Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), Treasury.
Notice and request for comments.
The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, FinCEN is soliciting comments concerning the renewal without change of the “Information sharing between government agencies and financial institutions” under 31 CFR 1010.520, generally referred to as the 314(a) program.
Written comments are welcome and must be received on or before February 11, 2013.
Direct all written comments to the Regulatory Policy and Programs Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Department of the Treasury, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, Virginia 22183.
The FinCEN regulatory helpline at (800) 949–2732 and select Option 3.
On October 26, 2001, the President signed into law the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (“USA PATRIOT ACT” or “Act”), Public Law 107–56. Title III of the Act amends the anti-money laundering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”), codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b and 1951–1959 and 31 U.S.C. 5311–5314 and 5316–5332, to promote the prevention, detection, and prosecution of international money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Regulations implementing the BSA appear at 31 CFR Chapter X. The authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to administer the BSA has been delegated to the Director of FinCEN.
Of the Act's many goals, the facilitation of information sharing among governmental entities and financial institutions for the purpose of combating terrorism and money laundering is of paramount importance.
As with many other provisions of the Act, Congress has charged the U.S. Department of the Treasury with developing regulations to implement these information-sharing provisions.
Subsection 314(a) of the Act states in part that:
On September 26, 2002, FinCEN published a final rule implementing the authority contained in section 314(a) of the Act.
Since its inception, the 314(a) program has yielded significant investigative benefits for law enforcement users in terrorist financing and/or significant money laundering cases. Feedback from the requesters and illustrations from sample case studies consistently demonstrate how useful the program is in enhancing the scope and expanding the universe of investigations. In view of the proven success of the 314(a) program, FinCEN seeks to renew without change the 314(a) program.
The following paragraph applies to all of the collections of information covered by this notice:
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number. In accordance with 31 CFR § 1010.330(e)(3), a person required to make a report under this section must keep a copy of each report filed for five years from the date of filing.