Notice: Possession, Use, and Transfer of Select Agents and Toxins; 
Biennial Review; Proposed Rule

Federal Register: Volume 76, Number 242 (Friday, December 16, 2011)
                  Page 78215

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.

SUMMARY: On October 3, 2011, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 
located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 
published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal 
Register (76 FR 61206) requesting public comment on the appropriateness 
of the current HHS and Overlap list of select agents and toxins 
including whether there are other agents or toxins that should be added 
to the HHS or Overlap list or whether agents or toxins currently on the 
HHS or Overlap list should be deleted from the list; the 
appropriateness of the proposed tiering of the select agents and toxins 
list; whether minimum standards for personnel reliability, physical and 
cyber security should be prescribed for identified Tier 1 agents; and 
any other aspect of the proposed amendments to the select agent 
regulations. The comment period closed on December 2, 2011. Since we 
would like to allow interested persons additional time to prepare and 
submit comments, we are reopening the comment period for the NPRM.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before January 17, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Regulatory 
Information Number (RIN), 0920-AA34 in the heading of this document by 
any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Select 
Agent Program, 1600 Clifton Road NE., Mailstop A-46, Atlanta, Georgia 
30333, Attn: RIN 0920-AA34.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and RIN for this rulemaking. All relevant comments received will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided.
    Docket Access: For access to the docket to read background 
documents or comments received or to download an electronic version of 
the NPRM, go to http://www.regulations.gov. Comments will be available 
for public inspection Monday through Friday, except for legal holidays, 
from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at 1600 Clifton Road NE., Atlanta, GA 30333. 
Please call ahead to 1-866-694-4867 and ask for a representative in the 
Division of Select Agents and Toxins to schedule your visit. Our 
general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the 
public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the 
Internet as they are received and without change.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robbin Weyant, Director, Division of 
Select Agents and Toxins, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
1600 Clifton Road NE., MS A-46, Atlanta, Georgia 30333. Telephone: 
(404) 718-2000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 3, 2011, the Centers for Disease 
Control (CDC), located within the Department of Health and Human 
Services (HHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the 
Federal Register (76 FR 61206) requesting public comment on (1) The 
appropriateness of the current HHS and Overlap list of select agents 
and toxins including whether there are other agents or toxins that 
should be added to the HHS or Overlap list or whether agents or toxins 
currently on the HHS or Overlap list should be deleted from the list; 
(2) the appropriateness of the proposed tiering of the select agents 
and toxins list; (3) whether minimum standards for personnel 
reliability, physical and cyber security should be prescribed for 
identified Tier 1 agents; and (4) any other aspect of the proposed 
amendments to the select agent regulations. The comment period closed 
on December 2, 2011. Since we would like to allow interested persons 
additional time to prepare and submit comments, we are reopening the 
comment period for its NPRM. We will also consider all comments we 
receive between December 2, 2011 and the date of this notice.

    Dated: December 13, 2011.
Kathleen Sebelius,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-32361 Filed 12-15-11; 8:45 am]
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