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

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is revising the rules of practice relating to the filing date requirements for ex parte and inter partes reexamination proceedings for consistency with the provisions of the patent statute governing ex parte and inter partes reexamination proceedings. The Office is specifically revising the rules to require that a request for ex parte reexamination or for inter partes reexamination must meet all the applicable statutory requirements before a filing date is accorded to the request for ex parte reexamination or for inter partes reexamination.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene its SSC Selection Committee via conference call to select members for an Ad Hoc Shrimp Effort Working Group for recommendation to the Council.

NMFS issues this 30-day temporary rule to allow shrimp fishermen to continue to use limited tow times as an alternative to Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in inshore and offshore waters from the Florida/Alabama border, westward to the Louisiana/Texas border, and extending offshore 10 nautical miles. The previous 30-day variances of the TED requirements were from September 23 through October 24, 2005; October 11 through November 10, 2005; October 24 through November 23, 2005; November 23 through December 23, 2005; and from December 23, 2005, through January 23, 2006, for waters affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These variances were initially for 50 nautical miles, while the most recent variance was for 20 nautical miles. After an investigation, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ALDCNR), Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR), and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LADWF) have determined that excessive debris is still affecting fishermen's ability to use TEDs effectively in an area extending approximately 10 nm offshore. This action is necessary because environmental conditions resulting from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita persist on the fishing grounds, preventing some fishermen from using TEDs effectively.

The NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) announces its intent to evaluate the performances of the Kachemak Bay (Alaska) National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Apalachicola (Florida) National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Michigan Coastal Management Program, the Virginia Coastal Management Program, and the Indiana Coastal Management Program. The Coastal Zone Management Program evaluations will be conducted pursuant to section 312 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (CZMA) and regulations at 15 CFR part 923, subpart L. The National Estuarine Research Reserve evaluations will be conducted pursuant to sections 312 and 315 of the CZMA and regulations at 15 CFR part 921, subpart E and part 923, subpart L. The CZMA requires continuing review of the performance of states with respect to coastal program implementation. Evaluation of Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves requires findings concerning the extent to which a state has met the national objectives, adhered to its Coastal Management Program document or Reserve final management plan approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and adhered to the terms of financial assistance awards funded under the CZMA. Each evaluation will include a site visit, consideration of public comments, and consultations with interested Federal, state, and local agencies and members of the public. A public meeting will be held as part of the site visit. Notice is hereby given of the dates of the site visits for the listed evaluations, and the dates, local times, and locations of the public meeting during the site visits. The Kachemak Bay (Alaska) National Estuarine Research Reserve evaluation site visit will be held April 3-6, 2006. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 5, 2006, at 7 p.m. at the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, 95 Sterling Highway, Homer, Alaska. The Apalachicola (Florida) National Estuarine Research Reserve evaluation site visit will be held May 1-3, 2006. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at the Apalachicola Community Center, 222 6th Street, Apalachicola, Florida. The Michigan Coastal Management Program evaluation site visit will be held May 8-12, 2006. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Thursday, May 11, 2006, at 7 p.m. at Northwestern Michigan College, Great Lakes Campus, Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, Room 112, 715 East Front Street, Traverse City, Michigan. The Virginia Coastal Management Program evaluation site visit will be held May 15-19, 2006. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Monday, February 14, 2006, at 4 p.m. at the Department of Environmental Quality, First Floor Conference Room, 629 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia. The Indiana Coastal Management Program evaluation site visit will be held May 30-June 2, 2006. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 31, 2006, at 6 p.m. at the Westchester Public Library Service Center, 100 West Indiana Avenue, Chesterton, Indiana. Copies of states' most recent performance reports, as well as OCRM's evaluation notification and supplemental information request letters to the states, are available upon request from OCRM. Written comments from interested parties regarding these Programs are encouraged and will be accepted until 15 days after the public meeting held for a Program. Please direct written comments to Ralph Cantral, Chief, National Policy and Evaluation Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOS/NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway, 10th Floor, N/ORM7, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910. When the evaluations are completed, OCRM will place a notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of the Final Evaluation Findings. Notice is hereby given of the availability of the final evaluation findings for the South Carolina and Maine Coastal Management Programs (CMPs) and the Wells (Maine) National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). Sections 312 and 315 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), as amended, require a continuing review of the performance of coastal states with respect to approval of CMPs and the operation and management of NERRs. The states of South Carolina and Maine were found to be implementing and enforcing their federally approved coastal management programs, addressing the national coastal management objectives identified in CZMA section 303(2)(A)-(K), and adhering to the programmatic terms of their financial assistance awards. The Wells (Maine) NERR was found to be adhering to programmatic requirements of the NERR System. Copies of these final evaluation findings may be obtained upon written request from: Ralph Cantral, Chief, National Policy and Evaluation Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOS/NOAA, 1305 East-West Highway, 10th Floor, N/ORM7, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910, or Ralph.Cantral@noaa.gov.

