Department of Commerce January 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 7, 2005, a North American Free Trade Agreement United States-Canada Binational Panel reviewing the International Trade Commission's finding that an industry in the United States was materially injured by reason of imports of hard red spring wheat from Canada, remanded the case to the International Trade Commission. On October 5, 2005, the International Trade Commission determined on remand that the domestic industry is neither materially injured by reason of the subject imports nor threatened with such injury. By decision issued on December 12, 2005, the Panel affirmed in full the International Trade Commission's determination on remand. Consistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 1990), the Department of Commerce is notifying the public that the International Trade Commission's remand determination for hard red spring wheat from Canada and the Notice of Final Panel Action issued by the Panel reviewing the International Trade Commission's determination, discussed below, are not ``in harmony'' with the International Trade Commission's original results.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites interested parties to attend a pre-consortium meeting to be held on May 16 and 17, 2006 at the NIST main campus in Gaithersburg, MD. The objective of this two-day meeting is to evaluate industry interest in the fourth phase of the Coatings Service Life Prediction Consortium. The goals of this consortium include the development of measurement methods and mathematical models for ascertaining the service life response of filled coatings containing pigments having a range of photoreactivities exposed in both the laboratory and the field. For this particular phase of research, the filler of interest will be titanium dioxide nanoparticles and pigments dispersed in both a thermoplastic and a thermoset matrix. NIST staff members along with at least one technical representative from each participating member company will conduct consortium research and development. Membership in the Consortium is open to the coatings community, particularly coating manufacturers, raw material suppliers, and equipment manufacturers. The term of the consortium is intended to be four years.

NMFS increases the trip limit in the commercial hook-and-line fishery for king mackerel in the Florida east coast subzone to 75 fish per day in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This trip limit increase is necessary to maximize the socioeconomic benefits of the quota.

NMFS proposes to approve and implement changes to the Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan (Plan) for the International Pacific Halibut Commission's (IPHC or Commission) regulatory Area 2A off Washington, Oregon, and California (Area 2A). NMFS proposes to update the tribal season in the Plan to reflect recent IPHC season date-setting trends. NMFS also proposes to implement the portions of the Plan and management measures that are not implemented through the IPHC, which includes the sport fishery management measures for Area 2A, the flexible inseason management provisions in Area 2A, fishery election in Area 2A, and Area 2A non-treaty commercial fishery closed areas. NMFS proposes to codify all but the sport fishery management measures for Area 2A, at 50 CFR part 300, subpart E. These actions are intended to enhance the conservation of Pacific halibut, to protect yelloweye rockfish and other overfished groundfish species from incidental catch in the halibut fisheries, and to provide greater angler opportunity where available.

On November 2, 2005, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) affirmed the U.S. Department of Commerce's (the Department's) redetermination on remand of the final results of the antidumping duty new shipper review on honey from the People's Republic of China. See Wuhan Bee Healthy Co., Ltd. v. United States, Slip Op. 05-142 (CIT 2005). The Department is now issuing these amended final results reflecting the CIT's decision.

Pursuant to the Order of the Binational Panel dated December 12, 2005, affirming the final remand determination described above was completed on January 24, 2006.

On May 20, 2002 NOAA published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the applicability of the special use permit requirements (Section 310) of the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to certain categories of activities conducted within the National Marine Sanctuary System. The notice requested public comment on the subject of special use permits. This notice makes minor changes to the previously published list and responds generally to the comments received. Through this notice, NOAA is also expanding the list of activities subject to the requirements of special use permits by adding private overflights to the overflights category.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Atka mackerel with gears other than jig gear in the Eastern Aleutian District and the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A Season allowance of the 2006 total allowable catch (TAC) of Atka mackerel in these areas. NMFS is also announcing the opening and closing dates of the first and second directed fisheries within the harvest limit area (HLA) in Statistical Areas 542 and 543. These actions are necessary to prevent exceeding the HLA limits established for the Central (area 542) and Western (area 543) Aleutian Districts pursuant to the 2006 Atka mackerel TAC.

NMFS has received a request from the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) for renewal of an authorization to take small numbers of California sea lions, Pacific harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and gray whales, by harassment, incidental to construction of a replacement bridge for the East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (SF-OBB) in California. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an authorization to CALTRANS to incidentally take, by harassment, small numbers of these species of pinnipeds and cetaceans during the next 12 months.

NMFS, upon application from the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation (AADC), is issuing regulations to govern the unintentional takings of small numbers of marine mammals incidental to rocket launches from the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC) on Kodiak Island, AK. Issuance of regulations is required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) when the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), after notice and opportunity for comment, finds, as here, that such takes will have a negligible impact on the species and stocks of marine mammals and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on their availability for subsistence uses. These regulations do not authorize AADC's rocket launch activities, as such authorization is not within the jurisdiction of the Secretary. Rather, these regulations govern the issuance of ``Letters of Authorization'' (LOAs) for the unintentional incidental take of marine mammals in connection with this activity and prescribe methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species and their habitat, and on the availability of the species for subsistence uses. In addition, NMFS incorporates reporting and monitoring requirements.

