Department of Commerce October 20, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the availability of a final recovery plan for the white abalone (Haliotis sorenseni). This endangered gastropod is a long-lived, slow moving bottom dweller and is a member of the California Haliotids. Currently, isolated survivors have been identified along the mainland coast in Santa Barbara County and at some of the offshore islands and banks along the central California coast. NMFS' ultimate goal is to increase white abalone abundance to viable and self-sustaining levels such that the species can be downlisted to threatened status and eventually removed from the Endangered Species List.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) has determined that sodium metal from France is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in section 735 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are listed below in the section entitled ``Continuation of Suspension of Liquidation.''

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for groundfish by vessels using hook-and-line gear in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), except for demersal shelf rockfish in the Southeast Outside District or sablefish in the GOA. This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2008 Pacific halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limit specified for vessels using hook-and-line gear targeting groundfish other than demersal shelf rockfish in the Southeast Outside District or sablefish in the GOA.

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.

The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) is seeking U.S. academic institutions, training centers, and other interested parties who would like to organize joint activities with their counterparts in Vietnam in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In 2007, the ITA launched the U.S.-Vietnam ICT Commercial Dialogue with the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) in Vietnam to discuss various ICT issues that have an impact on trade between our two countries. The U.S. and Vietnamese companies that participated in the meeting recommended the establishment of a ``public/private partnership for the development of human resources through technical training programs.'' Therefore MIC has proposed that an Academic Advisory Group be created in addition to a Business Advisory Group under the Dialogue. The objective of the Academic Advisory Group would be to facilitate an exchange of ideas on the best curriculum to meet the needs of ICT growth, and to increase opportunities for Vietnamese citizens to study in the ICT field in Vietnam through distance learning mechanisms, or at United States institutions. The initial meeting of the Academic Advisory Group, to be held via videoconference, is tentatively scheduled for November 12, 2008. A representative of the group would make a brief report at the ICT Dialogue Working Group meeting on November 13 in Washington, DC. A follow-up meeting is anticipated in January 2009 in Hanoi.

Pursuant to the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009. Public Law No. 110-329 (2008), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce, announces the solicitation of applications for planning and construction grants for public telecommunications facilities under the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP). The PTFP assists, through matching grants, in the planning and construction of public telecommunications facilities in order to: (1) Extend delivery of services to as many citizens as possible by the most cost-effective means, including use of broadcast and non-broadcast technologies; (2) increase public telecommunications services and facilities available to, operated by, and controlled by minorities and women; and (3) strengthen the capability of existing public television and radio stations to provide public telecommunications services to the public.

5 CFR 430.310 requires agencies to publish notice of Performance Review Board appointees in the Federal Register before their service begins. This notice announces the names of new and existing members of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Performance Review Board.