In response to a request from Carpenter Technology Corporation, Dunkirk Specialty Steel, LLC (a subsidiary of Universal Stainless & Alloy Products) and North American Stainless (the ``Domestic Interested Parties''), domestic producers of stainless steel wire rod, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') initiated an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel wire rod from Taiwan. See Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 70 FR 61601 (October 25, 2005) (``Initiation Notice''). The period of review (``POR'') is September 1, 2004, through August 31, 2005. The Department is now rescinding this review because the Domestic Interested Parties have withdrawn their request.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Habitat/Marine Protected Area (MPA)/ Ecosystem Advisory Panel in March, 2006 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.

NMFS announces the availability of Amendment 17 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagic (CMP) Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic (Amendment 17) and Amendment 25 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resource of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendment 25), prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). Amendments 17 and 25 would establish a limited access system for the Gulf of Mexico charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) permits for the reef fish and CMP fisheries in the exclusive economic zone of the Gulf of Mexico and would continue to cap participation at current levels. The intended effect of Amendments 17 and 25 is to support the Council's efforts to achieve optimum yield in the fishery and provide social and economic benefits associated with maintaining stability in these for-hire fisheries.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for non-Community Development Quota (CDQ) pollock with trawl gear in the Chinook Salmon Savings Areas of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2006 limit of chinook salmon caught by vessels using trawl gear while directed fishing for non-CDQ pollock in the BSAI.

The NOAA National Sea Grant College Program publishes this notice to re-open the submission period for the Regional Research, Information Planning and Coordination Competitive funding announcement originally published in the Federal Register on December 23, 2005. The new submission deadline is 5 p.m. e.s.t. on March 1, 2006. The NOAA National Sea Grant College Program publishes this notice to also change the definition of the insular Pacific region in the Federal Funding Opportunity associated with the FRN that was published on December 23, 2005. For the purpose of developing a regional research and information plan, the insular Pacific region is defined as being ``comprised of the marine and coastal waters off the State of Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Freely Associated States.''

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, (NOAA) is seeking input on priorities for its next five-year planning cycle. Annually, NOAA collects views on emerging programmatic and managerial trends and alternative solutions as we seek to achieve NOAA's strategic goals. Stakeholder views and comments will be summarized and used by NOAA Leadership in the development of its priorities for planning years 2009-2013. NOAA encourages stakeholders and users to review its present priorities and provide comments and recommendations that reflect your vision of the future, as it relates to NOAA's mission. You can find NOAA's current strategic priorities at the Web site noted in the ADDRESSES section, below.

NMFS is implementing revisions to the 2006 commercial and recreational groundfish fishery management measures for groundfish taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. Management measures that are new for 2006 are intended to: achieve but not exceed optimum yields (OYs); prevent overfishing; rebuild overfished species; and reduce and minimize the incidental catch and discard of overfished and depleted stocks. NMFS is also revising the 2006 darkblotched rockfish OY, at the request of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Pacific Council), and under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). These actions, which are authorized by the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and the Magnuson-Stevens Act, are intended to allow fisheries to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks.

