second sentence of current rulemaking, and others are discussed in 13.3b.
more detail later in this preamble.
NBAA requested FAA combine FAA received comments on the proposed 13.3a and c into a single following general areas of the proposal:
paragraph. NBAA stated that proposed FAAs Authority;
13.3a and c are duplicative and Service of Formal Complaints;
likely to cause misunderstandings about Date of Service of a Formal FAAs authority under proposed 13.1.
Complaint;
FAA Actions Resulting from Formal NBAA further asserted that confusion stemming from current 13.3 has led to Complaints;
FAA issuing subpoenas that are not Administrative Actions;
appropriately limited. It therefore Consent Orders;
requested that the rule be revised to Deposition Authority;
limit the Administrators authority to Witness Fees;
issue subpoenas to that provided in Record on Appeal;
proposed 13.57, 13.111, and 13.228.
Appeals and Judicial Review;
In support, NBAA stated that full Expedited Proceedings;
procedural protections for challenging Dispute Resolution;
Federal Docket Management System subpoenas are available in subparts D, and Use of Email for Filing and Service; F, and G. NBAA urged that if FAA

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needs to issue subpoenas, FAA should issue an Order of Investigation under subpart F. According to NBAA, FAA has unlimited discretion as to the scope of inquiry and limits due process while obtaining the very evidence FAA will then use against the company or individual to prosecute the FAAs case.
Lastly, NBAA stated its concerns that subpoenas issued to individuals are contrary to the Pilots Bill of Rights PBR,2 while subpoenas issued to businesses coerce production of evidence contrary to the Compliance Philosophy.3
FAA does not agree that 13.3a and c are duplicative, or that they should be combined. Proposed 13.1 applies to all of part 13 and provides broadly that the Chief Counsel, each Deputy Chief Counsel, and the Assistant Chief Counsel for Enforcement may redelegate any authority they have under part 13.
Proposed 13.3 mentions the powers of the Administrator generally with regard to investigations. Although proposed 13.3a and c both include powers of the Administrator, these paragraphs are not duplicative. Proposed paragraph a contains the same list of the Administrators statutory powers as in current 13.3a. Proposed paragraph c captures the delegation in the second sentence of current 13.3b, pertaining to the Administrators statutory authority with regard to compulsory processes, to certain officials in the Office of the Chief Counsel.4 Rather than use the vague description compulsory processes, proposed 13.3c identifies what those processes are. Thus, some of the Administrators powers mentioned in proposed paragraph a are delegated to certain officials in the Office of the Chief Counsel by proposed paragraph c.
These paragraphs also perform different functions; one describes, the other delegates.
Next, FAA does not agree that the subpoena authority provided by this rule should be limited in the manner requested by NBAA. Subpoenas issued under proposed 13.3c and proposed 13.111 in the context of a formal investigation are an exercise of the power of an administrative agency to investigate possible violations of and 2 The Pilots Bill of Rights, Public Law 112153, 126 Stat. 1159 2012 codified at 49 U.S.C. 44703
note.
3 Compliance Philosophy was renamed Compliance Program in October 2018. https
www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/cp/ last visited November 1, 2019.
4 The sections of the Federal Aviation Act and Hazardous Materials Transportation Act cited there are now codified at 49 U.S.C. 40108, 40113, 40114, 45302, 46104 and 47122.

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