Organization and Delegation of Powers and Duties Transfer of Delegations From the Administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration to the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics

Federal Register Notice
June 8, 1995
Volume 60, Number 110

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: Responsibility for the Department's aviation information program has been transferred from the Administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration to the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. This rule amends the delegations to be in accordance with the changed responsibilities. The rule is necessary to reflect the delegations in the Code of Federal Regulations.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This rule is effective on May 28, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven B. Farbman, Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Regulation and Enforcement (202) 366-9306, United States Department of Transportation, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Responsibility for the Department's aviation information program is being transferred from the Administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) to the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The office within RSPA that has had this responsibility is the Office of Airline Statistics (OAS), formerly known as the Office of Aviation Information Management (OAIM). The name change occurred as part of a 1990 reorganization of RSPA. Although the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) was not revised to reflect the name change, the industry was informed of the change by a directive issued by RSPA.

The office within BTS that is receiving the responsibility is the Office of Airline Information. This rule amends the delegations to be in accordance with the transfer. Included among the delegations is the authority to make and amend whatever regulations are necessary to carry out the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 40101 et seq., formerly the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended. (Pub. L. 103- 272, enacted July 5, 1994, revised and recodified the Federal Aviation Act within Subtitle VII of Title 49.) We will publish another final rule that will redesignate the Department's regulation that sets forth the authority of the Director of OAIM and will revise those portions of the CFR that still refer to RSPA and OAIM with respect to the aviation information program.

Since this rule relates to departmental management, organization, procedure, and practice, notice and public comment are unnecessary. For the same reason, good cause exists for not publishing this rule at least 30 days before its effective date, as is ordinarily required by 5 U.S.C. 553(d). Because the date of the transfer of responsibility for the aviation information program is May 28, 1995, that is the effective date of this rule.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 1

Authority delegations (Government agencies), Organizations and functions (Government agencies).

PART 1--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Part 1 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 322; Pub. L. 101-552, 28 U.S.C. 2672, 31 U.S.C. 3711(a)(2).

Sec. 1.2 [Amended]

2. Section 1.2 is amended by adding a new paragraph (j) to read as follows:

* * * * *

(j) The Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Sec. 1.3 [Amended]

3. Section 1.3(b) is amended by adding a new paragraph (b)(10) to read as follows:

* * * * *

(10) The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, headed by the Director.

Sec. 1.4 [Amended]

4. Section 1.4 is amended by adding a new paragraph (l) to read as follows:

* * * * *

(l) The Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Is responsible for:

(1) Compiling, analyzing, and publishing a comprehensive set of transportation statistics to provide timely summaries and total (including industrywide aggregates and multiyear averages) of transportation-related information;

(2) Establishing and implementing, in cooperation with the modal administrators, the States, and other Federal officials, a comprehensive, long-term program for the collection and analysis of data relating to the performance of the national transportation system;

(3) Issuing guidelines for the collection of information by the Department required for statistics to be compiled pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 111(c)(1) in order to ensure that such information is accurate, reliable, relevant, and in a form that permits systematic analysis;

(4) Coordinating the collection of information by the Department required for statistics to be compiled pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 111(c)(1) with related information-gathering activities conducted by the other Federal departments and agencies collecting appropriate data not elsewhere gathered;

(5) Making the statistics published under this subsection readily accessible, in compliance with all disclosure laws, regulations, and requirements; and.

(6) Identifying information that is needed in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 111(c)(1) but which is not being collected, reviewing such needs at least annually with the Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics, and making recommendations to appropriate Department of Transportation research officials concerning extramural and intramural research programs to provide such information.

Sec. 1.53 [Amended]

5. Section 1.53(g) is removed and reserved.

6. A new Sec. 1.71 is added as follows:

Sec. 1.71 Delegations to the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics is delegated authority to exercise powers and perform duties under the following statutes:

(a) Aviation information. (1) 49 U.S.C. 329(b)(1), relating to collection and dissemination of information on civil aeronautics;

(2) Section 4(a)(7) of the Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984 (October 4, 1984; Pub. L. 98-443), relating to the reporting of the extension of unsecured credit to political candidates (section 401, Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971; 2 U.S.C. 451), in conjunction with the General Counsel and the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs; and

(3) 49 U.S.C. 40113 (relating to taking such actions and issuing such regulations as may be necessary to carry out responsibilities under the Act), 49 U.S.C. 41702 (relating to the duty of carriers to provide safe and adequate service), 49 U.S.C. 41708 and 41709 (relating to the requirement to keep information and the forms in which it is to be kept), and 49 U.S.C. 41701 (relating to establishing just and reasonable classifications of carriers and rules to be followed by each) as appropriate to carry out the responsibilities under this paragraph in conjunction with the General Counsel and the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs.

(b) [Reserve].

Issued at Washington, DC this 25th day of May 1995.

Federico Peña,
Secretary of Transportation.

[FR Doc. 95-13877 Filed 6-7-95; 8:45 am]

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