III. Category of Proceeding

The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require that an order instituting rulemaking preliminarily determine the category of the proceeding and the need for hearing.¹⁶ As a preliminary matter, we determine that this proceeding is quasi-legislative. We reserve the right to hold hearings in this proceeding after we receive comments. Hearings might include input on what information is "market sensitive" and the harm that would result from such information's release. If we determine hearings are not necessary, we will reverse our determination that hearings may be required.

As provided in Rule 6(c)(2), any person who objects to the preliminary categorization of this rulemaking as "quasi-legislative" or to the preliminary hearing determination, shall file and serve its objections within ten days of the mailing date of this decision. These comments or objections shall be served on the temporary service list whose web links appear in Appendix B to this order. After the first Prehearing Conference (PHC) in this matter, the assigned Commissioner will issue a Scoping Memo making a final category determination; this final determination is subject to appeal as specified in Rule 6.4.