On November 28, 2005, the United States Court of International Trade (``CIT'') issued an order affirming the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') Second Remand Results. See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Consol. Ct. No. 03-00202 (October 21, 2005) (available at https://ia.ita.doc.gov) (``Second Remand Results''); see also Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Slip Op. 05-150, 2005 Ct. Intl. Trade LEXIS 160 (CIT November 28, 2005) (affirming the Second Remand Results in their entirety) (``Globe Metallurgical III''). In the First Remand Results, the Department recalculated the antidumping margins for Bratsk Aluminum Smelter and Rual Trade Limited (collectively, ``Bratsk'') and ZAO Kremny and SUAL-Kremny-Ural Ltd. (``SKU'') (collectively, ``Kremny'') to value the respondents' usage of recycled silicon metal sized zero to five millimeters. See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Consol. Ct. No. 03-00202 (January 5, 2005) (available at https://ia.ita.doc.gov) (``First Remand Results''). In the Second Remand Results, the Department recalculated the adverse facts available (``AFA'') portion of Kremny's antidumping duty margin using the revised antidumping duty margin for Bratsk calculated in the First Remand Results. Because all litigation in this matter has now concluded, the Department is issuing its amended final determination in accordance with the CIT's decision.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') and the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order on Heavy Forged Hand Tools (i.e., Axes & Adzes, Bars & Wedges, Hammers & Sledges, and Picks & Mattocks) (``HFHTs'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing this notice of continuation of these antidumping duty orders.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and its advisory entities will hold public meetings.

Notice is hereby given that Paul E. Nachtigall, Ph.D., Marine Mammal Research Program, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, P.O. Box 1106, Kailua, Hawaii 96734, has been issued a permit to conduct research on certain cetacean species.

The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (AA), NOAA, announces temporary restrictions on gillnet fishing in the Southeast U.S. Restricted Area through March 31, 2006, consistent with the requirements of the ALWTRP's implementing regulations. NMFS is taking this action based on its determination that a right whale mortality, documented on January 22, 2006, was the result of an entanglement by gillnet gear within the Southeast U.S. Restricted Area. This action is necessary to protect North Atlantic right whales from further serious injury or mortality from entanglement in gillnet gear in the Southeast U.S. Restricted Area.

On October 25, 2005, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published in the Federal Register a notice announcing the initiation of the 04-05 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on freshwater crawfish tail meat from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). See Notice of Initiation of Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Administrative Reviews, 70 FR 61601 (October 25, 2005) (``Initiation Notice''). The period of review (``POR'') is September 1, 2004, to August 31, 2005. This review is now being rescinded for China Kingdom Import & Export Co., Ltd., (aka China Kingdoma Import & Export Co., Ltd., aka Zhongda Import & Export Co., Ltd.) (China Kingdom), Jiangsu Hilong International Trading Company, Ltd. (Jiangsu Hilong), Qingdao Zhengri Seafood Co., Ltd. (Qingdao Zhengri), Weishan Zhenyu Foodstuff Co., Ltd. (Weishan Zhenyu), Yancheng Haiteng Aquatic Products & Foods Co., Ltd. (Yancheng Haiteng), Yancheng Yaou Seafood Co., Ltd. (Yancheng Yaou), and Ningbo Nanlian Frozen Foods Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Nanlian), because the requesting parties, the Crawfish Processors Alliance (Petitioners), the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, and Bob Odom, Commissioner (collectively, the Domestic Interested Parties) and Ningbo Nanlian withdrew their requests in a timely manner.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene its Socioeconomic Panel (SEP).

The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain lined paper products from India. For information on the estimated subsidy rates, see the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice.

On January 4, 2006, in response to a request by domestic producers of the subject merchandise, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published a notice of initiation of a changed circumstances review of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils, as described below. See Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy: Initiation of Countervailing Duty Changed Circumstances Review and Notice of Consideration of Revocation of Order, 71 FR 328 (January 4, 2006) (``Initiation Notice''). In the Initiation Notice, we invited interested parties to comment on the Department's initiation and the proposed revocation of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from Italy. We did not receive any comments. Absent any comments, we preliminarily conclude that producers accounting for substantially all of the production of the domestic like product to which this order pertains lack interest in the relief provided by the order. Therefore, we preliminarily revoke this order, in whole, with respect to products entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after September 4, 1998, i.e., the publication date of the Department's preliminary determination in the underlying investigation, because domestic parties have expressed no interest in the continuation of the order. See Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination and Alignment of Final Countervailing Duty Determination with Final Antidumping Duty Determination: Stainless Steel Plate in Coils from Italy, 63 FR 47246 (September 4, 1998) (``Preliminary Determination''). Unless the Department receives opposition from domestic producers whose production totals more than 15 percent of the domestic like product, the Department will revoke the order on stainless steel plate in coils in the final results of this review.