New regs for Friday: Disruptive behavior, Andorra bank and menu labeling

Friday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new rules from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for open meetings, a new rule from the Treasury Department for an Andorra-based bank and new guidance on the menu labeling rule from the Food and Drug Administration for small businesses.

Here’s what is happening:

Disruptive behavior: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is moving forward with changes to the Federal Communication Commission’s open meeting regulation and the Rural Bank’s open meeting regulations to clarify that the term “observe” does not include disruptive behavior.

{mosads}The rule also uses language from the FCC’s open meeting regulation to clarify that comments made by unscheduled presenters will not be considered by the commission.

The rule does allow attendees to record open meetings as long as it’s done so in a non-disruptive manner.

The public has 30 days to comment.

Foreign bank: The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is considering excluding Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA), an Andorra financial institution, from the U.S. financial system.

The Patriot Act gives FinCEN the authority to take special measures against a foreign institution when there is reasonable concern that the institution is laundering money.

The rule would apply to all domestic and international bank branches. Financial institutions in the U.S. would be required to guard all of its foreign correspondent accounts from processing transactions involving BPA.

“The exclusion of BPA from the U.S. financial system as proposed in this [notice of proposed rulemaking] would enhance national security by making it more difficult for money launderers, transnational criminal organizations, human traffickers, and other criminals to access the U.S. financial system.”

Menu labeling: The Food and Drug Administration is issuing new guidance to help small businesses complying with the national menu labeling standards for restaurants and similar good establishments.

The agency is looking for the public to comment on the proposed guidance.