[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 196 (Thursday, October 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63567-63568]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-22419]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Federal Emergency Management Agency
[Docket ID FEMA-2020-0016]
Meeting To Implement Pandemic Response Voluntary Agreement Under
Section 708 of the Defense Production Act
AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS.
ACTION: Announcement of meeting; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will convene a
meeting remotely via web conference to implement the Voluntary
Agreement for the Manufacture and Distribution of Critical Healthcare
Resources Necessary to Respond to a Pandemic. A portion of the meeting
will be open to the public.
DATES: The meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, from
1:00 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). The first portion of the meeting,
from approximately 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., will be open to the public.
Written comments for consideration at the meeting must be submitted and
received by 12:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October 12, 2020. To register to
attend the meeting or to make remarks during the public comment period
of the meeting, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section below by 12:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October
12, 2020.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held via web conference. To register for
the meeting, and to obtain information about how to attend the meeting,
contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section below by 12:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October 12, 2020, and provide
your name, telephone number, email address, title, and organization.
Reasonable accommodations are available for people with
disabilities. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact the person
listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section below as soon as
possible. Last minute requests will be accepted but may not be possible
to fulfill.
To facilitate public participation, members of the public are
invited to provide written comments on the issues to be considered at
the meeting. The Meeting Objectives listed below outline these issues.
Written comments for consideration at the meeting must be submitted and
received by 12:00 p.m. ET on Monday, October 12, 2020, identified by
Docket ID FEMA-2020-0016, and submitted by one of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Email: FEMA's Office of Business, Industry, Infrastructure
Integration, OB3I@fema.dhs.gov.
Instructions: All submissions must include the docket ID FEMA-2020-
0016. Comments received, including any personal information provided,
may be posted without alteration at https://www.regulations.gov.
Docket: For access to the docket and to read comments received by
FEMA, go to https://www.regulations.gov, and search for Docket ID FEMA-
2020-0016.
All speakers during the public comment period must limit their
comments to three (3) minutes. Comments should be addressed to FEMA.
Any comments not related to the Meeting Objectives, listed below, will
not be considered at the meeting. To register to make remarks during
the public comment period, contact the individual listed in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section below by 12:00 p.m. ET on Monday,
October 12, 2020. If necessary, FEMA will limit the number of comments
taken during the public meeting consistent with the time available, but
will consider relevant and properly submitted written submissions from
all interested parties.
FEMA encourages interested parties to make written submissions in
advance of or following the meeting consistent with the instructions
for submitting comments stated above. Follow-up comments must be
received within five (5) business days of the meeting in order to be
considered.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Glenn, Office of Business,
Industry, Infrastructure Integration, via email at OB3I@fema.dhs.gov or
via phone at (202) 212-1666.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice of the meeting is provided as
required by section 708(h)(8) of the Defense Production Act (DPA), 50
U.S.C. 4558(h)(8), and consistent with 44 CFR part 332.
The DPA authorizes the making of ``voluntary agreements and plans
of action'' with, among others, representatives of industry and
business to address conditions that may pose a direct threat to the
national defense or its preparedness programs.\1\ The President's
authority to facilitate voluntary agreements has been
[[Page 63568]]
delegated to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) generally in
section 401 of Executive Order 13603,\2\ ``National Defense Resources
Preparedness,'' and specifically for response to the spread of COVID-19
within the United States in section 3 of Executive Order 13911,\3\
``Delegating Additional Authority Under the Defense Production Act With
Respect to Health and Medical Resources To Respond to the Spread of
COVID-19.'' The Secretary of Homeland Security has delegated this
authority to the FEMA Administrator in section II of DHS Delegation
09052, Rev. 00.1, ``Delegation of Defense Production Act Authority to
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency'' (Apr. 1,
2020).
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\1\ 50 U.S.C. 4558(c)(1).
\2\ 77 FR 16651 (Mar. 22, 2012).
\3\ 85 FR 18403 (Apr. 1, 2020).
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On August 17, 2020, after the appropriate consultations with the
Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, FEMA
completed and published in the Federal Register a ``Voluntary Agreement
for the Manufacture and Distribution of Critical Healthcare Resources
Necessary to Respond to a Pandemic'' (Voluntary Agreement).\4\ Unless
terminated prior to that date, the Voluntary Agreement is effective
until August 17, 2025, and may be extended subject to additional
approval by the Attorney General after consultation with the Chairman
of the Federal Trade Commission. The Agreement may be used to prepare
for or respond to any pandemic, including COVID-19, during that time.
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\4\ 85 FR 50035 (Aug. 17, 2020). The Attorney General, in
consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, made
the required finding that the purpose of the voluntary agreement may
not reasonably be achieved through an agreement having less
anticompetitive effects or without any voluntary agreement and
published the finding in the Federal Register on the same day. 85 FR
50049 (Aug. 17, 2020).
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The meeting will be chaired by the FEMA Administrator or his
delegate, and attended by the Attorney General or his delegate and the
Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission or his delegate. In
implementing this agreement, FEMA will adhere to all procedural
requirements of 50 U.S.C. 4558 and 44 CFR part 332.
Meeting Objectives: The purpose of the meeting is four-fold:
(1) Update interested parties on the status of the implementation
of FEMA's Voluntary Agreement;
(2) Request that interested parties sign up to participate in the
Voluntary Agreement;
(3) Request that specific parties sign up to participate in one or
more specific Plans of Action; and
(4) Discuss activation of the first Plan of Action under the
Voluntary Agreement to identify more efficient methods of allocating
and distributing Personal Protective Equipment to meet national demand
and ways of expanding the production of critical healthcare resources,
with an initial focus on the manufacture of N95 masks.
Portions of the Meeting Closed to the Public: By default, the DPA
requires meetings held to implement a Voluntary Agreement or Plan of
Action be open to the public.\5\ However, attendance may be limited if
the Sponsor \6\ of the Voluntary Agreement, in this case the FEMA
Administrator, finds that the matter to be discussed at a meeting falls
within the purview of matters described in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c). The FEMA
Administrator has found that the portion of the meeting dedicated to
achieving meeting objective 4, finalizing the first Plan of Action
under the Voluntary Agreement, falls within the purview of matters
described in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c) and should therefore be closed to the
public.
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\5\ See 50 U.S.C. 4558(h)(7).
\6\ ``[T]he individual designated by the President in subsection
(c)(2) [of section 708 of the DPA] to administer the voluntary
agreement, or plan of action.'' 50 U.S.C. 4558(h)(7).
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Specifically, finalizing the Plan of Action may require Plan of
Action Participants from the private sector to disclose trade secrets
or commercial or financial information that is privileged or
confidential. Disclosure of such information allows for a meeting to be
closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(4). In addition, the success of the
Voluntary Agreement depends on willing and enthusiastic participation
of the private sector. If sensitive information that was shared during
Plan of Action development were released, some or all of the
Participants would likely withdraw their support from the Voluntary
Agreement, which would significantly frustrate the implementation of
the Voluntary Agreement and proposed Plan of Action. Frustration of an
agency's objective due to premature disclosure of information allows
for the closure of a meeting to pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(9)(B).
Pete Gaynor,
Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency.
[FR Doc. 2020-22419 Filed 10-7-20; 8:45 am]
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