December 18, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Herring Committee on January 14, 2014 to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

A working group of the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC) will meet to work on Task Statement 80, concerning crew training requirements onboard vessels subject to the International Code of Safety for ships using gases or low flash-point fuels (IGF Code). This meeting will be open to the public.

Effective with the release of PPI data for January 2014 in February 2014, BLS will transition from the Stage of Processing (SOP) aggregation system to the Final Demand-Intermediate Demand (FD-ID) aggregation system. This shift will result in significant changes to the PPI news release, as well as other documents available from PPI, including the PPI Detailed Report and PPI Handbook of Methods.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Regulatory Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement concerning reporting purchases from sources outside the United States. A notice was published in the Federal Register at 78 FR 56230, on September 12, 2013. No comments were received.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered or threatened species. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), prohibits activities with endangered and threatened species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act requires that we invite public comment before issuing these permits.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Small Business Administration's intentions to request approval on a new and/or currently approved information collection.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Small Business Administration's intentions to request approval on a new and/or currently approved information collection.

Pursuant to Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Public Law 92-463), as amended, notice is hereby given that six meetings of the Arts Advisory Panel to the National Council on the Arts will be held at the Nancy Hanks Center, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20506 (unless otherwise noted) as follows (all meetings are Eastern time and ending times are approximate): Folk & Traditional Arts (application review): This meeting will be closed. Dates: January 9, 2014. 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in room 716. Music (review of nominations): This meeting will be closed. Dates: January 14, 2014. 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. The meeting will be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ella & Louis Room, 3 Columbus Circle, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Music (application review): This meeting will be virtual and will be closed. Dates: January 14, 2014. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. State & Regional (review of State Partnership Agreements): This meeting will be open. Dates: January 15-16, 2014. From 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on January 15th and from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on January 16th, in Room 716. State & Regional (review of Regional Partnership Agreements): This meeting will be open. Dates: January 23, 2014. 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Research (application review): This meeting will be virtual and will be closed. Dates: January 29, 2014. 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the National Science Foundation's intention to request a revision to and an extension of approval of an information collection associated with qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback on service delivery by the National Science Foundation.

This document announces the reapportionment of 30,000 mt of Pacific whiting from the tribal allocation to the non-tribal commercial fishery allocations. This action is intended to allow for full utilization of the resource.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has received a complaint entitled Certain Acousto-Magnetic Electronic Article Surveillance Systems, Components Thereof, and Products Containing Same, DN 2990; the Commission is soliciting comments on any public interest issues raised by the complaint or complainant's filing under section 210.8(b) of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (19 CFR 210.8(b)).

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burdens. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on September 16, 2013 (78 FR 56995).

As set forth in 7 CFR 4279.107, the Agency has the authority to charge an initial guarantee fee and an annual renewal fee for loans made under the Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program. Pursuant to that authority, the Agency is establishing the renewal fee rate at one-half of 1 percent for the B&I Guaranteed Loan Program. This rate will apply to all loans obligated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 that are made under the B&I program. As established in 7 CFR 4279.107(b)(1), the amount of the fee on each guaranteed loan will be determined by multiplying the fee rate by the outstanding principal loan balance as of December 31, multiplied by the percent of guarantee. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 set funding levels according to those established by the 2012 Appropriations Bill. This authorized the Agency to charge a maximum of 3 percent for its guarantee fee for FY 2013. It is the Agency's expectation that the 2014 Appropriations Bill will contain the same authorization to charge a maximum of 3 percent for its guarantee fee for FY 2014. As such, the guarantee fee for FY 2014 will be 3 percent. In the event the 2014 Appropriations Bill reduces the fee authorization below 3 percent, a subsequent notice will be published in the Federal Register amending the guarantee fee for FY 2014. As set forth in 7 CFR 4279.107(a) and 4279.119(b)(4), each fiscal year, the Agency shall establish a limit on the maximum portion of B&I guarantee authority available for that fiscal year that may be used to guarantee loans with a reduced guarantee fee or guaranteed loans with a guarantee percentage exceeding 80 percent. Allowing a reduced guarantee fee or exceeding the 80 percent guarantee on certain B&I guaranteed loans that meet the conditions set forth in 7 CFR 4279.107 and 4279.119 will increase the Agency's ability to focus guarantee assistance on projects which the Agency has found particularly meritorious. For reduced guarantee fees, the borrower's business must support value-added agriculture and result in farmers benefiting financially or must be a high impact business investment as defined in 7 CFR 4279.155(b)(5) and be located in rural communities that experience long-term population decline and job deterioration, remain persistently poor, are experiencing trauma as a result of natural disaster, or are experiencing fundamental structural changes in its economic base. For guaranteed loans exceeding 80 percent, such projects must qualify as a high-priority project (a requirement of 7 CFR 4279.119(b)), scoring at least 50 points in accordance with 7 CFR 4279.155(b). Not more than 12 percent of the Agency's quarterly apportioned B&I guarantee authority will be reserved for loan requests with a reduced fee, and not more than 15 percent of the Agency's quarterly apportioned guarantee authority will be reserved for guaranteed loan requests with a guarantee percentage exceeding 80 percent. Once the respective quarterly limits are reached, all additional loans for that quarter will be at the standard fee and guarantee limits.