Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

12134

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 39 / Tuesday, March 2, 2021 / Proposed Rules
jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with PROPOSALS

284.403a applies to sales for resale by persons that are not interstate pipelines.
Each section currently requires that data providers reporting transactions to price index developers provide accurate, factual information, and not knowingly submit false or misleading information or omit material information.
Reporting must be performed consistent with the procedures set forth in the Policy Statement.14 The regulations do not incorporate the Safe Harbor Policy.
10. Currently, the Safe Harbor Policy is set forth in the Policy Statement, which advises the public about how the Commission intends to exercise its discretionary authority. The Policy Statement, however, is non-binding.15
Although the Commission has never pursued enforcement action against a market participant for inadvertent errors in reporting transactions to price index developers, concerns nonetheless remain among market participants that this potential exists.16
11. To alleviate these concerns and encourage voluntary reporting in order to promote more robust, liquid, and transparent indices, we propose to add identical language to 18 CFR 35.41c, 284.288a, and 284.403a to incorporate the Safe Harbor Policy into the regulatory text. This proposed language states that for a Seller who reports in a manner consistent with procedures set forth in the Policy Statement, there will be a rebuttable presumption that information submitted to publishers of electricity or natural gas indices is accurate, timely, and submitted in good faith. The proposed revisions also state that inadvertent reporting errors by a Seller who reports in a manner consistent with the procedures set forth in the Policy Statement shall not constitute violations of this provision. This action will eliminate any concerns that the Commission might choose to depart from the Safe Harbor Policy as set forth in the Policy Statement.
12. By incorporating the Safe Harbor Policy into the Commissions regulations, the Commission will provide certainty to the regulated industry that, provided that the data provider reports in a manner consistent with the Policy Statement, inadvertent errors in reporting will not constitute 14 18 CFR 35.41c, Market behavior rules; see also 18 CFR 284.288a Code of conduct for unbundled sales service identical language; 18
CFR 284.403a Code of conduct for persons holding blanket marketing certificates identical language.
15 See, e.g., Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co. v.
FERC, 198 F.3d 266, 269 D.C. Cir. 1999.
16 See Supra P 8.

VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:34 Mar 01, 2021

Jkt 253001

violations of the Commissions regulations requiring accurate reporting and will not give rise to civil penalties.
Under the proposed language, for data providers that report consistent with the Policy Statement, only intentional or reckless behavior may give rise to liability. Based on industry comments during and after the technical conference,17 we believe that incorporation of the Safe Harbor Policy into the Commissions regulations will provide greater certainty to market participants and will lead to increased voluntary reporting to price index developers.
III. Environmental Analysis 13. The Commission is required to prepare an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement for any action that may have a significant adverse effect on the human environment.18 The Commission has categorically excluded certain actions from these requirements as not having a significant effect on the human environment.19 The actions proposed here fall within the categorical exclusions in the Commissions regulations for rules that are clarifying, corrective, or procedural, and for information gathering, analysis, and dissemination.20 Therefore, an environmental assessment is unnecessary and has not been prepared in this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification 14. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 RFA 21 generally requires a description and analysis of proposed rules that will have significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The RFA does not mandate any particular outcome in a rulemaking. It only requires consideration of alternatives that are less burdensome to small entities and an 17 See, e.g., American Gas Association, PostTechnical Conference Comments, Docket No.
AD1712000, at 7 filed July 31, 2017 . . .there is a perception that a fat finger error could result in a party being the subject of an investigation.;
Edison Electric Institute, Post-Technical Conference Comments, Docket No. AD1712000, at 5 filed July 31, 2017 Despite the Policy Statement, as indicated during the technical conference, there is a perceived regulatory risk associated with transaction reporting and a concern that it will invite costly audits and enforcement actions even for inadvertent errors..
18 Regulations Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Order No. 486, FERC Stats. & Regs. 30,783 1987 cross-referenced at 41 FERC 61,284.
19 18 CFR 380.4.
20 See 18 CFR 380.4a2ii, 380.4a5.
21 5 U.S.C. 601612.

PO 00000

Frm 00016

Fmt 4702

Sfmt 4702

agency explanation of why alternatives were rejected.
15. The Small Business Administration SBA size standards for natural gas and electric utilities are based on the number of employees, including affiliates. Under the SBAs standards, some data providers will fall under the following categories and associated size thresholds: Natural Gas Distribution and Electric Power Distribution, both at 1000 employees.22
16. Because data providers who choose to report their transactions are already required to submit data consistent with the Policy Statement in order to receive the protections of the Safe Harbor Policy, the Commission estimates that there will be no additional compliance burden as a result of this proposed rule.
17. Based on the above, the Commission certifies that implementation of the proposed rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Accordingly, no initial regulatory flexibility analysis is required.
V. Comment Procedures 18. The Commission invites interested persons to submit comments on the matters and issues proposed in this notice to be adopted, including any related matters or alternative proposals that commenters may wish to discuss.
Comments are due June 1, 2021.
Comments must refer to Docket No.
RM207000, and must include the commenters name, the organization they represent, if applicable, and their address.
19. The Commission encourages comments to be filed electronically via the eFiling link on the Commissions website at http www.ferc.gov. The Commission accepts most standard word processing formats. Documents created electronically using word processing software should be filed in native applications or print-to-PDF
format and not in a scanned format.
Commenters filing electronically do not need to make a paper filing.
20. Commenters that are not able to file comments electronically must send an original of their comments to:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
21. All comments will be placed in the Commissions public files and may be viewed, printed, or downloaded remotely as described in the Document Availability section below. Commenters 22 13 CFR 121.201 2020, sector 22 Utilities, NAICS codes 221210 Natural Gas Distribution and 221122 Electric Power Distribution.

E:FRFM02MRP1.SGM

02MRP1