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

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission, the Department of Commerce is issuing an antidumping duty order on uncovered innerspring units from South Africa.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (Department) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty order on freshwater crawfish tail meat (crawfish) from the People's Republic of China (PRC) would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation for the antidumping duty order.

On August 7, 2008, the Department of Commerce (Department) published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on purified carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) from the Netherlands. See Purified Carboxymethylcellulose from the Netherlands; Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 73 FR 45943 (August 7, 2008) (Preliminary Results). The merchandise covered by the order is purified CMC as described in the ``Scope of the Order'' section of this notice. The period of review (POR) is July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007. In our Preliminary Results, we invited parties to comment. We received comments from interested parties and have made no changes to our calculation based on our analysis of the comments received. Therefore, the final results do not differ from those published in the Department's Preliminary Results. The final weighted- average dumping margin for the reviewed firm is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of the Review.''

This final rule is being issued to adjust each civil monetary penalty provided by law within the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce (the Department). The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, required the head of each agency to adjust its civil monetary penalties (CMP) for inflation no later than October 23, 1996, and requires them to make adjustments at least once every four years thereafter. These inflation adjustments will apply only to violations that occur after the effective date of this rule.

On June 10, 2008, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) published the final rule that amends the rules governing practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) in ex parte patent appeals. The final rule states that the effective date is December 10, 2008, and that the final rule shall apply to all appeals in which an appeal brief is filed on or after the effective date. On June 9, 2008, the Office published a 60-Day Federal Register Notice requesting the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish a new information collection for BPAI items in the final rule and requesting public comment on the burden impact of the final rule under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). On October 8, 2008, the Office published a 30-Day Federal Register Notice stating that the proposal for the collection of information under the final rule was being submitted to OMB and requesting comments on the proposed information collection be submitted to OMB. The proposed information collection is currently under consideration by OMB. Since the review by OMB has not been completed, the Office is hereby notifying the public that the effective and applicability date of the final rule is not December 10, 2008. The effective and applicability dates will be identified in a subsequent notice.

Import Administration issues this interim final rule for the purpose of withdrawing the regulatory provisions governing the targeted dumping analysis in antidumping duty investigations.

On May 7, 2008, we published the preliminary results of changed-circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Germany. See Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Changed-Circumstances Review, 73 FR 25663 (May 7, 2008) (Preliminary Results). Interested parties were invited to comment on these preliminary results. After reviewing parties' comments, we have affirmed the preliminary results and find that myonic GmbH is the successor-in-interest to Miniaturkugellager Gesellschaft mit beschr[auml]nkter Haftung (MKL).

On October 3, 2008, 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 certain preserved mushrooms from the People's Republic of China (PRC) for Zhangzhou Golden Banyan Foodstuffs Industrial Co., Ltd. (Golden Banyan). See Certain Preserved Mushrooms From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty New Shipper Review, 73 FR 57597 (October 3, 2008) (Preliminary Results). We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Results, but we received no comments. Therefore, the final results do not differ from the preliminary results.

Notice is hereby given that Associated Scientists at Woods Hole (ASWH) (Dr. James Hain, Principal Investigator), Box 721, Woods Hole, MA 02543, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) and other cetacean species.

NMFS restores 900 mt of unallocated research set-aside (RSA) to the 2008 and 2009 herring Area 2 TACs and 1,800 mt of unallocated RSA to the 2008 and 2009 herring Area 3 TACs. The adjustments are intended to reallocate herring RSA quota to the herring commercial fishery.

On September 11, 2008, the Department of Commerce published in the Federal Register the final results of the administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on ball bearings and parts thereof from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The period of review is May 1, 2006, through April 30, 2007. Based on the correction of a ministerial error with respect to NTN's home-market packing expense, we have changed the margin for NTN Corporation (NTN) and, as a result, the margins for non-selected respondents for the final results of review with respect to the antidumping duty order on ball bearings and parts thereof from Japan.

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is seeking applicants for the following vacant seats on the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council (Council): Conservation Alternate and Primary, Maritime Activities Alternate and Primary. Applicants are chosen based upon their particular expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying; community and professional affiliations; philosophy regarding the protection and management of marine resources; and possibly the length of residence in the area affected by the Sanctuary. Applicants who are chosen as members should expect to serve 2-3 year terms, pursuant to the Council's Charter.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 18, 2008 (73 FR 68321) that amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to, among other things, clarify that the terms ``transferred'' and ``transfer'', in the context of two sections of the EAR, meant ``assigned to'' and ``assignment'', respectively. That final rule contained one inadvertent error in the amendatory instruction used for revising one of those two sections. This error in the amendatory instruction led to one sentence of the revised regulatory text to not be revised as was intended in the regulatory text of that final rule. This document corrects that amendatory instruction error by revising that one sentence from that section.

Renewal of the Exporters' Textile Advisory Committee (ETAC): The ETAC is renewed for the period October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2010.

The Department of Commerce (Department) is conducting administrative and new shipper reviews of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (PRC) covering the period of review (POR) of November 1, 2006 through October 31, 2007. As discussed below, we preliminarily determine that sales have been made in the United States at prices below normal value (NV) with respect to certain exporters who participated fully and are entitled to a separate rate in the administrative or new shipper reviews (NSR). In addition, we are preliminarily rescinding the NSR for Anqiu Haoshun Trade Co., Ltd. (Haoshun). Finally, the Department intends to rescind the antidumping duty administrative reviews of three companies that had no shipments of subject merchandise to the United States during the POR. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results of review, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to assess antidumping duties on entries of subject merchandise during the POR for which importer-specific assessment rates are above de minimis.

NMFS announces that the Atlantic bluefish commercial quota available to New York has been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the Atlantic bluefish fishery may not land bluefish in New York for the remainder of calendar year 2008, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. Regulations governing the Atlantic bluefish fishery require publication of this notification to advise New York that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing bluefish in New York.