October 17, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this Candidate Notice of Review of Foreign Species (CNOR- FS), we present an updated list of plant and animal species foreign to the United States that we regard as candidates for addition to the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Identification of candidate species can assist conservation planning efforts by providing advance notice of potential listings and awareness of species' status. Even if we subsequently list a candidate species, the early notice provided here could result in more options for species management and recovery by prompting measures to alleviate threats to the species.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') seeks public input on patent subject matter eligibility in view of recent decisions by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The USPTO remains interested in feedback from members of the public to improve the USPTO's existing subject matter eligibility guidance and training examples. The USPTO is also interested in facilitating a discussion among members of the public regarding the legal contours of eligible subject matter in the U.S. patent system. The USPTO will be facilitating these discussions by hosting two roundtable events. The first roundtable will be directed to receiving feedback from members of the public to improve the USPTO's existing subject matter eligibility guidance and training examples. The second roundtable will be focused on receiving feedback regarding larger questions concerning the legal contours of eligible subject matter in the U.S. patent system. The roundtables will provide a forum for discussion of the topics identified in this notice.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including direct heating equipment. EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to periodically determine whether more-stringent standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant amount of energy. In this final determination, DOE is finalizing its determination that more-stringent energy conservation standards for direct heating equipment are not economically justified and is therefore not amending its energy conservation standards.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine threatened species status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended, for the Columbia River distinct population segment (DPS) of Columbian white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus leucurus). This subspecies of white-tailed deer is found in limited areas of Clatsop, Multnomah, and Columbia Counties in Oregon, and Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Pacific, Skamania, and Clark Counties in Washington. The effect of this rule is to change the listing status of the Columbia River DPS of Columbian white-tailed deer from an endangered species to a threatened species on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. We call this ``reclassifying'' or ``downlisting'' the DPS. We are also adopting a rule under the authority of section 4(d) of the Act (a ``4(d) rule'') that is necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the Columbia River DPS of the Columbian white-tailed deer.

In October 2016, the Postal Service filed a notice of mailing services price adjustments with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), effective January 22, 2017. This proposed rule contains the revisions to Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]) that we would adopt to implement the changes coincident with the price adjustments.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is amending its regulations which set forth the policies and procedures for resolving questions concerning eligibility for DOE access authorization. The revisions update and provide added clarity throughout the regulations, and streamline the process for resolving access authorization eligibility determinations. Additionally, DOE is updating references to DOE Offices and officials to reflect the current DOE organizational structure.

The Department of Transportation is revising its regulations by removing chapter 63 of Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and amending 49 CFR part 6. These revisions result from our ongoing efforts to review and improve our regulations, and will harmonize the CFR with Departmental restructuring required by statutory changes.