Department of Commerce June 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 announces the approval of Amendment 24 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP). Amendment 24 specifies a five-tier system for determining the status of the crab stocks managed under the FMP, establishes a process for annually assigning each crab stock to a tier and for setting the overfishing and overfished levels, and reduces the number of crab stocks managed under the FMP. Amendment 24 is necessary to establish new overfishing definitions that contain objective and measurable criteria for determining whether each managed stock is overfished or whether overfishing is occurring and to remove from the FMP several crab stocks managed by the State of Alaska. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

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.

This action modifies the regulations implementing the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to create three NE Multispecies Scallop Exemptions that are identical to the current scallop exemptions, except for the addition of an incidental monkfish catch limit. These new scallop exemptions are restricted to vessels issued either a General Category Atlantic sea scallop permit or a limited access Atlantic sea scallop permit (when not fishing under a scallop days-at-sea (DAS) limitation), when fishing for scallops with small dredge gear (combined width not to exceed 10.5 ft (3.2 m)). Vessels that land an incidental catch of monkfish within these new scallop exemptions are required to possess, and have onboard, a valid limited access monkfish permit, or an open access monkfish Incidental Catch permit. The intent of this action is to allow small scallop dredge vessels to land monkfish that are currently being discarded, consistent with the bycatch reduction objectives of the FMP and National Standard 9 of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to reflect changes to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) Annex that were agreed to by MTCR member countries at the November 2007 Plenary in Athens, Greece.

The Department of Commerce's interest in the invention is available for non-exclusive licensing, in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 and 37 CFR Part 404 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally funded research and development. This invention was jointly invented by NIST employees and a NIST contractor. The invention will be jointly owned by NIST and one or more yet to be identified parties.

This rule revises a license exception in the Export Administration Regulations to allow the export of mobile phones as gifts sent by individuals to eligible recipients in Cuba. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is taking this action to provide support for individuals to support democracy-building efforts for Cuba by enabling the free exchange of information among Cuban citizens and with persons in other countries.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) has conducted an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot- rolled carbon steel flat products from Thailand produced and/or exported by G Steel Public Company Limited (G Steel). The period of review (POR) is November 1, 2005 through October 31, 2006. Based on our analysis of comments received, we have made certain adjustments and clerical error corrections for these final results which change the margin. This administrative review also covers Nakornthai Strip Mill Public Co., Ltd. (NSM), an exporter that did not have any U.S. sales or shipments during the POR, and for which the Department is rescinding this review. The final results are listed below in the ``Final Results of Review'' section.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement section 401(g) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The regulations would establish a national registry of recreational fishers fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), for anadromous species throughout their range or for Continental Shelf fishery resources beyond the EEZ. It also would exempt persons from that requirement if licensed by a state that provides registration data determined to be sufficient for the agency's needs. The requirement is intended to improve existing angling effort surveys in order to improve their efficiency, to reduce possible sources of bias and to improve confidence in survey results by anglers and fishery managers.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for species that comprise the shallow-water species fishery for catcher processors subject to sideboard limits established under the Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program in the GOA. This action is necessary because the 2008 Pacific halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) sideboard limit specified for the shallow-water species fishery for catcher processors subject to sideboard limits established under the Central GOA Rockfish Program in the GOA is insufficient to support directed fishing for the shallow-water species fisheries.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for species that comprise the deep-water species fishery for catcher vessels subject to sideboard limits established under the Central Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Rockfish Program in the GOA. This action is necessary because the 2008 Pacific halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) sideboard limit specified for the deep-water species fishery for catcher vessels subject to sideboard limits established under the Central GOA Rockfish Program in the GOA is insufficient to support directed fishing for the deep-water species fisheries.

Export Trading Company Affairs (``ETCA''), International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, has received an application for an Export Trade Certificate of Review (``Certificate''). This notice summarizes the conduct for which certification is sought and requests comments relevant to whether the Certificate should be issued.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``Office'') proposes to amend the Trademark Rules of Practice to clarify certain requirements for applications, intent to use documents, amendments to classification, requests to divide, and Post Registration practice; to modernize the language of the rules; and to make other miscellaneous changes. For the most part, the proposed rule changes are intended to codify existing practice, as set forth in the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (``TMEP'').

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) publishes this notice to announce the effective date of a Privacy Act System of Records notice entitled COMMERCE/NOAA-19, Permits and Registrations for United States Federally Regulated Fisheries.

Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC). This will be the first meeting to be held in calendar year 2008 to review and advise NOAA on management policies for living marine resources. Agenda topics are provided under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice. All full Committee sessions will be open to the public.

On May 9, 2008, the Department (``the Department'') published notices in the Federal Register requesting comments regarding methodologies for proceedings that involve significant cost changes throughout the POI/POR that may require using shorter cost averaging periods (73 FR 26364), and proposed methodologies for identifying and analyzing targeted dumping in antidumping investigations (73 FR 26371). The Department is extending the comment periods, making the new deadlines for the submission of public comments June 23, 2008.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), have reviewed the status of the Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis) and conclude that the species is extinct. As a result, based on the best available information, we propose to delist the Caribbean monk seal under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

NMFS proposes revisions to the guidelines for National Standard 1 (NS1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). This action is necessary to provide guidance on how to comply with new annual catch limit (ACL) and accountability measure (AM) requirements for ending overfishing of fisheries managed by federal fishery management plans (FMPs). It also clarifies the relationship between ACLs, maximum sustainable yield (MSY), optimum yield (OY), and other applicable reference points. The intent of this action is to facilitate compliance with requirements of the Magnuson- Stevens Act to end and prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks and achieve OY.

The Department of Commerce is conducting an administrative review of the countervailing duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from Belgium for the period January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2006. We preliminarily find that Ugine & ALZ Belgium received countervailable subsidies during the period of review. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results of this review, we will instruct the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assess countervailing duties as detailed in the ``Preliminary Results of Review'' section of this notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. See the ``Public Comment'' section of this notice.