Knowing that an incident is under review is different from knowing when insurance questions will be settled. Treasury’s interim final rule published December 7, 2016 addresses that gap through public communication about terrorism certification. For businesses and people depending on their operations, the immediate change is a defined notice process, not a promised payment or a completed recovery. [2016-29313][2016-06920]
The rule calls for a notice within 30 days after the Secretary begins a certification review, not within 30 days of the incident itself. If circumstances make timely notification impracticable, Treasury may provide notice as soon as practicable through an appropriate method. This qualification matters to anyone treating an elapsed calendar period as evidence that a decision must already exist. [2016-29313][2016-06920]
Treasury’s April 1 proposal had covered a wider set of Program revisions, including civil penalties and final netting of payments. The December action adopts only the certification-process portion, leaving the broader revision for later. The proposal thus explains why a notice about this rule cannot fairly be described as completion of every proposed insurance change. Both documents belong to one Treasury policy chain. [2016-29313][2016-06920]
The interim rule specified January 6, 2017 for effectiveness and the written-comment deadline. Treasury rejected strict overall certification deadlines while retaining notification milestones. The practical public-interest question is how clearly the agency communicates uncertainty to those waiting: a review notice is explicitly not a final determination. These procedural documents neither establish a particular loss nor guarantee compensation to a business, employee or policyholder. [2016-29313][2016-06920]
Source documents
- Terrorism Risk Insurance Program; Certificationhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-12-07/html/2016-29313.htm
- Terrorism Risk Insurance Programhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2016-04-01/html/2016-06920.htm