Department of Commerce August 10, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS proposes to revise regulations implementing the South Pacific Tuna Act of 1988, as amended (SPTA), to reflect the changes agreed to in the Third Extension of the Treaty on Fisheries between the Governments of Certain Pacific Island States and the Government of the United States of America and its annexes, schedules, and implementing agreements, as amended (Treaty). New provisions under the Treaty relate to vessel monitoring system (VMS) requirements, vessel reporting requirements, area restrictions for U.S. purse seine vessels fishing under the Treaty, and allowing U.S. longline vessels to fish on the high seas portion of the Treaty Area. These actions are needed to bring the United States into compliance with its obligations under the Treaty.

In response to a request from Nucor Corporation, a domestic producer and interested party in this proceeding, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') is conducting an administrative review of cut-to-length carbon steel plate (``CTL plate'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') for the period November 1, 2004, through October 31, 2005. We preliminarily determine that application of adverse facts available (``AFA'') is warranted with respect to the sole company participating in this administrative review, China Metallurgical Import & Export Liaoning Company (``Liaoning Company''). In addition, the Department is preliminarily rescinding the administrative review with respect to Angang New Steel Co., Ltd. and Angang Group Hong Kong Co., Limited (collectively ``Angang''), as its request for review was properly and timely withdrawn. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results of administrative review, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of subject merchandise. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. We will issue the final results no later than 120 days from the date of publication of this notice.

On July 28, 2006, the binational panel issued its decision in the review of the final determination made by the International Trade Administration, respecting Oil Country Tubular Goods from Mexico Final Results of Sunset Review of Antidumping Duty Order, Secretariat File No. USA-MEX-2001-1904-03. The binational panel remanded the redetermination on remand to the International Trade Administration. Copies of the panel decision are available from the U.S. Section of the NAFTA Secretariat.

In accordance with Executive Order 11625 and 15 U.S.C. Section 1512, the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is amending its solicitation, originally published on July 26, 2006, for competitive applications from organizations to operate a Minority Business Enterprise Center (MBEC) (formerly Minority Business Development Center). This amendment separates the Alabama/Mississippi MBEC into two geographic service areas, creating the Mississippi MBEC and the Alabama MBEC. The geographic service area for the Mississippi MBEC will be limited to the State of Mississippi only. All programmatic requirements, including funding levels, length of award and competition/selection processes, for the Mississippi MBEC will be the same as that published for the Alabama/Mississippi MBEC in the July 26, 2006 solicitation. The newly created Alabama MBEC geographic service area will service Hurricanes Katrina and/or Rita impacted minority-owned firms from the State of Alabama. The Alabama MBEC shall adhere to separate program requirements as outlined below (please refer to Supplementary Information section of this Notice) and a newly created Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) Announcement. This is not a grant program to help start a business. Applications submitted must be to operate a Minority Business Enterprise Center and to provide business consultation to eligible minority clients. Applications that do not meet these requirements will be rejected.