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

The Department of the Treasury (“Department” or “Treasury”) publishes this final rule to adjust its civil monetary penalties (“CMPs”) for inflation as mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (collectively referred to herein as “the Act”). This rule adjusts CMPs within the jurisdiction of certain components of the Department to the maximum amount required by the Act.

Currently, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) of the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury), issues nonmarketable, electronic retirement savings bonds to an individual retirement account (IRA) custodian designated by Fiscal Service to act as a custodian for Roth IRAs under Treasury's my RA® program. In this Final Rule, Treasury offers nonmarketable, electronic retirement savings bonds for certain retirement savings programs established by states or certain of their political subdivisions (states). The bonds will be issued to a trustee or custodian (custodian) of a Roth IRA or traditional IRA designated by a state under its retirement savings program (whether or not the program provides for automatic enrollment). Interest will be earned at a rate available to federal employees invested in the Government Securities Investment Fund (G Fund) of the federal Thrift Savings Plan. This offering does not affect the terms of retirement savings bonds issued to the custodian of Treasury's retirement savings program, my RA®, which are held in participants' Roth IRAs. More information on my RA® is available at www.myra.gov.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations to authorize all prohibited transactions, including transactions involving property in which the Government of Sudan has an interest. OFAC is issuing this general license in connection with ongoing U.S.-Sudan bilateral engagement and in response to positive developments in the country over the past six months related to bilateral cooperation, the ending of internal hostilities, regional cooperation, and improvements to humanitarian access.

This proposed rule would set out the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) rules for implementing section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (section 504), for Treasury's programs offering Federal financial assistance. Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance. Section 504 and the section 504 coordination regulation (coordination regulation) require that all agencies that extend Federal financial assistance issue agency-specific regulations implementing section 504. Treasury recipients have been subject to section 504 since its effective date in 1973. Accordingly, today's proposed rule would not substantially change the existing duty of recipients of financial assistance from Treasury to refrain from discrimination on the basis of disability. This proposed rule fulfills the obligation of Treasury to issue agency-specific rules under the law, clarifies the responsibilities of recipients of financial assistance from Treasury under section 504, and describes the Treasury investigation and enforcement procedures to ensure compliance. The proposed regulation is consistent with the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADA Amendments Act), which amended section 504.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is adopting a final rule amending the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (ITSR) to reflect OFAC's licensing policies and address inquiries from the regulated public. This final rule makes changes relating to authorized sales of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices to Iran pursuant to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA), as amended, and clarifies the definition of the terms goods of Iranian origin and Iranian-origin goods.

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) is issuing this final rule as part of its implementation of changes to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP or Program) required by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 (2015 Reauthorization Act), as published in proposed form on April 1, 2016, for public comment. Treasury previously issued an interim final rule addressing the process for certification of an act of terrorism, as published in proposed form on April 1, 2016. This final rule addresses the balance of the other proposed rules published on April 1, 2016, and adopts the general renumbering of sections as proposed on April 1, 2016. Some clarifying changes have been made in this final rule in response to comments, and certain other wording changes have also been added which do not change the meaning of the rule as originally proposed.

This final rule provides for the enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended (“Title VI”) to the end that no person in the United States shall on the grounds of race, color, or national origin be denied participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that receives federal financial assistance from the Department of the Treasury. The promulgation of this final regulation will provide guidance to the Department's recipients of federal financial assistance in complying with the provisions of Title VI and will also promote consistent and appropriate enforcement of Title VI by the Department's components. Through this final rule, the Department also notifies beneficiaries of its programs offering financial assistance of the protections against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin.

In its September 20, 2016 order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia remanded to FinCEN the final rule imposing a prohibition on covered financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for, or on behalf of, FBME Bank, Ltd. In its memorandum opinion accompanying that order, the Court stated that the agency had not responded meaningfully to FBME's comments regarding the agency's treatment of aggregate Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) data. The Court found that those comments challenged FinCEN's interpretation of SAR data on at least four distinct grounds. In this supplement to the final rule, FinCEN provides further explanation addressing FBME's comments.

The Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) is proposing to amend its 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 proposed rule to address changes that NACHA has made to the NACHA Operating Rules since the publication of the 2013 NACHA Operating Rules & Guidelines book. These changes include amendments set forth in the 2014, 2015, and 2016 NACHA Operating Rules & Guidelines books.

FinCEN is issuing this final rule to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from opening or maintaining a correspondent account for, or on behalf of, North Korean banking institutions. The rule further prohibits U.S. financial institutions from processing transactions for the correspondent account of a foreign bank in the United States if such a transaction involves a North Korean financial institution, and requires institutions to apply special due diligence to guard against such use by North Korean financial institutions.

The Secretary of the Treasury (the “Secretary”), as Chairperson of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (the “Council”), is adopting final rules (the “Final Rules”) in consultation with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) to implement the qualified financial contract (“QFC”) recordkeeping requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act” or the “Act”). The Final Rules require recordkeeping with respect to positions, counterparties, legal documentation, and collateral. This information is necessary and appropriate to assist the FDIC as receiver to: Fulfill its obligations under the Dodd-Frank Act in deciding whether to transfer QFCs; assess the consequences of decisions to transfer, disaffirm or repudiate, or allow the termination of, QFCs with one or more counterparties; determine if any risks to financial stability are posed by the transfer, disaffirmance or repudiation, or termination of such QFCs; and otherwise exercise its rights under the Act and fulfill its obligations under sections 210(c)(8), (9), or (10) of the Act.

This document contains a conditional exception, pursuant to authority under the Bank Secrecy Act, which would permit certain U.S. financial institutions to maintain correspondent accounts for Burmese banks under certain conditions.