Department of Commerce March 29, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, and with the concurrence of the General Services Administration, the Department of Commerce is announcing the establishment of the National Advisory Council on Minority Business Enterprise (NACMBE). Pursuant to this notice, the Department of Commerce is also soliciting nominations for membership on the NACMBE for the upcoming 2-year charter term beginning in April 2010. The purpose of the NACMBE is to advise the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) on key issues pertaining to the growth and competitiveness of the nation's Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs).

On November 29, 1999, the President signed into law the Patent and Trademark Office Efficiency Act (the ``Act''), Public Law 106-113, which, among other things, established two Public Advisory Committees to review the policies, goals, performance, budget and user fees of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with respect to patents, in the case of the Patent Public Advisory Committee, and with respect to trademarks, in the case of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, and to advise the Director on these matters (now codified at 35 U.S.C. 5). The USPTO is requesting nominations for three (3) members to each Public Advisory Committee for terms of three years that begin from date of appointment.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') has determined that two requests for a new shipper review (``NSR'') of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen fish fillets (``fish fillets'') from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (``Vietnam''), received on February 19, 2010, and February 24, 2010, meet the statutory and regulatory requirements for initiation. The period of review (``POR'') for the two NSRs is August 1, 2009, through February 15, 2010.

On May 5, 2009, the Court of International Trade (``CIT'') affirmed the Department's remand determination issued pursuant to the Court's remand order in Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 07-00386, Slip Op. 08-105 (CIT October 1, 2008) (``Remand Order''), which concerned the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') determination of the appropriate surrogate value for silica fume in Silicon Metal From the People's Republic of China: Notice of Final Results of 2005/2006 New Shipper Reviews, 72 FR 58,641 (October 16, 2007) (``Final Results'') and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum. See Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 07-00386, Slip Op. 09-137 (CIT May 5, 2009) (``May 5th Order''). On February 23, 2010, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') dismissed the appeal of Globe Metallurgical, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 2009-1436 (``Dismissal Order''). As explained below, in accordance with the CIT's May 5th Order and the CAFC's Dismissal Order, the Department is amending the Final Results of the new shipper reviews to apply the recalculated surrogate value for the by-product silica fume in the Department's normal value calculation.