NMFS has determined that the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category daily retention limit for the final three restricted fishing days (RFD) should be adjusted. These General category RFDs are being waived to provide reasonable opportunity for utilization of the coastwide General category BFT quota. Therefore, NMFS waives the final three RFDs scheduled for January 2006, and increases the daily retention limit from zero to two large medium or giant BFT on these previously designated RFDs.

On September 28, 2005, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published in the Federal Register the preliminary results of the new shipper review of the antidumping duty order on brake rotors from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). See Brake Rotors From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of the Twelfth New Shipper Review, 70 FR 56634 (September 28, 2005) (``Preliminary Results''). We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Results. We made one change to the dumping margin calculations for the final results. See Analysis for the Final Results of Brake Rotors from the People's Republic of China: Dixion Brake System (Longkou) Ltd., dated January 18, 2006, (``Dixion Final Analysis Memo''); see also Analysis for the Final Results of Brake Rotors from the People's Republic of China: Laizhou Wally Automobile Co., Ltd., dated January 18, 2006, (``Wally Final Analysis Memo'')

The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) publishes this notice to announce that it will allow for a third year of bonus funding, on a non-competitive basis, to the Houston Minority Business Enterprise Center (MBEC) (formally known as the Houston Minority Business Development Center (MBDC)), as originally funded under the Federal Register notice of August 28, 2000 (65 FR 52069). In its August 28, 2000 notice, MBDA solicited competitive applications from organizations to operate MBECs. The MBEC Program provides funding for general business assistance to minority business enterprises (MBEs) in various markets throughout the United States and stipulated that no award to operate a MBEC may be longer than five funding periods. MBDA changes this policy to allow for a third year of bonus funding for a total of six funding periods. This action is taken in light of the fact that the Houston MBEC (Grijalva and Allen) has had an ``excellent'' performance rating for five consecutive years. Furthermore, this action supports the Agency's efforts in rebuilding minority firms impacted by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. The Houston MBEC non-competitively received additional funding in the amount of $300,000, specifically to assist the minority firms impacted by Hurricane Katrina, as it was the closest proximity to the Gulf Coast and able to immediately respond to the need for additional services. This is in addition to the amount of $400,375 for the continuation of general business assistance to MBEs in program year 2006.

This notice responds to the National Sea Grant College Program Act, at 33 U.S.C. 1128, which requires the Secretary of Commerce to solicit nominations at least once a year for membership on the Sea Grant Review Panel. This advisory committee provides advice on the implementation of the National Sea Grant College Program.

On December 5, 2005, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') issued the final results of its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain welded carbon steel pipe and tube (``welded pipe and tube'') from Turkey.\1\ The period of review is May 1, 2003, through April 30, 2004. Based on the correction of certain ministerial errors, we have changed the margins for the Borusan Group (``Borusan'') and for the Yucel Group, which includes Cayirova Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. and its affiliate, Yucel Boru Ithalat-Ihracat ve Pazarlama A.S. (collectively referred to as ``Cayirova'').

In 1989, NMFS issued a final rule enacting the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act of 1986 (Act), as it pertains to Seafood Marketing Councils (Councils), for one or more species of fish or fish products. That rule, along with a large number of other rules and regulations unused or little used, was stricken from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) as part of a government-wide Presidential regulatory reform effort. Although the implementing regulations were withdrawn from the CFR, the Act remains in effect. In response to renewed industry support for marketing and promotion-related activities, NMFS proposes regulations implementing the Act governing the establishment and operation of marketing Councils. Therefore, the intent of the proposed rule is to responsibly implement the Act to be consistent with NMFS' goals and mission statement. That is, to ensure that NMFS stewardship goal is not jeopardized while increasing benefits from domestic fisheries. Several revisions to the 1989 implementing regulations are proposed in this document in order to comply with new regulatory and/or legal requirements.

This notice announces receipt of an application for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from the Aleut Enterprise Corporation (AEC). If granted, this permit would be used to support a project to investigate the feasibility of using commercial fishing vessels for acoustic surveys of pollock in the Aleutian Islands subarea. The project is intended to promote the objectives of the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI) by improving use of pollock in the Aleutian Islands subarea.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Groundfish Management Team (GMT) and Groundfish Allocation Committee (Committee) will hold working meetings, which are open to the public.

The Groundfish Stock Assessment Review (STAR) Panel for Pacific hake (whiting) will hold a work session which is open to the public.