31 CFR Chapter VIII - OFFICE OF INVESTMENT SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

This notice provides interim guidance concerning the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (Program) under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, as amended (TRIA). In this notice, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) addresses issues that have arisen under Treasury's regulations for the Program (Program regulations) due to the enactment of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (2015 Reauthorization Act).

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations to implement policy changes announced by the President on December 17, 2014 to further engage and empower the Cuban people. These amendments facilitate travel to Cuba for authorized purposes, facilitate the provision by travel agents and airlines of authorized travel services and the forwarding by certain entities of authorized remittances, raise the limit on certain categories of remittances to Cuba, allow U.S. financial institutions to open correspondent accounts at Cuban financial institutions to facilitate the processing of authorized transactions, authorize certain transactions with Cuban nationals located outside of Cuba, and allow a number of other activities related to, among other areas, telecommunications, financial services, trade, and shipping. These amendments also implement certain technical and conforming changes.

This document corrects a technical error that appeared in the July 24, 2014 amendments to our regulation governing the use of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network by Federal agencies.

The Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Treasury) administers the Federal corporate surety program. Treasury issues certificates of authority to qualified sureties to underwrite and reinsure Federal bond obligations. Bonds underwritten by Treasury-certified sureties satisfy bonding requirements, provided such bonds are accepted by the agency bond-approving official. Treasury is amending its regulation to expressly provide that an agency may decline to accept a bond underwritten by a Treasury-certified surety for cause, provided the agency satisfies the requirements specified in the final rule. Treasury is also revising the procedures it uses to adjudicate any complaint received from an agency requesting that a surety's certificate of authority be revoked.

The Department of the Treasury is issuing regulations concerning the amounts available to eligible Louisiana parishes from the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, a fund established by the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act). These regulations amend an interim final rule for the RESTORE Act published on August 15, 2014.

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Department of the Treasury gives notice of a proposed amendment to update its Privacy Act regulations, and to add an exemption from certain provisions of the Privacy Act for a system of records related to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

The Department of the Treasury is issuing regulations concerning the investment and use of amounts deposited in the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, which was established in the Treasury of the United States by the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act).

The Department of the Treasury proposes regulations for the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act). The proposed regulations concern amounts available to eligible Louisiana parishes from the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, a fund established in the Treasury of the United States by the RESTORE Act. Treasury published other proposed regulations for the RESTORE Act on September 6, 2013.

The Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Service) is issuing this final rule to amend our regulation governing the use of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network by Federal agencies. Our regulation adopts, with some exceptions, the NACHA Operating Rules developed by NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association (NACHA) as the rules governing the use of the ACH Network by Federal agencies. We are issuing this rule to address changes that NACHA has made to the NACHA Operating Rules since the publication of NACHA's 2009 ACH Rules book. These changes include amendments set forth in NACHA's 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 Operating Rules books.

In a finding, notice of which is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register (“Notice of Finding”), the Director of FinCEN found that FBME Bank Ltd. (“FBME”), formerly known as Federal Bank of the Middle East, Ltd., is a financial institution operating outside of the United States that is of primary money laundering concern. FinCEN is issuing this notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) to propose the imposition of a special measure against FBME.

The United States Mint proposes to amend Treasury regulations relating to the exchange of uncurrent, bent, partial, fused, and mixed coins. The proposed amendments aim to update redemption rates and procedures, as well as to resolve an apparent contradiction in the current regulation.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adopting as final, with changes, the Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations that previously were published in an interim final rule. These changes primarily amend the Zimbabwe Sanctions Regulations to implement Executive Order 13391 of November 22, 2005, “Blocking Property of Additional Persons Undermining Democratic Processes or Institutions in Zimbabwe,” and Executive Order 13469 of July 25, 2008, “Blocking Property of Additional Persons Undermining Democratic Processes or Institutions in Zimbabwe.”