Department of Commerce – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold three public hearings (one as a webinar) and accept written comments regarding an action intended to revise the species separation requirements in the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on the extension and revision of an existing information collection: 0651- 0028 Fastener Quality Act Insignia Recordal Process. The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding submission of the information collection to OMB.

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for the reissuance of a previously issued incidental harassment authorization (IHA) with the only change being effective dates. The initial IHA authorized take of 10 species of marine mammals, by Level B harassment only, incidental to construction activities associated with the Port of Nome Modification Project in Nome, Alaska. The project has been delayed by 1 year and none of the work covered in the initial IHA has been conducted. The initial IHA was effective from May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025. USACE has requested reissuance with new effective dates of May 1, 2025 through April 30, 2026. The scope of the activities and anticipated effects remain the same, authorized take numbers are not changed, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remains the same as included in the initial IHA. NMFS is, therefore, issuing a second identical IHA to cover the incidental take analyzed and authorized in the initial IHA.

This proposed rule would implement a set of management measures recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) to ensure fishery impacts on California Coastal (CC) Chinook salmon, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, remain within the conservation objective in the Council's Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (Salmon FMP). Under the proposed rule, management tools (e.g., trip limits (also known as landing and possession limits) and inseason management) consistent with the provisions of the Salmon FMP would be used to provide greater certainty in avoiding exceedances of the conservation objectives for CC Chinook salmon.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of brass rod from South Africa are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV) for the period of investigation (POI) April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of brass rod from the Republic of Korea (Korea). The period of investigation is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of brass rod from India are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV) for the period of investigation (POI) April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) makes changes to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to expand the scope of items that require a license for export and reexport to Iran; this rule also expands the scope of the Russia/Belarus/ Temporarily occupied Crimea region of Ukraine Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rule and the Iran FDP rule. Certain foreign-made items located outside of the United States are subject to the EAR because they meet criteria specified under one of the FDP rules under the EAR. This final rule expands the product scope of two of the FDP rules to make additional items subject to the EAR and imposes a license requirement when they are reexported or exported from abroad to Iran, Russia, Belarus, or the Temporarily occupied Crimea region of Ukraine. Prior to this rule, BIS had not controlled all foreign transactions involving items covered by this rule, but in light of recent events and the need to fully leverage EAR controls to address U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, these additional controls are now warranted under the EAR.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that certain non-refillable steel cylinders (cylinders) from the India are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

With this interim final rule (IFR), the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to remove license requirements, expand the availability of license exceptions, and reduce the scope of end-use and end-user-based license requirements for exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) to or within Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) to enhance technological innovation among the three countries and support the goals of the AUKUS Trilateral Security Partnership.

NMFS will hold a 3-day Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Advisory Panel (AP) meeting in May 2024. The intent of the meeting is to consider options for the conservation and management of Atlantic HMS. The meeting is open to the public.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale (boltless steel shelving) from Malaysia are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less-than-fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale (boltless steel shelving) from Taiwan are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less-than-fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale (boltless steel shelving) from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) are being, or likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is October 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) proposes modifications to the rules of practice for inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review (PGR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) that the Director and, by delegation, the PTAB will use in exercising discretion to institute IPRs and PGRs. The Office proposes these provisions in light of stakeholder feedback received in response to an October 2020 Request for Comments (RFC) and an April 2023 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). The proposals enhance and build on existing precedent and guidance regarding the exercise of the Director's discretion pursuant to the America Invents Act (AIA) to determine whether to institute an IPR or PGR proceeding with regard to serial petitions, parallel petitions, and petitions implicating the same or substantially the same art or arguments previously presented to the Office. The proposed rules also provide a separate briefing process for discretionary institution arguments and align the procedures for termination of proceedings pre- and post- institution.

NMFS announces the availability of the "Draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Assessment (SPEA) for Fisheries Research Conducted and Funded by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center." Publication of this notice begins the official public comment period for this SPEA. The purpose of this Draft SPEA is to evaluate potential direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of changes in research that were not analyzed in the 2019 Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), or new research activities in the North Pacific Ocean and marine waters off of Alaska. Where necessary, updates to certain information on species, stock status or other components of the affected environment that may result in different conclusions from the 2019 PEA are presented in this analysis.

Pursuant to provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. 1001 et seq, the Department of Commerce announces the renewal of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (the Committee). The Committee shall advise the Secretary of Commerce regarding the development and administration of programs and policies to expand the competitiveness of U.S. exports of renewable energy and energy efficiency goods and services. The Committee's work on renewable energy will focus on technologies, equipment, and services to generate electricity, produce heat, and power vehicles from renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, and hydrogen. The Committee's work on energy efficiency will focus on technologies, services, and platforms that provide system-level energy efficiency to electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. These include smart grid technologies and services, as well as equipment and systems that increase the resiliency of power infrastructure such as energy storage. Climate solutions in the energy sector, such as low-carbon hydrogen production, clean energy transportation, and virtual power plants are also within the scope of the Committee. For the purposes of this Committee, covered goods and services will not include vehicles, feedstock for biofuels, or energy efficiency as it relates to consumer goods or buildings. Non- fossil fuels that reduce carbon consumption (e.g., liquid biofuels and pellets) are included. This notice also requests nominations for membership.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is revoking, in part, the antidumping duty (AD) order on common alloy aluminum sheet (CAAS) from Germany with respect to certain lithographic-grade aluminum sheet.

The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Program Office will hold an organizational meeting of the NIDIS Executive Council on April 25, 2024.