No Action Letters

Coronavirus Update

On April 2, 2020, Chairman Chatterjee announced the creation of a No-Action Letter Task Force  News Release. 

The NAL Task Force is available to provide informal staff guidance regarding No-Action Letter requests and has been directed to process emergency-related NAL requests expeditiously.  Please contact the NAL Task Force at NAL-TaskForce@FERC.gov if you are interested in filing a No-Action Letter Request.

Through the No-Action Letter (NAL) process, established by Commission order on November 18, 2005, persons may obtain written advice as to whether staff would recommend that the Commission take no enforcement action with respect to specific proposed transactions, practices, or situations. While not a Commission ruling and therefore not binding on the Commission, NAL responses provide increased certainty regarding staff's view on whether a particular transaction, practice or situation would be subject to agency enforcement action. As a result, the NAL process is an effective tool for entities subject to our authority to reduce the risk of failing to comply with the statutes we administer, the orders, rules or regulations thereunder, or Commission-approved tariffs.

Entities interested in submitting a NAL request are strongly encouraged to confer with designated staff prior to submitting a NAL request. Staff can arrange for a pre-filing meeting/conference, which is often helpful in ensuring that the NAL request includes all relevant information needed for consideration and that a NAL is the appropriate mechanism to address the matter.

In an order issued May 15, 2008, the Commission expanded the scope of issues for which NAL requests may be submitted to include any issue that falls within the Commission's jurisdiction, except for those issues arising under:

• Part I of the FPA;
• Sections 215 and 216 of the FPA;
• Sections 3, 7, and 15 of the NGA; and
• Section 311 of the NGPA.

In addition a request:

• May not be anonymous; and
• Must relate to a situation in which the requesting party is or may be involved and not involve hypothetical circumstances or completed transactions.

Although NAL responses are not binding on the Commission, they are signed by representatives of the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Enforcement and thus reflect the consensus view of those offices. Where appropriate, members of the Office of Energy Market Regulation and Office of Energy Policy and Innovation are also consulted when preparing an NAL response and, therefore, their views are often reflected. Until a response is issued, NAL requests are treated as non-public. Applicants can request that staff continue to treat both NAL requests and responses as non-public for an additional period of 120 days after a response is issued. Once an NAL response is public, it is posted in the Commission's eLibrary system in a searchable format.

File a Request for No-Action Letter

Please use the following guidelines when filing Request for No-Action Letters.

What to Submit: Submit one original and two paper copies of the No-Action Letter request and any supporting information or documents to each of the General Counsel and the Director of Enforcement.  Also email copies of the request and attachments to NAL-TaskForce@FERC.gov.

 

Contact Info: Each request must include the name, address, telephone number, and email address of the person to whom the response should be directed.

Where to Submit? Send your request to:

Use express mail or courier services to submit a Request for No-Action Letter to FERC. Regular mail sent through the US Postal Service to the Commission is subject to a 7-10 day delay for scanning.

The Commission determined that when initially filed a Request for No-Action Letter is non-public material. The Commission's eFiling system is not ready to accept non-public material at this time and, therefore, it is not available for the filing of Requests for No-Action Letters.